Tag Archives: FLSA for Fire Departments

SC Firefighters Desperate for Community Support

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 ...

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Florida County and Union Agree to Increase New Firefighter Pay by 20 Percent

Officials from Escambia County, Florida, and the county’s firefighter’s union have agreed to a new three-year collective bargaining agreement that includes a department-wide wage adjustment for all county firefighters. The new contract requires firefighters receive pay raises ranging from two to twenty percent. According to the president of the Escambia Professional Firefighters Association, Lt. Nick Gradia, Escambia’s pay scales had ...

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Another FLSA Lawsuit filed by FDNY EMS Workers

The City of New York is once again facing an FLSA lawsuit filed by FDNY Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers. In a 15-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 16, 2021, three named plaintiffs claim the City of New York is systematically underpaying its EMS workers. Specifically, the complaint alleges ...

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Illinois Firefighters File FLSA Suit

A group of four firefighters have filed a lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleging their employer, the Village of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, underpaid them for overnight shifts and failed to pay overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. The Village of Winthrop Harbor is a ...

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FLSA Mistakes Do Not Have To Be Costly

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a new fire chief for a mid-sized full-time paid fire department. Our firefighters work a 48/96 schedule with a 24-day work period. Additionally, we provide our firefighters with 12 (24-hour) Kelly Days every year. However, we do not assign a Kelly Day every work period. Instead, we allow our firefighters to use their 12-Kelly Days ...

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DOL Finds Illinois Police Dept. Failed to Pay OT as Required by the FLSA

Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division, the City of East St. Louis, Illinois has been ordered to pay almost $160,000 in back wages and penalties to a total of 19 city police officers. The DOL investigation uncovered several FLSA violations. In particular, the DOL found that the city failed to pay police ...

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Firefighters Paid on a Salary Basis, Overtime, and the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a rookie firefighter working for a rural county fire department. I am confused about the way firefighters in my fire department are compensated. We are paid a bi-weekly salary. However, we also receive FLSA overtime pay for all hours worked over 106 every two weeks. I am confused. I thought that being paid a salary ...

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Guaranteed Overtime, Pay Smoothing, and the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a firefighter for a city fire department. We have a total of 33 line firefighters and officers assigned to 2 stations on 3 shifts. We work 24 hours on duty, followed by 48 hours off-duty. Our department uses a 14-day work period and we receive overtime for all additional hours worked outside of our normally ...

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