City of Fredericksburg Facing FLSA Misclassification Lawsuit from EMTs

A group of 16 EMTs have filed suit in federal court alleging that the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia has misclassified them as “employees engaged in fire protection activities” (a.k.a. §207(k) firefighters). According to the EMTs’ complaint, the city fails to pay them overtime after working more than 40 hours in a 7-day workweek. Quoting from the complaint:

• From the time period of January 17, 2022, through the present, as well as before, Plaintiffs have worked for the Defendant. Specifically, the City employs or has employed Plaintiffs as Emergency Medical Personnel in the positions of “Paramedics,” “Emergency Medical Technicians,” “Emergency Medical Technicians – Advanced,” and “Paramedic Trainees” (hereinafter collectively “Plaintiff Emergency Medical Positions”) in the Fredericksburg Fire Department (hereinafter referred to as “The Fire Department”).
• The Fire Department has two divisions – a Fire division and an EMS division, with distinct budgets. Plaintiffs work in the EMS division.
• Plaintiffs are single-role Paramedics, EMTs, EMT-As, and Paramedic Trainees within the Fire Department.
• Within the last three years, while assigned to the Plaintiff Emergency Medical Positions, Plaintiffs’ primary job duty has been, and remains, to provide emergency medical and trauma-related assistance to the sick and injured. To that end, Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees have diligently executed their job duties on behalf of their employer and the citizens of Fredericksburg, Virginia, responding to emergency calls, and treating critical and traumatic injuries, among other duties critical to public health and safety.
• At all times material herein, Defendant has not provided training to Plaintiffs in fire suppression duties beyond a 48-hour awareness-style class, and the Plaintiffs are not required to be certified as Fire Fighters to work in Plaintiff Emergency Medical Positions.
• At all times material herein, Plaintiffs are and have been assigned to medic units and respond to incidents on ambulances. Plaintiffs generally are not required to carry any fire gear on the ambulances, there are no air packs on the ambulances, and the majority of the Plaintiffs have only been issued expired fire equipment.
• At all times material herein, at emergency scenes, EMS personnel have not donned fire gear unless it is to keep warm or to avoid injuries when performing a vehicle extrication.
• At all times material herein, Plaintiffs have not been required to engage, nor have they engaged in fire suppression duties at fire scenes.
• At all times material herein, although EMT and paramedic certified personnel assigned to the fire division work overtime shifts in the EMS division. personnel from the EMS division have been prohibited from working overtime shifts assigned to a fire truck on a fire shift,
• At all times material herein, while working in Plaintiff Emergency Medical Positions on behalf of Defendant, the Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees have been assigned to work and, in fact, have and continue to work a regular repeating schedule over a nineday period. This schedule results in plaintiffs being on duty for one 24-hour shift, off duty for one 24-hour shift, on duty for one 24-hour shift, off duty for one 24-hour shift, on duty for one 24-hour shift, and off duty for 96 hours (i.e., four 24-hour shifts). In addition, if the schedule results in a plaintiff working 11 shifts in a month, the plaintiff selects what is called a “Kelly day” from their otherwise scheduled shifts and do not work on the Kelly day.
• As a result of this shift schedule, Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees have been regularly scheduled to work either 48 hours or 72 hours each week (depending on how their Kelly days are scheduled). This schedule results in a nine-week pattern in which plaintiffs are scheduled for 72-hours of work each week for two weeks in a row, followed by 48-hours of work each week for three weeks in a row, followed by 72 hours of work for one week, followed by 48 hours of work each week for three weeks in a row.
• At all times material herein, Defendant has not provided overtime compensation at a rate of one and one-half-times the regular rate using an overtime threshold of 40 hours in a sevenday workweek as required by 29 U.S.C. § 207(a).
• At all times material herein, the Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees have worked additional overtime and/or unscheduled overtime. The exact work periods in which this occurred can be determined by looking at the Plaintiffs’ payroll records, which are in the possession, custody, and control of Defendant.
• Due to the regularly repeating schedules, at all times material herein, Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees have regularly worked, and continue to regularly work in excess of 40 hours in a week. At all relevant times, Defendant has failed to pay the Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees overtime pay at the rate of one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all regularly scheduled hours of work performed when the Plaintiffs have worked in excess of 40 hours in a week.
• At all times material herein, when the Plaintiffs take paid leave, Defendant must consider leave hours to be hours of work pursuant to Va. Code § 9.1-703.
• Defendant’s actions in refusing to provide Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees the rights and protections provided under the FLSA are willful in that Defendant showed a reckless disregard for the FLSA. For example, Defendant knowingly accepted the benefit of Plaintiffs’ regularly scheduled overtime from at least January 17, 2022, without compensating Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees at the lawful overtime rate.

The EMTs are seeking back wages, liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees. Here is a copy of the complaint and a post from FirefighterOvertime.org on single-role EMTs and the §207(k) exemption.