Baltimore County facing potential legal action after firefighter’s settlement

Lia Russell

The Baltimore Sun

August 14, 2024

A Towson law firm is preparing to represent Baltimore County firefighters who believe they have not been properly notified of a deadline to transfer service credits from other jurisdictions, following The Baltimore Sun’s reporting that the county paid a secret settlement to a firefighter who is the brother of County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s friend.

The firefighter had started asking in 2018 to transfer two years from his previous time in the city to his county pension, but officials repeatedly turned him down until his lawyer successfully got a settlement after he threatened to sue the county.

John Grason Turnbull III of the Turnbull Brockmeyer Law Group is soliciting claims from county firefighters who believe they were not properly informed of a deadline to transfer prior time from other jurisdictions to their county pensions. Claims evaluations are often the first step before a class action lawsuit is filed; no litigation has yet been filed against the county.

In a statement to The Sun, Turnbull said “numerous” first responders have retained his firm as counsel.

“There is a clear pattern that the county inadequately and inconsistently notified our first responders of the ability to bring time into the retirement system from prior employment,” he said. “We have requested specific documentation from the county and will continue to sign new clients pending further investigation. We need to take care of our first responders.”

County spokesperson Sean Naron declined to comment, citing potential litigation.

The county retirement system contains $1.8 billion in assets and maintains past and current county employees’ benefits and pensions. A board of trustees oversees the system. Its chair, Mike Day, did not respond to a request for comment.

The retirement system has come under scrutiny in the month since The Sun reported that the county paid $83,675 in 2020 to a firefighter whom officials previously denied paying because he missed a deadline by years to transfer prior service credits to his county pension. The firefighter, Philip Tirabassi, is the brother of John Tirabassi, a friend and high school classmate of Olszewski.

When he began trying to add service credits to his county pension in 2018, Philip Tirabassi said he was not informed of a 1991 deadline to transfer that time when he switched jobs from Baltimore City to Baltimore County. Multiple budget officials and county attorneys told him he was not entitled to add the extra time, which would have boosted his county pension.

County attorneys eventually agreed to pay him $83,675, according to a May 2020 settlement. A former county official has since filed a lawsuit to release records of the settlement under the Maryland Public Information Act.

Olszewski, a congressional candidate, said the county settled with Tirabassi to avoid further litigation after his attorney, Jay Miller, threatened to sue if his client did not receive his settlement. Multiple members of the administration said that the arrangement violated state and local pension law.

The County Council, which has largely remained silent, was initially uninformed at the time of Tirabassi’s settlement because a county official listed the recipient as “Philip Dough” in a check registry provided to the council at the time.

The three Republican members of the County Council have since called for Inspector General Kelly Madigan to investigate, but bucked the state GOP’s demand for Olszewski to step aside. Olszewski, a Democrat, has not been officially accused of or charged with any impropriety.

Madigan has refused to confirm or deny an investigation. In November, voters will decide whether to enshrine her office into law.

The council began its search for an interim county executive last week.

Miller said via email the settlement was not secret, nor did Olszewski “do any favors for my client.”

“I do not know why the county subsequently chose to keep our agreement ‘secret’ or hide it by changing Phil’s last name to (Dough),” Miller wrote. “But those decisions had nothing to do with my client or me.”

Part of Tirabassi’s settlement included a confidentiality agreement, which forbids him from discussing details, including with his union, the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1311, or its president, John Sibiga.

Sibiga said in an interview that the union had met with its labor attorneys “about four years ago” when news of Tirabassi’s settlement first broke. The union opted not to move forward with any legal action on the advice of its lawyers.

“It would have benefited a few (members), but not many,” Sibiga said of potential action against the county.

He said he believed Baltimore County had properly notified firefighters of the deadline to transfer their service time, and said the union meets with all new incoming firefighter recruits to inform them of their ability to transfer time if they have prior service from other jurisdictions.

Last year, IAFF Local 1311 accused the county of fostering a “toxic work environment” and voted a show of “no confidence” in top fire department officials. Despite that, the union has donated $20,300 to Olszewski’s state campaign fund since 2006, according to campaign finance reports.