Tag Archives: overtime

Two Battle Creek, Michigan battalion chiefs (BCs) have again lost their claim for FLSA overtime. In a June 3, 2019 decision the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a lower court’s decision denying Battalion Chiefs Howard Holt and Martin Erskine overtime for time spent on-call after their normal work hours. Battalion chief Howard Holt, who retired in ...

The City of Santa Clara, California is close to settling an FLSA lawsuit filed by five city firefighters back in October of 2018. These five initially alleged the city violated the FLSA by failing to include all remuneration in their regular rate of pay which resulted in firefighters being shorted on both comp time and overtime payments. The firefighters also ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the union president of a mid-sized fire department. In our most recent contract negotiations, we were able to secure a small “on-call” stipend for several fire department officers that are required to be on-call. Starting July 1, the fire marshal and safety officer will each receive a weekly stipend for the inconvenience of being on-call. ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I recently read a story on your website about Rhode Island enacting a new law requiring firefighters be paid overtime after working only 42 hours per week. But the FLSA only mandates overtime pay after firefighters work 53 hours per week. Doesn’t federal law (FLSA) trump (or pre-empt) state law? Answer: Good question. You are not alone ...

A Georgia EMT filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month alleging his employer, Meriwether County Fire Rescue (MCFR) failed to pay him—and other similarly situated EMTs—overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). David Barbee filed the lawsuit on May 10, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Barbee alleges he worked as an ...

The State of Rhode Island (RI) has enacted historic legislation expanding overtime protection for firefighters working in the state. The new law [well, to be precise, it is actually an elimination of a past exemption and the expansion of an existing statute] mandates overtime pay for local firefighters for all hours worked over an “average” of forty-two hours per week. ...

On April 2, 2019 three San Diego firefighters filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California alleging the City of San Diego violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). For more on that story from FirefighterOvertime.org click here. However, in the past five weeks alone, another 250 city firefighters have elected to “opt-in” on this ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...