Osceola County, Florida, and a group of fourteen current and former fire department battalion chiefs have reached a settlement following a 2024 misclassification lawsuit. The battalion chiefs claimed that the county misclassified them as overtime exempt executives in violation of the FLSA. The county countered that the battalion chiefs were “properly classified” and denied all of their claims. However, according ...
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Colorado Fire Protection District Hit with Unpaid Overtime and FLSA Retaliation Lawsuit
The Rye Fire Protection District, located in Colorado City, Colorado is facing a lawsuit filed by three of its firefighters. The firefighters claim that the district’s pay practices violate both the FLSA and state law. More specifically, the firefighters make several claims related to the FLSA including the District’s failure to pay overtime due to improper usage of the FLSA’s ...
Read More »Bartlesville Oklahoma Looking to Settle FLSA Lawsuit with City Firefighters
The Bartlesville, Oklahoma City Council is poised to approve a settlement offer intended to resolve a lawsuit filed in federal court last week by 75 current and former city firefighters. The firefighters’ complaint contains allegations that the city violated the FLSA by failing to include “various stipends” in their regular rate of pay. According to the complaint, these stipends include: ...
Read More »Second FLSA Lawsuit in a Week for West Virginia Firefighters
Two similar FLSA lawsuits have been filed by firefighters from two different West Virginia cities in the past week. The first, which my friend and colleague Curt Varone covered on his Fire Law Blog last Wednesday, contained allegations that the City of Clarksburg was improperly calculating its firefighter’s regular rate of pay in violation of the FLSA. [You can find ...
Read More »Lockheed Martin Settles 2022 FLSA Lawsuit with Firefighters for Close to $1 Million
Lockheed Martin [a global aerospace and defense contractor] has settled a 2022 FLSA lawsuit filed by a group of forty-nine industrial firefighters for a total of $949,996. The crux of the firefighter’s claims was that Lockheed Martin only paid its in-house firefighters’ overtime after they worked more than 48 hours per week. The FLSA requires non-public agency fire departments, pay ...
Read More »Second Circuit Rejects FDNY Appeal, EMTs and Medics One Step Closer to $17.8 Million FLSA Payout
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected an appeal filed by the City of New York following a 2019 jury verdict that awarded almost $18 million in unpaid wages, overtime, and damages to a class of more than 2,500 FDNY EMTs and paramedics. This most recent decision “might” signal an end to this long and ...
Read More »Jackson Mississippi Firefighters Push for Pay Raises
Tensions between firefighters and their fire chief are running high in Jackson, Mississippi over firefighter pay and the chief’s newly proposed budget. The chief’s proposed budget, which does not include any pay raises for city firefighters has the firefighters seeing red. As a result, Jackson firefighters are pushing back against their fire chief and requesting a vote of “no confidence” ...
Read More »Los Angeles County Fire Prevails in COVID Related FLSA Lawsuit
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a lone Los Angeles firefighter for unpaid overtime while attending the county’s fire academy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit, which was initially filed in state court only to be moved to federal court in July 2021, contained allegations that both the city and the County of Los Angeles failed to ...
Read More »DOL Investigation Yields $672K In Back OT for Gary IN Firefighters and Medics
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has ordered the City of Gary, Indiana to pay 154 firefighters and 18 paramedics a total of $672,000 in back overtime wages. The order follows a DOL investigation into the city’s pay practices related to firefighter and medic pay. According to the DOL, the city failed to pay firefighters overtime for all hours worked ...
Read More »GA Battalion Chiefs File FLSA Lawsuit
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 ...
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