Tag Archives: regular rate

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 ...

This is the third of a three-part series related to recent updates to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations pertaining to the FLSA. Click here for Part I and here for Part II. The updated regulations will undoubtedly affect many workers in different ways. However, for the purpose of this series, we will look at several key components of the update ...

This is the second of a three-part series related to recent updates to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations pertaining to the FLSA. Click here for Part I. The updated regulations will undoubtedly affect many workers in different ways. However, for the purpose of this series, we will look at several key components of the update and how it may impact ...

Firefighters, Overtime, and the Fair Labor Standards Act is the title of an article appearing in this month’s Firehouse Magazine. The article was written by my friend and colleague Curt Varone. The article is based on Curt’s Fire Litigation Database and delves into the top five reasons fire departments are getting sued under the FLSA. In the following podcast, Curt ...

The City of Providence, RI has settled a 2013 FLSA lawsuit filed by city police officers for more than $1.7 million dollars. According to the Providence Journal, the terms of the settlement require the city to pay $1.5 million to more than 400 current and former officers and an additional $223,000 to the officers’ attorneys. The city has yet to ...

The City of Santa Clara, California has settled an FLSA lawsuit by agreeing to pay more than 650 current and former city employees a total of $2.7 million. While the terms of the settlement require the city to make payments to over 650 potential plaintiffs, the vast majority of which are non-firefighters, we will focus on how the settlement applies ...

The crux of the plaintiff’s complaint involved alleged FLSA regular rate violations. In particular, the city’s failure to include certain wage augments in the plaintiffs’ regular rate. The FLSA requires virtually all the money an employee is paid included in his or her regular rate. Proper calculation of the regular rate is critical since all FLSA overtime must be paid at a rate of at least time-and-one-half of the employee’s regular rate. Very often employers utilize an employee’s base hourly rate to calculate the overtime rate of pay. However, the FLSA requires that all remuneration be included in the regular rate of pay.

Specifically, the plaintiffs made two basic claims:

• First, the city failed to include money paid directly to employees in lieu of receiving employer sponsored medical benefits in the regular rate.
• Second, the plaintiffs also wanted holiday pay included in their regular rate.

A lawsuit initially filed by only four Flagstaff, Arizona firefighters last September has ended with a court approved settlement between the city and a total of thirty-one firefighters. The firefighters alleged the city failed to include all remuneration in some firefighter’s regular rate of pay. In particular, the firefighters claimed the city failed to include certain “premium payments” paid to ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the payroll/HR manager for a fire department. Our department offers first aid and CPR classes for residents of the community. We offer the classes a couple of times per year. Firefighters that are certified CPR and first aid instructors teach the classes during off-duty hours. However, since most of the firefighters make different hourly rates, ...

Fifty-eight Morgantown, West Virginia firefighters have filed a lawsuit alleging the City of Morgantown failed to pay overtime as required under West Virginia state law. The crux of the firefighter’s argument stems from a very unique West Virginia statute that requires time-and-one-half pay for firefighters required to work holidays. Here is a portion of that statute: §8-15-10a. Firemen who are ...