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Today’s FLSA Question: I am a fire chief for a small full-time fire district. Our firefighters only receive overtime after they work 212 hours in a twenty-eight-day work period. We do not pay any overtime unless the FLSA requires it. The vast majority of our neighboring departments pay their firefighters overtime for any unscheduled work hours regardless of actual hours ...

The City of Las Vegas has agreed to pay a veteran city firefighter $560,000 to settle a 2019 lawsuit for unpaid overtime. The settlement follows allegations of unpaid overtime made by Eric Scheumann, an 18-year veteran and current firefighter/engineer for the Las Vegas Fire Department. Scheumann alleged the city failed to pay him for more than 4,500 work hours between ...

Last week a federal judge approved an almost $3 million settlement between Air Evac EMS, Inc., a global company that operates more than 140 air ambulance helicopters in 15 states across the country, and over 400 current and former flight nurses, medics, and pilots. The settlement follows a 2018 lawsuit containing allegations of unpaid overtime. Jason Peck, a former flight ...

Fire Communication Operators that work for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department have opted to move to a 24-hour work shift. Previously, county fire operators worked a combination of 10-hour day shifts followed by 14-hour night shifts. The new 24-hour work shift model will require 24 hours on-duty and will be followed by 72 hours off-duty. Both the previous “10’s ...

This is the third of a three-part series related to recent updates to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations pertaining to the FLSA. Click here for Part I and here for Part II. The updated regulations will undoubtedly affect many workers in different ways. However, for the purpose of this series, we will look at several key components of the update ...

Two Storey County, Nevada firefighters have filed an FLSA suit against their employer, the Storey County Fire Protection District. The pair claim the district fails to pay them, and other similarly situated firefighters, overtime as required by the FLSA. Specifically, firefighters Victor Yohey and Chris Tillisch allege the district has a practice of not paying firefighters any FLSA overtime for ...

The City of Charleston, West Virginia has reached a $1.7 million settlement with more than 160 current and former firefighters over the way the city pays them for holidays. This settlement follows claims made by firefighters last year that the city’s holiday pay plan violated West Virginia law. This settlement is unique in two ways: First, the Charleston firefighter’s claims ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the Fire Marshal for a mid-sized fire department. The town considers my position overtime exempt. I have been pressing town hall for an explanation of why my position is classified this way. The HR Director initially told me I was an overtime exempt executive employee. However, I informed him that exempt executives must supervise other ...

This is the second of a three-part series related to recent updates to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations pertaining to the FLSA. Click here for Part I. The updated regulations will undoubtedly affect many workers in different ways. However, for the purpose of this series, we will look at several key components of the update and how it may impact ...

Firefighters, Overtime, and the Fair Labor Standards Act is the title of an article appearing in this month’s Firehouse Magazine. The article was written by my friend and colleague Curt Varone. The article is based on Curt’s Fire Litigation Database and delves into the top five reasons fire departments are getting sued under the FLSA. In the following podcast, Curt ...