Tag Archives: firefighters

WI Paramedic Files Lawsuit for Overtime

A Wisconsin paramedic has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin alleging his employer, the Village of Plover, Wisconsin violated the FLSA. Paramedic Joshua Wendorf alleges the village failed to (1) pay him for all hours worked, (2) pay overtime for hours worked over 40 per week, and (3) properly calculate earned FLSA ...

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Federal Judge Throws Out Suit Filed by WA State Fire Department Over FLSA Overtime for Battalion Chiefs and Fire Marshals

This past week a district court judge in Washington state dismissed a highly unusual FLSA lawsuit initiated by the Spokane Valley Fire Department (SVFD) back in the summer of 2017. Spokane Valley filed the suit against the union that represents its firefighters, IAFF Local 3701, in an effort to receive a judicial declaration that SVFD battalion chiefs and fire marshals ...

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San Diego Firefighters File FLSA Lawsuit

Several current and former San Diego firefighters filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging the City of San Diego violated the FLSA. Eric Kelley, Patrick Hesters, and Eric Dunnick filed the suit on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated individuals in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on April 2, 2019. The firefighters’ complaint states ...

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Unpaid Commute vs. Paid Travel Time

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the fire chief of a full-time paid fire department with seven stations. Firefighters bid by seniority to a preferred station. We utilize an out-of-rank system to fill most vacancies within the officer ranks. This out-of-rank system requires senior firefighters to move up and cover vacant officer positions. This can result in firefighters being required to ...

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No Overtime for Washington State Battalion Chiefs

In what is likely to be the first of several legal decisions involving fire department shift commanders and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime eligibility, eight current and former Vancouver, Washington battalion chiefs (BCs) have lost their bids for FLSA overtime. This litigation began almost two years ago, after a small group of current and former BCs filed a federal ...

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Allegations of FLSA Regular Rate Violations Against CA Fire Department

Cathedral City, California, is the latest city to face allegations of unpaid overtime from one of its firefighters. Corey Goddard, an engineer/paramedic for the Cathedral City Fire Department, filed a federal lawsuit this week alleging his employer [Cathedral City] failed to include all remuneration in his and other firefighters’ regular rate of pay in violation of the FLSA. In the ...

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Non-Firefighter Medics, Shift Substitutions, and the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a non-firefighting paramedic and a union representative in an urban city. The city allows firefighters to freely substitute with each other for their assigned shifts. We would like to receive the same opportunities as firefighters regarding substitutions. Unfortunately, the city’s HR director believes the FLSA limits shift substitutions to firefighters and police officers. As a ...

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Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and the FLSA. . .

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the assistant chief for a mid-sized full-time paid fire department. The department is sending two fire officers out-of-state to inspect a new piece of fire apparatus we are purchasing. The apparatus factory is about two hours away by airplane or 6 hours by car. One of the officers wants to leave a day early and ...

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Allegations of Improper Sleep Time Deductions by National Air Ambulance Company

Three flight paramedics and one flight nurse have filed an FLSA lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, against their employer, Air Methods Corporation. The suit alleges Air Methods improperly deducts sleep time from employees hours worked in an effort to evade FLSA overtime requirements. While this suit only includes four plaintiffs at this time, attorneys ...

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