Tag Archives: Wage and Hour Division

MO Firefighter’s FLSA Regular Rate Lawsuit Expands to Include More Plaintiffs

A federal judge has ruled that an FLSA lawsuit filed by a lone former Independence, Missouri firefighter can move forward as a collective action. A collective action under the FLSA is a mechanism that allows similarly situated current and former employees the ability to band together in an FLSA lawsuit against their current or former employer. A collective action is ...

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Lockheed Martin Settles 2022 FLSA Lawsuit with Firefighters for Close to $1 Million

Lockheed Martin [a global aerospace and defense contractor] has settled a 2022 FLSA lawsuit filed by a group of forty-nine industrial firefighters for a total of $949,996. The crux of the firefighter’s claims was that Lockheed Martin only paid its in-house firefighters’ overtime after they worked more than 48 hours per week. The FLSA requires non-public agency fire departments, pay ...

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FDNY Facing Another FLSA Suit from Medics and EMTs

A large group of FDNY emergency medical technicians and paramedics filed a federal lawsuit late last week alleging that the City of New York’s pay practices violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The lawsuit, which contains several claims including uncompensated off-the clock work, regular rate violations, and failure to timely pay overtime compensation was filed in the U.S. District ...

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Fire Prevention and Investigators, On-Call Pay, Regular Rate, and the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the fire chief for mid-sized full-time fire department. Our fire prevention / investigation division has two full-time personnel that take turns being on-call after hours and weekends. Both of these personnel have take-home vehicles and respond after-hours to any confirmed structure fires or any suspicious fires. They divide on-call time between the two assigned personnel, ...

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Settlement Reached in Mobile K9 Officers’ FLSA Suit

The City of Mobile, Alabama has reached a settlement with three police officers assigned to the city’s K9 division following an FLSA lawsuit over unpaid worktime. The three claimed the city failed to compensate them for some “off-the-clock” work necessary to care for their assigned K9s. The FLSA and Department of Labor regulations require employers compensate overtime eligible employees for ...

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DOL Investigation Finds Wildland Firefighters and Truck Drivers Owed More Than $150K in Back Wages and Overtime Pay

The Department of Labor (DOL) has found that a federal contractor hired by the United States government to combat “some of the nation’s worst wildfires” failed to properly compensate dozens of firefighters and truck drivers in violation of several federal statutes and DOL regulations. The violations occurred between June 2019 and October 2021 when these workers were deployed to fight ...

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Discretionary Bonus for Working Overtime, the Regular Rate, and the FLSA

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 ...

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Four Florida Firefighters File FLSA Suit Against Town

Four Micanopy Fire and Rescue firefighters have filed a federal lawsuit against their employer alleging violations of the FLSA. According to the town’s website, the Micanopy Fire and Rescue Department responds to over 400 calls per year over an area of fifty-three square miles and serves a population around 10,000 people. The department is staffed by a full time fire ...

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Trial Begins in Louisville Police On-Call Pay Lawsuit

Should police officers assigned to a prestigious SWAT unit be paid while on-call awaiting their next activation? That is the question being asked this week in a Jefferson County courthouse in Louisville, Kentucky. A group of 41 current and former Louisville Metro Police Department (Metro) SWAT Team members filed the lawsuit over 5 years ago claiming their employer failed to ...

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Illinois 911 Dispatchers File FLSA Lawsuit Following DOL Investigation

Several current and former civilian emergency (911) dispatchers from Evanston, Illinois have filed a lawsuit alleging the City of Evanston failed to pay them overtime as required by both federal and state law. The dispatchers allege, in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on April 4, that the city has a practice ...

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