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

Today’s FLSA Question: I am an HR director for a mid-sized city. The fire chief wants to require all future officers possess NFPA 1041 (Fire Service Instructor) and 1021 (Fire Officer I) certification prior to getting promoted. The chief tells me these classes are frequently offered at the state fire academy at a minimal cost. The chief also believes these ...

Hazel “Pepper” Corbin, a civilian office employee for the Arizona City Fire District, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the district failed to pay her overtime as required by the FLSA and state law. Corbin’s suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on December 2, makes rather common wage and hour allegations against ...

Three Newton County, Georgia Battalion Chiefs (BCs) have filed a federal lawsuit claiming the County’s Fire Department fails to pay them overtime in violation of the FLSA. Battalion Chiefs Bobby Cagle, Brian Massey, and Ralph “Trey” Stewart III filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, on November 27, 2019. Specifically, the three BCs ...

The City of Providence, RI has settled a 2013 FLSA lawsuit filed by city police officers for more than $1.7 million dollars. According to the Providence Journal, the terms of the settlement require the city to pay $1.5 million to more than 400 current and former officers and an additional $223,000 to the officers’ attorneys. The city has yet to ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the fire chief of a mid-sized full-time fire department. Currently, our firefighters work 24-hour shifts; however, the firefighters’ union is proposing a move to 48-hour work shifts. I am open to the change, but I am concerned about firefighter fatigue and the effects of working shifts longer than 48 hours. We do not have a ...

Stan Smith, a former Fire Marshal for the City of Sand Springs, Oklahoma Fire Department has agreed to a $247,500 settlement with the city following his 2017 lawsuit over unpaid overtime. Smith filed a rather common straight-forward FLSA lawsuit in September 2017. Smith alleged that he regularly performed work during his unpaid scheduled lunch hour. The FLSA requires employers pay ...

Gary Perry, a paramedic for Montgomery County Emergency Medical Services, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the county fails to pay him and other similarly situated medics overtime as required by the FLSA. According to Perry’s complaint—which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on October 28—the county does not provide Perry and other ...

Does your state participate in Daylight Savings Time? Most likely, you answered yes to this question. Now, in addition to changing the batteries on smoke and CO detectors, did you pay your firefighters correctly? Since it is getting to be that time of year again, here is a post from FirefighterOvertime.org dating back to December of 2017 that is just ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter that works a 24/48 schedule for an average of 56 hours per week. Historically, firefighters in our city received all of their FLSA overtime in one big check at the end of the year. The city maintained a running record of all the overtime pay firefighters were owed from scheduled work ...

A New York jury has found the City of New York violated the FLSA by not paying EMTs for the time spent working before and after assigned shifts. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, on February 13, 2013 by more than 2,500 FDNY EMTs and paramedics. According to attorneys representing ...