Tag Archives: first responders

Montgomery County, Tennessee has reached a settlement with two supervisory paramedics following a 2019 FLSA lawsuit for unpaid overtime. Emergency Medical Services Captain Gary Perry initially filed the lawsuit, on October 28, 2019. Perry’s main allegation related to the county’s failure to pay him and other EMS Captains overtime as required by the FLSA. Perry also claimed the county misclassified ...

This is the first of several posts dedicated to answering questions asked by attendees at the recent FLSA for Fire Departments live webinar. If you have questions like this, please consider attending the next live webinar in February 2021. FLSA Question: Can uniform allowances paid to police officers and firefighters be excluded from the regular rate of pay? Does the ...

Retired First Deputy Fire Chief Gary Mogel has filed an FLSA lawsuit against his former employer, the City of Reading, Pennsylvania alleging the city violated the FLSA by failing to pay fire department shift commanders any overtime. This lawsuit is the latest of several recent lawsuits involving fire department shift commanders challenging their employer’s classification as “white-collar” overtime exempt employees. ...

The State of California has agreed to pay almost 2000 firefighters a total of $4.8 million in back pay after shortchanging their regular rate over the past several years. According to The Sacramento Bee, the back wages will be going to approximately 1,900 CalFire firefighters that received cash payments in lieu of accepting employer sponsored medical benefits from May 2015 ...

The Cobb County Georgia Fire Department is facing a second lawsuit in as many years for allegedly violating the FLSA. David Simister, a fire captain for Cobb County Fire filed this second suit, on behalf of himself and “other similarly situated individuals,” last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Simister claims the county’s pay ...

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a significant modification to an existing overtime rule for employees that work fluctuating hours from week to week. As a result, many first responders, including firefighters may find less money in their paychecks in the coming months. The new rule, set to take effect in July, alters the current stringent requirements necessary ...

The Birmingham, Alabama City Council has approved a temporary 5 percent pay increase, or “hazard pay” for approximately 2,000 essential city workers. The increase, which is expected to cost the city approximately $500,000, is designed to help firefighters and other essential city workers operating on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to firefighters, police officers and correctional ...

Should workers’ compensation cover police and firefighters that contract the coronavirus? Pennsylvania first responders think that it should…And are trying to do something about it. The Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has drafted legislation—which has yet to find a sponsor in the Pennsylvania legislature—that would include coronavirus in a list of “specific occupational illnesses covered under the Workers’ Compensation Act for first responders.”

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the fire chief of a mid-sized municipal fire department. The most recent collective bargaining agreement with our firefighters contains an incentive plan designed to curb sick leave abuse. Firefighters and officers that use less than 72 hours of sick leave during a calendar year receive an additional 24 hours of paid leave during the following ...

The Newton County Fire Department has reached a settlement with three battalion chiefs (BCs) following a 2019 lawsuit over FLSA overtime. The three BCs filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in November 2019. The three alleged the county improperly reclassified BCs from overtime eligible first responders to overtime exempt employees in July 2018. ...