Los Angeles lifeguard captain Daniel Douglas was paid $510,283 in 2021, including base pay of $150,054, and $246,000 in overtime. But wait, there’s more! Douglas also received $28,661 in “Other Pay” and benefits valued at $85,508.
Douglas was the top earner among 98 Los Angeles area beach lifeguards found by Open the Books, who “earned at least $200,000 including benefits last year, and 20 made between $300,000 and $510,283. Thirty-seven lifeguards made between $50,000 and $247,000 in overtime alone.”
And that’s not even the end of it. Los Angeles lifeguards can retire at age 55 and receive up to 79 percent of their base pay, making them participants in one of the increasingly rare “defined benefit” retirement programs in the country….