Tag Archives: liquidated damages

On April 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD)—the arm of the DOL responsible for enforcing the FLSA—officially rescinded a controversial employer-friendly enforcement practice implemented less than a year ago. As a general rule, the FLSA requires liquidated damages be assessed after finding an employer violated the Act’s minimum wage or overtime requirements. Liquidated ...

The City of Selma, Alabama is the latest city facing an FLSA lawsuit filed by city firefighters. Three Assistant Fire Marshals/Fire Inspectors filed the suit, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, on April 19, 2021. Richard C. Byrd, Willie J. Mason Jr., and Aeneas L. Pettway allege that the city failed to pay them overtime ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter working for a small fire department with 13 full-time firefighters. We work 24 hours on duty, followed by a 48 hours off-duty for an average of 56 hours per week. My department has a strange way of paying overtime. Instead of paying firefighters for overtime worked in a regular bi-weekly paycheck; ...

The City of Davis, California recently settled an FLSA lawsuit filed by a small group of city firefighters for a total of $1,268,912. The lawsuit, which was filed on July 26, 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, was centered around whether payments made directly to firefighters in lieu of receiving employer sponsored medical benefits ...

Cathedral City, California, has settled a lawsuit filed by 47 current and former firefighters that alleged the city failed to pay them overtime as required by the FLSA. The lawsuit, which was filed on March 19, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, contained allegations the city failed to include all remuneration in the firefighters’ ...

The City of Tipton, Indiana, its mayor and fire chief are facing an FLSA lawsuit filed by a veteran city firefighter. The suit, filed by twenty (plus) year department veteran Chad Frazier, follows a recent Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Investigation which ultimately found fifteen city firefighters were shorted almost $100,000 in overtime wages. In the suit, Frazier ...

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 ...

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, ...

Retired First Deputy Fire Chief Gary Mogel has filed an FLSA lawsuit against his former employer, the City of Reading, Pennsylvania alleging the city violated the FLSA by failing to pay fire department shift commanders any overtime. This lawsuit is the latest of several recent lawsuits involving fire department shift commanders challenging their employer’s classification as “white-collar” overtime exempt employees. ...

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 ...