Firefighter Overtime Discussing Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Firefighters, First Responders as well as Human Resource & Finance Professional

Firefighters substituting for each other’s work shifts is common in today’s fire service. Most fire departments allow firefighters, and in some instances, other departmental employees the ability to freely substitute work shifts with each other. There are several reasons why so many fire departments allow personnel to substitute for each other. First and foremost is monetary. The FLSA and Department ...

In the latest bit of legal wrangling between the City of Martinsburg and its professional firefighters, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has denied the city’s appeal seeking to reverse an earlier ruling by a lower court, in favor of the firefighters. As a result, the 2018 lawsuit which centers around a highly unique West Virginia statute related to ...

An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has found that the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office violated the FLSA by not paying law enforcement officers for the time spent working before and after scheduled work shifts. The FLSA requires employers pay overtime eligible employees for all hours worked. This includes time spent before and after assigned work ...

A group of four firefighters have filed a lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleging their employer, the Village of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, underpaid them for overnight shifts and failed to pay overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. The Village of Winthrop Harbor is a ...

The City of Portsmouth, Virginia has reached a settlement with a group of fifteen paramedics ending an FLSA lawsuit filed in late 2020. The medics alleged the city failed to pay them overtime as required by the FLSA and Virginia Law. For more on the medics’ claims, including a copy of the complaint, click here. The terms of the settlement ...

An FLSA lawsuit filed by more than 2,500 FDNY EMTs and Paramedics back in 2013 is inching towards a conclusion after a federal judge dismissed the city’s most recent attempt for a new trial last week. This latest decision comes on the heels of a 2019 trial in which a jury awarded the FDNY EMTs and medics over $14 million ...

The City of Chickasha, Oklahoma and has settled an FLSA lawsuit with 31 city firefighters for almost $150,000. The settlement stems from a December 2020 lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The firefighters alleged the city failed to include longevity pay in their regular rate of pay. The FLSA requires wage augments, like ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I have been a part-time firefighter working for a small non-union municipal fire department for more than 5 years. My department augments full-time staff with part-timers, like myself. Historically, working as a part-time firefighter was the best way to get a job as a full-time firefighter. Up until recently, the department’s part-time firefighters were limited to a ...

The City of New York has agreed to pay four current and former FDNY Motor Vehicle Operators (MVOs) and their attorneys a total of $429,901.18 to settle an unpaid overtime lawsuit. The MVOs, filed the lawsuit in June 2019, alleging the city failed to pay them for required pre-and-post shift activities (i.e., off-the-clock work), time spent working during unpaid meal ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a new fire chief for a mid-sized full-time paid fire department. Our firefighters work a 48/96 schedule with a 24-day work period. Additionally, we provide our firefighters with 12 (24-hour) Kelly Days every year. However, we do not assign a Kelly Day every work period. Instead, we allow our firefighters to use their 12-Kelly Days ...