Tag Archives: FLSA

This is the first of several posts dedicated to answering questions asked by attendees at the recent FLSA for Fire Departments live webinar. If you have questions like this, please consider attending the next live webinar in February 2021. FLSA Question: Can uniform allowances paid to police officers and firefighters be excluded from the regular rate of pay? Does the ...

A Columbiana Ohio, police officer recently filed a rather straight-forward lawsuit containing allegations of unpaid overtime. Patrolman Bryan Granchie, a K-9 officer for the Columbiana Police Department filed the lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleging the city failed to pay him for hours worked caring for his K-9 work partner “Csuti.” Lawsuits for ...

In this Vlog, Curt Varone and I discuss a recent federal court decision that invalidated one Texas fire departments use of the FLSA’s §207(k) partial overtime exemption for firefighter/medics assigned to EMS companies. Here is more on this important ruling. Ruling in FF/Medics’ FLSA Overtime Lawsuit Stresses Importance of FD Policies and Procedures

The City of Chattanooga is facing criticism over firefighter pay. The criticism, leveled by local union officials, follows a 2019 payroll study in conjunction with recent claims made by city administrators’ that ALL city employees will be paid above the “Federal Poverty Rate.” First, a 2019 payroll study found Chattanooga firefighters earn significantly less than other area firefighters. The starting ...

Does your state participate in daylight savings time? Most likely, you answered yes to this question. Now, in addition to changing the batteries on your smoke and CO detectors, have you considered how daylights savings time may impact a firefighter’s hours worked? Since it is getting to be that time of year again, here is a post from FirefighterOvertime.org dating ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a newly appointed fire chief involved in my first contract negotiations with the city’s firefighter union. Understandably, staffing and overtime are hot button topics. The city’s attorney has proposed capping overtime pay at a preset figure on an annual basis. For example, she proposed capping firefighter overtime at $250,000 annually during the term of the ...

A group of fourteen paramedics filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging their employer, the City of Portsmouth Virginia, Fire Rescue and Emergency Services Department failed to pay them overtime as required by both the FLSA and Virginia law. According to the complaint, the medics work on a 14-day rotating schedule consisting of three 12-hour work shifts during the first ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the union president for a mid-sized full-time fire department. Our contract allows substitutions provided the shift commander is aware of the substitution before the start of the shift. Recently, there have been several instances where firefighters working substitutions caught late runs that required them to work past the end of the shift. Normally, firefighters submit ...

The San Diego City Council unanimously approved a $3.4 million settlement with more than 700 city firefighters this week. The settlement resolves a 2019 lawsuit, that was initially filed by only three city firefighters, alleging the city’s pay practices violated the FLSA. Over the course of the next several months hundreds of more firefighters opted into the suit. In the ...

The City of Gloversville, New York has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by three retired firefighters over alleged violations of the FLSA. According to The Leader-Herald, the settlement provides a total of $110,000 paid to the three retirees and their attorney(s). The crux of the retired firefighters’ claims revolved around the FLSA’s compensatory time (comp time) requirements. In particular, ...