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The State if Illinois has announced a state-wide tax rebate for active volunteer firefighters. The “Volunteer Emergency Worker Credit” will cut $500 from a volunteer firefighter’s 2023 income provided they meet certain criteria. The credit requires that the volunteer firefighters have served their respective organizations for at least nine months and earned less than $5,000 [in nominal fees] over the ...

Vermont Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation in the United States Senate that would alter the FLSA’s current overtime threshold from 40 hours per week to 32 hours per week over a four-year period. The proposed legislation also requires overtime compensation for all hours worked between eight and twelve in a single day and double time ...

Can the terms and conditions of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) supersede the FLSA’s basic overtime requirements? That was one of several questions answered recently by a federal judge in Illinois. District Court Judge J. Phil Gilbert ruled that an FLSA lawsuit filed by a group of 911 dispatchers that work for the St. Clair County Emergency Management Association can ...

One chapter in the City of New York’s seemingly never-ending  wage and hour litigation with city EMS workers might be coming to a close very soon. The city and a group of more than 500 FDNY Emergency Medical Services supervisors have agreed to settle a 2016 lawsuit for unpaid work hours. This was one of two separate lawsuits filed in ...

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 ...

A North Carolina EMS Captain has filed a lawsuit against The Cooks Community Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., alleging violations of the FLSA. Captain Christopher Crump filed the suit in federal court on February 26, 2024. Crump’s primary claim is the that his department fails to pay him and other similarly situated firefighters overtime after working more than 40 hours in ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a newly appointed captain in charge of my department’s training academy. Our department provides 16-week in-house training program for new recruits. At the end of the academy the firefighters are certified as Firefighter I and II. I have some serious concerns about the way we pay our recruits. We require our recruits to work around ...

What began as a typical lawsuit over breach of contract and the inclusion of longevity in a couple dozen Mississippi firefighter’s regular rate of pay in late 2022, ended in a rather unusual court ruling this past week. A federal magistrate Judge has ordered the enforcement of a settlement agreement negotiated between the City of Biloxi, Mississippi and thirty-five city ...

For the second time in recent weeks, the Baltimore County Professional Firefighters Association is blasting county officials over staffing and overtime. The union has been raising public awareness of the county’s ongoing practice of shutting down two engine companies on weekdays in an effort to reduce overtime. According WJZ News Baltimore, the county has been rotating two engine companies out ...

Today’s Advanced FLSA Question: What are the potential wage and hour concerns associated with sending non-exempt firefighters out of state to spec and/or inspect new fire apparatus? Answer: Good question. Believe it or not, this is a very advanced question. Allowing overtime eligible employees [like firefighters] to engage in work-related travel without considering the potential wage and hour implications is ...