Tag Archives: first responders

Late last week, firefighters in two west coast cities filed separate FLSA lawsuits alleging they were shorted overtime pay by their employers. The first lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, by four Flagstaff firefighters, on September 20, 2018. The complaint makes two basic claims: The City of Flagstaff failed to include non-discretionary “premium ...

FLSA Question: I am a battalion chief in a mid-sized municipal fire department. I command a platoon of firefighters and work 24-hour shifts. I work an average of 56 hours per week. I do not receive any overtime. The city considers myself and other BCs overtime-exempt executives. . . . I recently read that “first responders” are entitled to overtime ...

The City of Wichita, Kansas, will pay six fire department arson investigators and their attorney almost $155,000 to settle unpaid overtime claims. The six investigators argued they should receive overtime similar to city police officers as opposed to firefighters. Here is more on those claims. Wichita Fire Investigators File FLSA Overtime Lawsuit The Settlement According to the Wichita Eagle, Wichita’s ...

According to the Elk Valley Times, the City of Fayetteville, Tennessee, is looking to correct overtime “pay issues” with local firefighters. City officials are poised to correct longstanding violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that may date back over the tenure of the past two fire chiefs. Fayetteville firefighters work a 28-day work period. The FLSA requires time ...

The County of Riverside, California, has settled a lawsuit filed by 24 former trainees over unpaid overtime. The 24 claimed the county failed to pay trainees for all hours worked during their 26-week training academy. The lawsuit was initially filed by Matthew Dashiell, a former sheriff’s deputy trainee. Dashiell was a trainee at the sheriff’s department training academy in 2013. ...

Four Louisiana paramedics claim their employer, the Parish of Plaquemines, Louisiana, failed to pay them any time and one-half over the past three years, despite working 7-day, 168-hour work shifts. The complaint, which was filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana contains some very unique and interesting facts. We have allegations of unpaid overtime, ...

Seven Battalion Chiefs from the Chesapeake Fire Department, in Chesapeake, Virginia, have filed a federal lawsuit looking for overtime pay. The Battalion Chiefs claim the city violated both the Fair Labor Standards Act and Virginia Gap Pay Act. The complaint, which was filed on July 24, 2018, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges ...

More than 2,000 current and former California state firefighters will receive a total of $4.1 million in back wages following a settlement with the state of California. According to the Sacramento Bee, the back wages stem from hours worked while the firefighters were trainees at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Academy. These firefighter cadets were paid for ...

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 ...