Tag Archives: §207(k)

Today’s FLSA Question: I recently read a news story about a fire chief that retired and received compensation for 93 comp time days in addition to his unused vacation and sick time. My question is specifically about the comp time buy-out. Assuming that each “day” equaled 8 hours of comp time, that equates to 744 hours of comp time. My ...

The City of Tulsa, Oklahoma is one step closer to resolving an FLSA lawsuit filed by nearly 500 Tulsa firefighters. This past Wednesday, the Tulsa City Council approved a settlement in the amount of $1,060,000. The firefighter’s complaint, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in February 2022, contained several allegations related ...

Today’s FLSA Question: Can the terms of a negotiated agreement between a union and an employer [i.e., collective bargaining agreement, memorandum of understanding, etc.] supersede the FLSA’s overtime requirements? Answer: No, a negotiated agreement between a union and an employer will not supersede the FLSA’s overtime requirements. This is a relatively common misconception when it comes to the impact of ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter in a small rural combination fire department. We have 12 full-time firefighters and another dozen active volunteers. Our department has strict rules that forbid our paid firefighters volunteering their time for the department. Recently, the department began allowing the volunteer firefighters the opportunity to pick up “per diem” shifts. The volunteers ...

Congressman Gerry Connolly, a democrat from Virginia introduced legislation this past week aimed at improving pension benefits and working conditions for thousands of federal firefighters. The legislation, which is called the Federal Firefighter Pay Equity Act, contains two basic requirements. First, it requires the federal government to include overtime wages received by federal firefighters for working their normally prescribed work ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I work for a third-party EMS agency that contracts 911 service for a rural county. Our agency is struggling to find medics and EMTs. As a result, overtime and mandatory overtime has turned into the norm. In an effort to incentivize employees to take additional shifts, my company has begun offering a bonus in addition to overtime ...

My friend and colleague Curt Varone recently posted a story on his Fire Law Blog entitled, “Part-Time Fire Chiefs and Compensation.” The post answered a burning question that Curt received on whether part-time fire chiefs can be classified as overtime exempt executive employees. Curt did a great job answering that question and providing some alternative options for compensating part-time fire ...

The City of Los Angeles is facing an FLSA lawsuit from several city firefighters over late reliefs and mandatory shift recalls. The complaint, which was filed on February 10, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, contains allegations related to numerous instances of unpaid overtime raised by several city firefighters. According to the three named ...

In this Fire Law VLOG, Curt Varone and Bill Maccarone discuss three recent settlements involving high-ranking fire officers and their entitlement to FLSA overtime. What makes a high-level fire officer an overtime exempt executive or administrative employee under the FLSA? The FLSA and Department of Labor (DOL) regulations contain a long list of requirements necessary to classify any employee as ...

The City of Encinitas, California is one step closer to resolving an FLSA overtime lawsuit filed by four current and former fire department battalion chiefs. Lawyers representing the city and the battalion chiefs filed a joint motion in federal court last week to approve a settlement reached following an April 2022 lawsuit. The settlement requires the city pay the battalion ...