Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
The City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Firefighters IAFF Local 1 have reached a compromise on ending a residency requirement for firefighters. The residency requirement was incorporated into the city charter in 2013 for firefighters and police officers.
Pittsburgh’s police union challenged the charter amendment contending it illegally removed an otherwise bargainable subject from the collective bargaining process. In 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed, ruling the charter amendment was unenforceable.
The firefighters and the city submitted the residency issue to a neutral arbitrator, who ordered the city to stop enforcing the residency requirement. That prompted the city to appeal the arbitrator’s ruling to court.
The compromise resolves the appeal by allowing firefighter to live outside city limits, but requires them to remain within a 60 minute drive of the City-County Building.
