Evacuation, Medical Care, and Sheltering/ Force Account Labor & Equipment Costs

Appeal Brief

Appeal Letter

Appeal Analysis

Background

From September 23 through November 4, 2022, strong winds and torrential rain from Hurricane Ian caused damage throughout Florida.[1] The Shell Point Retirement Community (Applicant),a Private Nonprofit (PNP) organization that served as an elderly retirement residence, sheltered its residents, employees and some of their family members at the Island Garage Shelter (Island Shelter), and subsequently requested $66,022.05 in Public Assistance (PA) for force account labor costs for employees breaking down and cleaning the Island Shelter.[2] FEMA created Grants Manager Project 710004 to document the costs. 

FEMA issued multiple Requests for Information, asking the Applicant to provide information on the employees’ work, including timecards and a description of the employees’ duties while closing the shelter.[3] The Applicant replied by providing timecards, submitting a 2022 Hurricane Plan, and explaining that there are no individual activity logs because all the employees were performing the same activities, including ensuring that the elderly returned safely to their residences, cleaning beds, and collecting waste.[4] Additionally, the Applicant submitted a spreadsheet including each employee’s name, title, pay designation, pay rate, shifts worked, and amount paid.[5] 

FEMA issued a Determination Memorandum on June 10, 2024, denying $66,022.05 for force account labor costs. FEMA found the Applicant did not demonstrate that (1) employees performed eligible emergency protective activities, (2) the double pay costs are associated with overtime (OT) labor costs and/or are extraordinary costs for essential employees called back to work during administrative leave to perform eligible emergency work, and (3) overtime hours claimed are in excess of regular time worked.

First Appeal

On August 9, 2024, the Applicant appealed claiming that the requested straight time and OT for cleaning costs associated with the shelter closing should be reimbursed. The Applicant stated that its employees were not performing their normal duties but helping close a shelter in the aftermath of a disaster, that all of the Applicant’s employees would have been put on administrative leave if they had not staffed the shelters, and that the employees in question chose to work in exchange for the hazardous pay outlined in the Hurricane Plan. 

The Applicant stated that all costs should be eligible as extraordinary premium pay as outlined in its Hurricane Plan, which complied with FEMA criteria for labor policies.[6] The Applicant stated that the analysis FEMA used in the Broward County School District second appeal determination to reimburse extraordinary costs for employees called back from administrative leave to perform emergency work should be applied to these facts, and FEMA should grant the requested costs.[7] Alternatively, the Applicant stated that, at the very least, it should be reimbursed for $11,324.58 in overtime costs. The Florida Division of Emergency Management (Recipient) transmitted the Applicant’s first appeal in a September 25, 2024 letter. 

The FEMA Region 4 Regional Administrator denied the first appeal in a December 19, 2024 letter. FEMA found the Applicant did not show that the claimed force account labor costs are directly tied to the performance of eligible emergency protective measures. FEMA stated that the Applicant only provided a general description of work performed, such as cleaning the Island Shelter. It also stated that the Applicant’s submitted timecards did not link claimed work to hours worked by specific employees. FEMA also found that the Applicant did not submit a written predisaster pay policy, nor did the Applicant show that its employees were placed on administrative leave and called back from such leave. 

Second Appeal

The Applicant submitted a second appeal on February 13, 2025, reiterating previous arguments. In addition, the Applicant states that all its employees were placed on administrative leave after Lee County issued an evacuation order prior to the disaster, and that approximately 20 percent of its employees agreed to return from administrative leave to work on the shelters. The Recipient transmitted the Applicant’s second appeal in a letter dated March 27, 2025.

Discussion

FEMA may provide PA for emergency protective measures to save lives, protect public health and safety, and protect improved property.[8] For emergency work, generally only overtime labor is eligible for budgeted employees; except in limited circumstances, the straight-time of an applicant’s budgeted employees performing emergency work is ineligible.[9] Overtime is time worked beyond an employee’s scheduled working hours as defined by the applicant’s predisaster pay policy.[10] FEMA may reimburse extraordinary costs (such as call back pay and hazardous duty pay) for essential employees who are called back to duty during administrative leave to perform eligible emergency work if costs are paid in accordance with a labor policy that meets certain criteria.[11] For costs to be eligible, they must be directly tied to the performance of eligible work and adequately documented.[12] If the applicant does not provide documentation to support its claim as eligible, FEMA cannot provide PA funding for the work.[13]

Here, the Applicant stated that, regardless of titles and duties, generally all the employees for which it requested force account labor costs were cleaning the Island Shelter from September 26, 2022, to October 8, 2022. The administrative record does not show the actual tasks performed by those employees. In support of its claim, the Applicant provided copies of unsigned timecards that do not provide details of the work performed during the employees’ recorded time. Likewise, the Applicant provided a spreadsheet including each employee’s name, title, pay designation, pay rate, dates and total hours worked, and amount paid. However, this spreadsheet does not include a description of the work performed and does not link the requested costs to eligible emergency work. Regardless of the type of force account labor costs claimed (i.e., overtime or straight-time), the Applicant has not demonstrated that the employees performed eligible emergency protective measures, and therefore, the claimed costs are not eligible for PA funding.

In addition, the Applicant’s claim includes straight-time for budgeted employees performing emergency work, and generally only overtime is eligible for budgeted employees. As an alternative, the Applicant argues its claimed costs are eligible as extraordinary costs of essential employees called back to duty during administrative leave. However, despite the Applicant’s claims on second appeal, the documentation on appeal does not show that these employees were placed on administrative leave and then called back. Rather, as the Hurricane Plan states, essential employees were essential to ongoing operations and were required to shelter on site and work during a hurricane.[14] This resulted in those employees working during their regularly scheduled hours, without ever being “called back” to work.[15] Therefore, the claimed cost are not eligible as extraordinary costs.

Conclusion

FEMA finds that the Applicant has not demonstrated the claimed force account labor costs were tied to the performance of eligible emergency work or extraordinary costs for employees called back from administrative leave to perform eligible emergency work. Therefore, this appeal is denied.