The City of Los Angeles is facing an FLSA lawsuit from four city police officers. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California contains allegations that the city is violating the FLSA by failing to include all “remuneration” in the officers’ regular rate of pay. More specifically, the officers claim the city ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »Volunteer Firefighter Compensation and the FLSA
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a fulltime chief of a combination fire department. We have a mix of volunteer and paid firefighters. Like many folks, we are struggling with recruitment and retention within all of our ranks, but especially within our volunteers. Recently, some of our neighboring departments began offering their volunteers an hourly rate instead of a stipend. Some ...
Read More »Bonuses for Collateral Duties and the Regular Rate
Today’s FLSA Question: I am the administrator for a fulltime fire and EMS district. We have several personnel that work part-time collateral positions within our organization. These collateral positions include training officer, EMS coordinator, and HAZMAT officer. Personnel receive overtime when working in these capacities outside of their normal work hours, however they also spend a great deal of their ...
Read More »More than 500 LA City Fire Department Employees File FLSA Lawsuit
A group of more than 500 Los Angeles firefighters, captains, engineers, fire inspectors, and pilots filed have filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the city fails to include longevity pay, wellness bonuses, retirement incentive pay, special duty pay, platoon duty pay, and educational bonuses in their regular rate of pay in violation of the FLSA. The FLSA requires “all ...
Read More »Fire Service Implications from the Department of Labor’s Planned Minimum Salary Increases for White Collar Overtime Exempt Employees
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is poised to increase the minimum the salary necessary to classify workers [including many high-ranking fire officers] as overtime exempt under the FLSA. The new rule, which will likely go into effect in early 2024 will raise the minimum required weekly salary for overtime exempt white-collar employees by $375 per week and the minimum ...
Read More »Orlando District Chiefs Allege Retaliation Following FLSA Misclassification Lawsuit
The City of Orlando is facing allegations of retaliation from several District Fire Chiefs following a recent federal lawsuit over unpaid overtime. According to the district chiefs, the city has announced wide-spread transfers among high-ranking city fire officers. The transfers will move several dozen Orlando Fire Department District and Assistant Chiefs to different shifts and stations. The district chiefs are ...
Read More »Arkansas Medics File FLSA Lawsuit over Incentive Bonuses
Two Arkansas paramedics have filed a lawsuit alleging that their employer, Ambulance Services of Forrest City, LLC (Forrest City, LLC), violated the FLSA by not including nondiscretionary bonuses in their regular rate of pay in violation of the FLSA and the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act (AMWA). The suit, which was filed on October 19, 2023, in the U.S. District Court ...
Read More »Vermont City Looks to Pay Firefighters Overtime to Combat Rise in Overdose Calls
The City of Burlington, Vermont is taking a bold new step to help combat the “crushing number of overdose calls” that they respond to daily. According to WCAX news, the Burlington Fire Department is requesting the City Council allocate overtime funds for two city firefighters to work twelve hours per day, seven days per week staffing an emergency response vehicle ...
Read More »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, ...
Read More »