DC Police Officers File FLSA Lawsuit Over Covid-19 Hazard Pay

A group of more than 1,000 Washington D.C., police officers filed a lawsuit earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging the District has shorted the officers’ overtime rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the officers claim the District has failed to include hazardous duty pay in their regular rate of pay in violation of the FLSA. The District began paying employees working during the pandemic an additional $14 per day [i.e. hazard pay] back in March.

As a general rule, the FLSA requires “extra premiums” like “night shift differentials…premiums paid for hazardous, arduous, or dirty work” included in an employee’s regular rate of pay. Failure to include these types of “premiums” in an employee’s regular can result in an FLSA violation.

Here, the officers are seeking back wages, an equal amount of liquidated damages, and attorneys’ fees. For more on “Covid-19 Hazardous Duty Pay and the Regular Rate”, click here. For more on the DC story from the Washington Post, click here.