Fire commission adopts binding-arbitration rules after heated public comment

The San Francisco Fire Commission voted 4–1 on Sept. 13 to adopt revised binding-arbitration rules that add an administrative-appeal option for final disciplinary determinations in the San Francisco Fire Department.

City attorney representatives said the new rules are intended to bring the city into compliance with the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act. “These rules are meant to bring the city in compliance,” the city attorney’s presenter said during the hearing.

Commissioners probed the history and scope of the change. Commissioner Catherine Feinstein repeatedly pressed city counsel and staff on why the rules were not in place earlier and criticized a lack of commission briefings during meet‑and‑confer negotiations. Feinstein said the delay had real consequences for members who sought appeals and that the commission had been insufficiently informed about the process leading up to the current proposal.

Members of the public and former Fire Department employees urged the commission to do more than adopt rules. Christopher Salas, a retired SFFD firefighter who spoke during public comment, said colleagues had been separated without disciplinary processes and appealed to the commission for the “right and just decision” for workers who lost jobs. Other callers and attendees accused the commission and the department of longstanding procedural failures and urged remedial action for firefighters they said were harmed by earlier separations.

City and commission representatives described the measure as a compliance remedy rather than retroactive relief. The proposed rules as explained at the meeting state that they “shall apply to any administrative appeal from any final fire commission decision issued after 02/01/2022 through 1 calendar year from the date the fire commission approves the appeal rules” unless parties agree otherwise in writing.

After public comment and discussion, President Steven Acasio moved to adopt the rules and Vice President Armee Morgan seconded the motion; the commission approved the proposal 4–1. Commissioners did not spell out individual roll-call votes in the public record beyond the overall 4–1 tally. The meeting record shows the motion carried and the rules will take effect as the commission's action specifies.

What's next: Commissioners and department legal staff said they would carry forward follow-up implementation steps and noted that the rules do not by themselves reinstate personnel or adjudicate prior separations; those concerns were raised repeatedly during public comment and remain outstanding.