Tag Archives: firefighters

The City of San Luis Obispo has reportedly reached a settlement with city firefighters following a 2016 federal lawsuit regarding overtime pay. The firefighters alleged the city failed to include money paid in-lieu of receiving employer sponsored medical benefits in the firefighter’s regular rate of pay. Properly determining a firefighter’s regular rate is critical, since all FLSA overtime must be ...

Today’s FLSA question: Our city reimburses firefighters’ tuition costs for college classes related to fire science. In order to qualify for the reimbursement program, participating firefighters must have at least two years of service with our department prior to taking any classes, and they must earn a grade of “B” or better in the class. The city reimburses all money ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the finance manager responsible for our fire department’s payroll. Our firefighters receive higher hourly rates when working in a higher rank. For example, last week a firefighter worked 24 hours as a firefighter and another 48 hours as a lieutenant. How can I calculate a firefighter’s regular rate when he or she is paid two ...

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 ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I work for a midsize municipal fire department in the Northeast. We work a 42-hour average workweek. Our city administrators claim they are not required to set a work period, calculate regular rate, or follow much of this FLSA “stuff” because we work an average of 42 hours per week and have a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). ...

A North Carolina paramedic has filed a federal lawsuit against his employer, Duplin County Emergency Medical Services (DCEMS) alleging the county willfully violated both the FLSA and the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act (NCWHA). Paramedic Ryan Lang filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of himself and other similarly situated individuals (i.e. other EMTs that have worked for DCEMS over ...

Two Roanoke, Virginia, police officers have filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Virginia claiming the City of Roanoke failed to pay police officers for all hours worked in violation of the FLSA and other state laws. While the complaint was only filed by two officers, the suit seeks to add additional plaintiffs over the next several months. ...

According to the Capitol Gazette, county officials in Anne Arundel, Maryland, recently discovered an error in calculating overtime pay for many county employees, including police officers and firefighters. County Executive Steve Schuh admits the unintentional error spans the past 10 to 20 years. The error was recently discovered when the county changed payroll vendors. Initial estimates suggest the county may ...

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 ...

The City of San Diego has settled a lawsuit filed by six helicopter rescue medics for a total of $307,000. The rescue medics work for the city’s fire and rescue department providing medical and logistical support for the city’s air ambulances. Historically, the city classified these medics as §207(k) firefighters. The medics claimed they did not have any “responsibility to ...