Tag Archives: comp time

Fire Chiefs, Comp Time, and the FLSA

Question: I recently accepted a position as a fire chief for a small department. I just retired as a battalion chief from a larger neighboring department. My new department considers my position as overtime exempt. I know I will be working well over 40 hours per week. During the interview process I was assured I could accrue comp time, since ...

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Comp Time and Emergency Call-Back

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the union president for a small municipal fire department. We have only five firefighters on duty at any one time. We negotiated an overtime call-back provision within our labor agreement that allows firefighters to come back if the on-duty crew is out of service (on calls) for an extended length of time. Firefighters receive time ...

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“Off-the-Books” Paid Time Off Practice Ended for Ohio Police and Firefighters

The City of Akron, Ohio has ended the practice of providing “off-the-books” paid time off to some police officers and firefighters. For more than 30 years, the city had an unwritten policy that allowed some police officers and firefighters take time off in lieu of receiving overtime pay for attendance at community outreach meetings and fire safety events. The paid ...

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Comp Time Hours Do Not Always Count

Today’s FLSA Question: I have a question about FLSA comp time. Do the hours a firefighter does not work because he or she is using accrued FLSA compensatory time (comp time) need to be included when determining overtime for the work period? I don’t believe they need to be included, since the FLSA typically only requires counting hours worked by ...

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Another Alleged Regular Rate Violation for California Firefighters

Another California fire department is facing allegations it failed to include all remuneration in firefighters’ regular rate of pay. Kevin Burris, a Petaluma firefighter, has filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of California against the city alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Specifically, Burris claims the city failed to include holiday “in-lieu” pay and money ...

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Civilian Public Safety Dispatchers & the FLSA

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a city HR director. We employ civilian public safety dispatchers who handle dispatching for both the police and fire departments. The dispatchers work an average of 42 hours per week. If they work all their assigned shifts, the dispatchers are paid 80 hours of straight time and four hours of overtime every two weeks. The ...

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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 ...

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Mississippi city owes police officers more than $850,000 in back FLSA wages

Approximately 119 police officers from Tupelo, Mississippi will be receiving more than $857,000 in back wages following a Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division investigation. The DOL determined the city’s “police department failed to adequately record hours worked by police officers” and did not maintain proper records related to “overtime hours or compensatory time owed to officers” as ...

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