Tag Archives: firefighters

A group of current and former firefighters in Gwinnett County, Georgia, have begun a grassroots campaign attempting to raise community awareness about mandatory overtime. The group, which is led by a retired firefighter claims excessive overtime in the Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services Department is costing the county millions of dollars while jeopardizing the safety of both firefighters and ...

This past week two unions that represent New York City EMS workers and fire inspectors filed a lawsuit against the city. The suit accuses the city of refusing to release documents related to the race, gender, rank, and disciplinary history of both FDNY and other city workers. The union is seeking this information in an effort to illustrate EMS workers ...

Today’s FLSA question. . . Same question. . . Two sides. . . I am a rookie firefighter. I just completed recruit school last week. I was paid minimum wage for 14-weeks while in the academy. I am set to begin on my first shift tomorrow. I don’t think this was a good choice for me and I just found ...

The Department of Fire and Public Safety in Maui County, Hawaii, has seen a dramatic increase in overtime following a recent change to the collective bargaining agreement between the county and firefighters. The county’s internal auditor has a plan to potentially reduce overtime, but the fire chief does not seem to concur with the auditor’s recommendation. Maui County Fire Department’s ...

On October 26th, firefighters in Allen Park Michigan filed a lawsuit against the City of Allen Park alleging the city has not honored the labor contract between the City of Allen Park and the Allen Park Professional Firefighters Association (IAFF Local 1410). The 2013-2016 collective bargaining agreement between the city and firefighters contained a 2.5% wage increase due in 2016. ...

The Richmond Virginia Fire Department is short twenty-four firefighters. This shortage has created a drastic increase in the department’s overtime budget. According to Fire Chief Melvin Carter between $85,000 and $135,000 is spent on overtime every two weeks. Even Keith Andes, President of the Richmond Firefighters Association, agrees that spending that much on overtime is “unsustainable.” The department has already ...

Today’s FLSA Question I run payroll for a municipal fire department. The fire chief wants to give firefighters an opportunity to work part time on their days off, staffing a city ambulance that transports sick and elderly patients home from the hospital, to doctors’ appointments, dialysis treatments, etc. Firefighters will be paid their regular hourly rate for all hours worked ...

Does your fire department use the fluctuating workweek method (FWW) of overtime compensation? A recent federal appeals court decision may have you looking for an alternative. Recently, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals limited the ability of some employers to use the FWW method of overtime compensation. Before we can discuss recent developments, let’s explain the FWW, and why you ...

The Austin City Council is set to review a new contract between the city and firefighters later this week. The new agreement changes, among other things, the way overtime is paid to the city’s firefighters. The agreement comes on the heels of a recent report that found overtime for the Austin Fire Department had increased 147 percent between 2014 and ...

Today’s FLSA Question I am a fire chief. My EMS chief wants us to consider a CPR notification system known as PulsePoint. It notifies trained citizens (and off-duty firefighters) when there is a CPR incident nearby so that immediate aid can be rendered. It’s a wonderful system, and as this video shows, one of the best uses for it could involve ...