Tag Archives: first responder regulations

One chapter in the City of New York’s seemingly never-ending  wage and hour litigation with city EMS workers might be coming to a close very soon. The city and a group of more than 500 FDNY Emergency Medical Services supervisors have agreed to settle a 2016 lawsuit for unpaid work hours. This was one of two separate lawsuits filed in ...

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 ...

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 ...

Cobb County, Georgia is no stranger to FLSA litigation. The county is yet again facing an FLSA lawsuit related to alleged misclassifying senior fire officers as overtime exempt executive employees. The most recent lawsuit contains very similar allegations as another misclassification lawsuit filed by a group of ten Cobb County battalion Chiefs last April. Cobb County Fire Department Battalion Chief ...

Lumpkin County Fire Department, located in Dahlonega, Georgia has agreed to settle a 2022 FLSA misclassification lawsuit filed by a former battalion chief. The lawsuit, which was filed on November 30, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, contained allegations the county improperly classified Battalion Chief Sharon Booth as an overtime exempt employee in violation ...

The Upper Captiva Fire Protection and Rescue Service District (district) is facing its second FLSA misclassification lawsuit from a former chief officer since 2021. The district provides fire and EMS services on the tiny island of North Captiva on Florida’s gulf coast. The island of North Captiva is located a few miles northwest of Ft. Meyers Beach and is only ...

Ten Cobb County, Georgia battalion chiefs have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the county has failed to pay them overtime as required by federal law. More specifically, the battalion chiefs claim the county misclassified them as overtime exempt “white collar” employees in violation of the FLSA. Quoting from the complaint: Within the last three years, and continuing to date, while ...

My friend and colleague Curt Varone recently posted a story on his Fire Law Blog entitled, “Part-Time Fire Chiefs and Compensation.” The post answered a burning question that Curt received on whether part-time fire chiefs can be classified as overtime exempt executive employees. Curt did a great job answering that question and providing some alternative options for compensating part-time fire ...

In this Fire Law VLOG, Curt Varone and Bill Maccarone discuss three recent settlements involving high-ranking fire officers and their entitlement to FLSA overtime. What makes a high-level fire officer an overtime exempt executive or administrative employee under the FLSA? The FLSA and Department of Labor (DOL) regulations contain a long list of requirements necessary to classify any employee as ...

The City of Encinitas, California is one step closer to resolving an FLSA overtime lawsuit filed by four current and former fire department battalion chiefs. Lawyers representing the city and the battalion chiefs filed a joint motion in federal court last week to approve a settlement reached following an April 2022 lawsuit. The settlement requires the city pay the battalion ...