Tag Archives: fire chief

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD)—the arm of the DOL responsible for enforcing the FLSA—has announced a major policy shift related to liquidated damages in pre-litigation settlements following DOL investigations. As a result of this change, state and local government employers will likely be able to avoid any liquidated damages in the event a DOL ...

Lawyers representing the City of Martinsburg, West Virginia recently announced that the city will appeal a state court decision over holiday compensation for the city’s firefighters. In a February 2020 decision, Judge Laura Faircloth found as a matter of law [i.e. absent a trial], that the city’s holiday pay plan for its firefighters violated the West Virginia Wage Payment and ...

The Cobb County Georgia Fire Department is facing a second lawsuit in as many years for allegedly violating the FLSA. David Simister, a fire captain for Cobb County Fire filed this second suit, on behalf of himself and “other similarly situated individuals,” last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Simister claims the county’s pay ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a city human resources manager. Our city’s firefighters work 24 hours on-duty, followed by 48 hours off-duty for an average of 56 hours per week. Currently, the city utilizes a 27-day work period for line firefighters. However, our firefighters are paid bi-weekly. Therefore, firefighters frequently do not get paid for their overtime until two or ...

The City of Austin, Texas has announced that some city employees will be receiving “hazard pay” as a result of working during the coronavirus outbreak. Austin officials have announced that some city workers will receive a one-time lump-sum payment as a reward for coming to work during the height of the pandemic. The one-time payment could be as much as ...

A Pennsylvania firefighter is claiming that his employer failed to pay him and other similarly situated firefighters’ overtime as required by federal law. Keith Still, a firefighter for Manheim Township Fire and Rescue, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania filed the suit on July 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Still alleges the township’s pay practices related ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a career firefighter. The city provides a $90,000 life insurance policy for all firefighters. I noticed the city included a portion of the cost of the insurance policy as taxable income in my last paycheck of 2019. I asked our finance department for an explanation. I was told the IRS requires some fringe benefits, like ...

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has ordered the City of Highland Park, Michigan to pay four current city employees $49,181 in back wages and another $1,368 in penalties following an investigation into the city’s pay policies. The investigation found violations in the way the city counted hours worked for certain city employees. Specifically, four city employees that work as ...

The Borrego Springs Fire Protection District (District) is the latest California fire department facing an FLSA lawsuit. A group of seventeen firefighters filed the suit last month, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging the district failed to include all remuneration in the firefighters’ regular rate of pay. Specifically, the firefighters allege the district did ...

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a significant modification to an existing overtime rule for employees that work fluctuating hours from week to week. As a result, many first responders, including firefighters may find less money in their paychecks in the coming months. The new rule, set to take effect in July, alters the current stringent requirements necessary ...