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, ...
Read More »Tag Archives: regular rate of pay
DC Police Officers File FLSA Lawsuit Over Covid-19 Hazard Pay
A group of more than 1,000 Washington D.C., police officers filed a lawsuit earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging the District has shorted the officers’ overtime rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the officers claim the District has failed to include hazardous duty pay in their regular rate of pay in violation ...
Read More »Ruling in FF/Medics’ FLSA Overtime Lawsuit Stresses Importance of FD Policies and Procedures
Fire Departments that utilize the FLSA’s §207(k) partial overtime exemption for cross-trained firefighter/EMTs should carefully review their policies and procedures following a recent court decision. The decision, which was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Ada Brown, invalidated the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport’s Fire Department’s (DFWFD) use of the §207(k) exemption for cross-trained firefighter/EMTs assigned to the department’s EMS ...
Read More »DOL’s PAID Program May Prove Useful for Fire Departments Seeking to Rectify Past FLSA Violations
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a newly appointed fire chief. I am very concerned about some of my department’s pay practices. In particular, payments made to firefighters for paramedic certification and longevity are not being included in their regular rate of pay. I want to resolve this issue. Based on my figures, we probably owe our firefighters around $60,000 in ...
Read More »California agrees to a total of $4.8 million in back wages to some CalFire firefighters
The State of California has agreed to pay almost 2000 firefighters a total of $4.8 million in back pay after shortchanging their regular rate over the past several years. According to The Sacramento Bee, the back wages will be going to approximately 1,900 CalFire firefighters that received cash payments in lieu of accepting employer sponsored medical benefits from May 2015 ...
Read More »GA County Fire Department Faces A Second FLSA Suit Since 2018
The Cobb County Georgia Fire Department is facing a second lawsuit in as many years for allegedly violating the FLSA. David Simister, a fire captain for Cobb County Fire filed this second suit, on behalf of himself and “other similarly situated individuals,” last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Simister claims the county’s pay ...
Read More »TN County and Medics Settle Overtime Lawsuit
Putnam County, Tennessee has reached a $280,000 settlement agreement with a group of current and former EMTs following a 2019 lawsuit over alleged FLSA violations. The suit, which was initially filed by a lone paramedic last July, contained three basic allegations. First, the county failed to pay for off-the-clock pre-and-post shift work, second, the county improperly implemented the “fluctuating workweek ...
Read More »Austin First Responders Upset Over City’s Hazard Pay Plans
The City of Austin, Texas has announced that some city employees will be receiving “hazard pay” as a result of working during the coronavirus outbreak. Austin officials have announced that some city workers will receive a one-time lump-sum payment as a reward for coming to work during the height of the pandemic. The one-time payment could be as much as ...
Read More »Employer Sponsored Life Insurance, the Regular Rate, and the FLSA
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a career firefighter. The city provides a $90,000 life insurance policy for all firefighters. I noticed the city included a portion of the cost of the insurance policy as taxable income in my last paycheck of 2019. I asked our finance department for an explanation. I was told the IRS requires some fringe benefits, like ...
Read More »CA Firefighters File FLSA Suit Over Regular Rate
The Borrego Springs Fire Protection District (District) is the latest California fire department facing an FLSA lawsuit. A group of seventeen firefighters filed the suit last month, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging the district failed to include all remuneration in the firefighters’ regular rate of pay. Specifically, the firefighters allege the district did ...
Read More »