SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - State firefighters at Sioux Gateway Airport say they aren’t being paid their agreed-upon hourly wage, impacting morale and how much money the firefighters receive for working overtime.

Jacob Hagan was thrilled to become an airport firefighter about a year ago. The job he applied for said he’d be paid between $20 to $30 an hour.

But his checks? They started at just over $15 an hour. Now, Hagan and a veteran firefighter of the department are speaking out, frustrated by the lack of a response from the Iowa Department of Public Defense.

Hagan used to be a volunteer firefighter, but a job with the state at the Sioux Gateway Airport was too good to pass up. But when he opened his pay statements, the job felt less appealing.

“First paycheck was at $15.51 an hour,” said Hagan. “(I was) kind of flabbergasted. That was not the advertised job pay rate.”

Hagan provided a screenshot of the job he applied for. It shows a pay range of $20.79 to $30.81. His pay stub from Feb. 10, 2023, shows he was paid $16.16 an hour.

“They (the state) basically explained that because we work 26% more hours in a year than a normal state employee working 40-hour work weeks, the pay is cut by 26%. And that is your new hourly wage,” said Hagan.

Hagan and veteran firefighter Derek Stanfield said the hourly pay cut came after an August 2021 memo from Major General Benjamin Corell. Corell was the director of the Iowa Department of Public Defense, the agency the firefighters work for.

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