By Leila Atassi
The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A city law director had been alerted to illegal shift-swapping within the Cleveland Fire Department, nearly two years ago — but he took no action.
Chief Assistant Law Director Stewart Hastings in February 2010 received an email from a Cleveland fire captain, hinting that firefighters might be paying colleagues to work their shifts while continuing to collect full salaries and benefits.
Framing it as a “hypothetical situation,” Captain Anthony Luke asked Hastings for a legal opinion. But Hastings never issued one. And investigators found the widespread abuse of the department’s shift trade policy during a series of city audits in the past year.