Tag Archives: unpaid overtime

West Virginia Supreme Court Denies City’s Latest Effort to Reverse Lower Court’s Decision in Firefighter Holiday Pay Dispute

In the latest bit of legal wrangling between the City of Martinsburg and its professional firefighters, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has denied the city’s appeal seeking to reverse an earlier ruling by a lower court, in favor of the firefighters. As a result, the 2018 lawsuit which centers around a highly unique West Virginia statute related to ...

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DOL Investigation Finds Colorado County Failed to Pay Law Enforcement Officers for Pre-and-Post Shift Work

An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has found that the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office violated the FLSA by not paying law enforcement officers for the time spent working before and after scheduled work shifts. The FLSA requires employers pay overtime eligible employees for all hours worked. This includes time spent before and after assigned work ...

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Illinois Firefighters File FLSA Suit

A group of four firefighters have filed a lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleging their employer, the Village of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, underpaid them for overnight shifts and failed to pay overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. The Village of Winthrop Harbor is a ...

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Portsmouth VA Settles FLSA Suit with Paramedics Absent Trial

The City of Portsmouth, Virginia has reached a settlement with a group of fifteen paramedics ending an FLSA lawsuit filed in late 2020. The medics alleged the city failed to pay them overtime as required by the FLSA and Virginia Law. For more on the medics’ claims, including a copy of the complaint, click here. The terms of the settlement ...

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DOL Finds Illinois Police Dept. Failed to Pay OT as Required by the FLSA

Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division, the City of East St. Louis, Illinois has been ordered to pay almost $160,000 in back wages and penalties to a total of 19 city police officers. The DOL investigation uncovered several FLSA violations. In particular, the DOL found that the city failed to pay police ...

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Guaranteed Overtime, Pay Smoothing, and the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a firefighter for a city fire department. We have a total of 33 line firefighters and officers assigned to 2 stations on 3 shifts. We work 24 hours on duty, followed by 48 hours off-duty. Our department uses a 14-day work period and we receive overtime for all additional hours worked outside of our normally ...

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Ohio City Settles FLSA Lawsuit with Firefighters

The City of Eaton, Ohio has settled a lawsuit filed by four current and former fire department employees for a total of $185,000. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2019 by four of the department’s five full-time employees, contained two basic allegations. The first allegation was that the city misclassified the four full-time fire department employees as overtime exempt executive ...

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CA Fire District Settles FLSA Regular Rate Lawsuit with Firefighters

The Borrego Springs Fire Protection District (District) has reached a settlement with twenty-five firefighters following an FLSA lawsuit filed in May 2020. The firefighters claimed the District failed to include money paid directly to firefighters in lieu of employer sponsored medical benefits, paramedic certification, and holiday in lieu pay in their regular rate of pay. The terms of the settlement ...

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