Tag Archives: fire chief

Senior United States District Court Judge Rebecca Beach Smith has approved a $200,000 settlement in a FLSA misclassification lawsuit filed late last year by a group of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Captains, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The settlement, which was officially approved by the court on Friday December 10, 2021, requires the City of Virginia Beach to pay a total ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I recently read your article entitled “Firefighters, Mandatory Overtime, and the FLSA” and have a somewhat related follow-up question. I work for a large county fire department. We also work a 24/48 schedule with a scheduled Kelly-day every three weeks for a 48-hour average workweek. However, we receive overtime for all additional hours worked outside of our ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a volunteer fire chief for a fully volunteer fire department. Like many volunteer fire departments, we struggle getting trucks on the road during weekday hours. However, we have several volunteer firefighters that are employed by the town in other departments in addition to serving as volunteer firefighters. Recently, a town official proposed allowing these town ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld a lower court’s finding that in order to utilize the FLSA’s §207(k) partial overtime exemption, a fire department must establish a qualifying work period. This story began back in January 2020 when former Highland Hills, Ohio firefighter David Vance filed an FLSA lawsuit against his former employer. Vance’s allegations ...

A United States Magistrate Judge has ruled in the favor of more than 450 Kansas City, Missouri firefighters following their FLSA lawsuit against the city. In a 2019 lawsuit, Kansas City firefighters claimed the city failed to include a wide range of wage augments in their overtime rate of pay. The FLSA requires “all remuneration for employment paid to, or ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the fire chief of a full-time paid municipal fire department. Several of our firefighters and officers have been voluntarily attending on-campus classes in several different programs offered through the National Fire Academy (NFA). As a policy, the department provides these members with paid time off (without using vacation time or requiring shift trades) for all ...

Firefighters from Georgetown County, South Carolina are again attempting to raise public awareness regarding the ongoing critical firefighter and paramedic staffing shortage within the county. The Georgetown Professional Firefighters Association, Local 4526, has posted a three-page letter on its Facebook page that provides examples of how the “critical staffing shortage” is impacting the firefighters ability to serve the community. According ...

The long running legal battle between the City of Morgantown, West Virginia and its firefighters over holiday pay does not appear to be coming to an end anytime soon. This past week city firefighters filed an amended complaint in state court claiming the city owes firefighters almost $6.5 million after years of improperly calculating their holiday pay. The firefighters had ...

The City of Columbia, South Carolina has announced a new hazard pay and bonus program for city workers. The plan, which has been approved by the city council will provide firefighters, police officers, public works, and other “front-line workers” with a $2,500 one-time stipend for working through the pandemic. Other city workers will receive a $1,250 one-time stipend. Additionally, city ...

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 ...