Tag Archives: regular rate

A federal lawsuit filed by Honolulu paramedic Robert Hayslip will expand to include hundreds of other “similarly situated” EMTs and medics following a federal judge’s ruling last week. United States District Court Judge, Derrick K. Watson granted a motion filed by Hayslip’s attorneys to conditionally certify the lawsuit as a “collective action.” According to Hayslip’s attorneys, as many as 300 ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I work for a third-party EMS agency that contracts 911 service for a rural county. Our agency is struggling to find medics and EMTs. As a result, overtime and mandatory overtime has turned into the norm. In an effort to incentivize employees to take additional shifts, my company has begun offering a bonus in addition to overtime ...

My friend and colleague Curt Varone recently posted a story on his Fire Law Blog entitled, “Part-Time Fire Chiefs and Compensation.” The post answered a burning question that Curt received on whether part-time fire chiefs can be classified as overtime exempt executive employees. Curt did a great job answering that question and providing some alternative options for compensating part-time fire ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter that works a 56-hour average workweek utilizing a 48/96 schedule. My department calculates my regular rate and overtime rate by taking my annual salary, including stipends and longevity, and dividing that by 2,912. According to human resources, that is the proper method since that is the number of hours that our ...

Humphreys County, Tennessee is the latest public employer to face an FLSA lawsuit filed by its employees. A group of six current and former workers from the county’s sheriff’s office filed the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated individuals in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on October 31, 2022. The plaintiffs, four ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a firefighter in a small full-time unionized fire department. Our most recent three-year collective bargaining agreement provided us with “discretionary” lump-sum annual bonuses in lieu of traditional percentage-based wage increases. In the first year of the contract, we received a $2,000 lump sum payment. In the second and third year of the contract we will ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time firefighter in a small combination fire department. My department has a long history of providing FLSA comp time instead of paying FLSA overtime. However, the department uses the firefighter’s base hourly rate when using accrued comp time. This base rate does not include any wage incentives or stipends. Additionally, the fire department allows ...

The City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has proposed a settlement of more than $1.5 million with several hundred city firefighters following a 2020 FLSA lawsuit. The settlement, which still requires court approval, allocates up to $1.15 million for back wages and damages, up to $400k for the firefighters’ attorneys, another $25k for court costs, and an additional $5k for the firefighter ...

A paramedic from Honolulu, Hawaii has filed an FLSA lawsuit on behalf of himself, and other similarly situated individuals, claiming the Honolulu Department of Emergency Services is violating the FLSA. In the complaint, which was filed last week in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, paramedic Robert Hayslip makes three basic allegations: Hayslip alleges his employer ...

The City of Huntington, West Virginia has agreed to a $415,000 settlement with a group of current and former city firefighters following their 2020 lawsuit over holiday pay. The firefighters’ allegations center around a unique portion of the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act that requires paid firefighters either receive time and one-half pay for all hours worked on ...