The City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has reached an agreement with the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), Local 244, which represents the city’s firefighters for a one-time $8 million payment to settle an almost decade long pay dispute. In 2008, the city and firefighters entered into a three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in which the city promised to provide a ...
Read More »Longevity Pay and Regular Rate
Today’s FLSA Question: Does longevity pay need to be included in a firefighter’s regular rate of pay? What if the firefighter receives longevity pay in a lump sum every year? Yes, most longevity payments need to be included in the regular rate. Whether the money is paid annually, quarterly, weekly, or even hourly does not change this fact. Receiving longevity ...
Read More »Extra Pay May Not Defeat Exempt Status for Fire Dept. Executive
Today’s FLSA Question: I am the HR director for a suburban town. The fire chief is going to be out on medical leave for several months. The senior assistant chief will be moved up to fill in for the chief in his absence. Senior fire department staff (chief and both assistants) are overtime exempt. Even though it is not required, ...
Read More »“Averaging” FLSA Overtime for Firefighters
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a fire lieutenant and the president of my local firefighters’ union. We work a 48/96 schedule (48 hours on duty followed by 96 hours off), and utilize a 14-day work period. I know the FLSA requires overtime for all hours worked over 106 in a 14-day work period. We have a unique provision in our ...
Read More »Part-Time, Per Diem, Paid-on-Call Firefighters and the FLSA
There are numerous misconceptions surrounding the FLSA. Included in these misconceptions is that the FLSA does not apply to part-time, per diem, or paid-on-call firefighters. Nothing could be further from the truth. The FLSA does not draw any distinction between full-time or “less than full-time” employees. The general rule is that all employees are subject to the requirements of FLSA. ...
Read More »Illinois Chief Alleges FLSA Retaliation
Former Paxton, IL, Chief of Police Robert Bane filed a lawsuit in federal court last week seeking money damages for unpaid overtime wages, additional unspecified money damages for retaliation under the FLSA, and a court order requiring that the city reinstate the chief to his former position. The lawsuit follows Chief Bane’s termination by the city in August 2017. Chief ...
Read More »Providence Firefighters Approve Overtime Settlement, Costing the City more than $9 million in Total
Providence firefighters have accepted the city’s offer of $5.9 million to settle numerous grievances and lawsuits dating back to 2013 over the way the city paid firefighters. There are several different components to the settlement. Here are a few of the highlights. The settlement resolves a lawsuit originally filed in 2013, which alleged the city failed to pay overtime to ...
Read More »FLSA Comp Time may not be an option for all Fire Departments
Today’s FLSA Question I am the administrator for a nonprofit 501(c)(3) volunteer fire company. We are in the process of hiring our own full-time dispatchers. Currently the county provides dispatch services, however we are transitioning from a completely volunteer organization to a combination department. We want to mirror the county’s compensatory time (comp time) policy. All county employees, including county ...
Read More »Wichita Fire Investigators File FLSA Overtime Lawsuit
Six Wichita, Kansas fire investigators have filed a federal lawsuit seeking overtime pay under the FLSA. The City of Wichita currently classifies fire investigators as employees engaged in fire protection activities under the FLSA’s §207(k) partial overtime exemption. The investigators claim they should be classified law enforcement personnel as opposed to employees engaged in fire protection activities for FLSA overtime ...
Read More »Another California city settles FLSA claims made by firefighters over alleged regular rate violations
The City of Palo Alto, California continues to settle claims for unpaid overtime with city firefighters. The city has paid more than $1.5 million in the past year to firefighters and other city employees for failing to include all remuneration in the regular rate of pay for FLSA overtime purposes. Some of these payments stem from a 2016 lawsuit filed ...
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