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Mass. hearing advances calls to reclassify 911 telecommunicators as public-safety employees
Summary
Witnesses and public-safety groups told the Joint Committee on Public Service that 911 telecommunicators should be moved from Group 1 (clerical) to Group 2 in the state retirement system, citing chronic stress, PTSD risk, retention problems and costs of turnover; multiple bills filed would grandfather existing employees hired on or before Jan. 1,
Representative Hadley Letty, the state representative for the Fourth Barnstable District, opened testimony urging protections for dispatchers affected by a retirement-classification review, saying the change would “create financial uncertainty and unnecessary hardship” for public-safety employees who planned retirements based on existing benefits.
The core ask at the committee’s Jan. hearing was to move certified 911 telecommunicators from Group 1 (general clerical) to Group 2 of the Massachusetts state retirement system, and to grandfather existing employees hired on or before Jan. 1, 2023. Kevin Lessard, deputy director of the Middlesex Regional Emergency Communication Center and president of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Emergency Number Association, asked the committee to report favorably on a suite of bills including House…
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