Tag Archives: unpaid overtime

Managing Firefighters, Daylight Savings Time, and the FLSA

Does your state participate in Daylight Savings Time? Most likely, you answered yes to this question. Now, in addition to changing the batteries on smoke and CO detectors, did you pay your firefighters correctly? Since it is getting to be that time of year again, here is a post from FirefighterOvertime.org dating back to December of 2017 that is just ...

Read More »

Lump Sum Annual OT Payments and the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter that works a 24/48 schedule for an average of 56 hours per week. Historically, firefighters in our city received all of their FLSA overtime in one big check at the end of the year. The city maintained a running record of all the overtime pay firefighters were owed from scheduled work ...

Read More »

More than 2,500 FDNY EMTs Prevail in FLSA Lawsuit Against City

A New York jury has found the City of New York violated the FLSA by not paying EMTs for the time spent working before and after assigned shifts. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, on February 13, 2013 by more than 2,500 FDNY EMTs and paramedics. According to attorneys representing ...

Read More »

Arkansas Firefighters Gearing Up to File FLSA Suit Over On-Call Time

A lawyer representing a group of Blytheville, Arkansas firefighters is gearing up to sue the City of Blytheville for unpaid wages. According to NewsChannel 3, the lawyer sent a “demand letter” to city officials indicating the intent to file an FLSA lawsuit over a city policy that requires city firefighters be on-call 24-hours per day, seven days per week in ...

Read More »

Three Recently Retired NY Firefighters File FLSA Suit

Three recently retired Gloversville, New York firefighters have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York claiming the City of Gloversville violated the FLSA. Recent Gloversville Fire Department retirees, James Anderson, Robert Davis, and David Rackmyre allege the city failed to properly administer its FLSA compensatory (comp) time program which resulted in the ...

Read More »

California City Quickly Settles FLSA Dispute with Former Fire Department Employees

The crux of the plaintiff’s complaint involved alleged FLSA regular rate violations. In particular, the city’s failure to include certain wage augments in the plaintiffs’ regular rate. The FLSA requires virtually all the money an employee is paid included in his or her regular rate. Proper calculation of the regular rate is critical since all FLSA overtime must be paid at a rate of at least time-and-one-half of the employee’s regular rate. Very often employers utilize an employee’s base hourly rate to calculate the overtime rate of pay. However, the FLSA requires that all remuneration be included in the regular rate of pay.

Specifically, the plaintiffs made two basic claims:

  • First, the city failed to include money paid directly to employees in lieu of receiving employer sponsored medical benefits in the regular rate.
  • Second, the plaintiffs also wanted holiday pay included in their regular rate.

Read More »

Florida Fire Captains File FLSA Suit Seeking Overtime

A group of sixteen fire captains from the Marion County Fire and Rescue Department (MCFRD) filed a federal lawsuit last week claiming the county has violated the FLSA. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, on September 18, 2019, the captains made two basic claims:

Read More »

Medic Training and the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: Is a fire department required to pay firefighters for time spent off-duty attending mandatory paramedic training? Answer: As a general rule all mandatory job-related training is compensable. One would think that mandatory paramedic training would fall within this category of compensable training. However, as most regular readers of FirefighterOvertime.org are likely aware the FLSA and Department of ...

Read More »

Illinois County Faces Lawsuit Filed By Homeland Security/Emergency Management Personnel Over White Collar Overtime Exemption

Cook County, Illinois is the latest employer dealing with an overtime lawsuit filed by county workers. Three Regional Coordinators for Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) filed a lawsuit on August 21, 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois seeking unpaid overtime. Regional Coordinators Christopher Bruce, John David Daniel, and Brian ...

Read More »