A lawsuit filed by two Roanoke, Virginia police officers alleging the city’s police department violated both the FLSA and Virginia state wage law has ended with a $1.2 million court approved settlement. The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, on May 11, 2018 alleged the city failed to pay police officers for ...
Read More »Tag Archives: state laws
FLSA Overtime Exemption for Small Fire Departments
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a paid firefighter for a small non-profit volunteer fire company. Our organization has a large group of volunteer firefighters and an all-volunteer chief and command staff. I am one of two full-time (Monday-Friday) firefighters. I am treated as an hourly employee, however, I do not receive any overtime. Between trainings, after-hours calls, and regularly scheduled ...
Read More »Overtime for Scheduled Hours and the FLSA
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a paid municipal firefighter for a small fire department. When our firefighters utilize vacation, sick, or personal leave, the city deducts this time from the firefighter’s hours worked for FLSA overtime purposes. However, a neighboring community’s fire department counts all scheduled hours for overtime purposes. Basically, the firefighters in that town receive overtime every payday ...
Read More »West Virginia Firefighters Allege City Failed to Pay Overtime Correctly
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 ...
Read More »State Wage and Hour Laws Can Trump the FLSA
Today’s FLSA Question: I recently read a story on your website about Rhode Island enacting a new law requiring firefighters be paid overtime after working only 42 hours per week. But the FLSA only mandates overtime pay after firefighters work 53 hours per week. Doesn’t federal law (FLSA) trump (or pre-empt) state law? Answer: Good question. You are not alone ...
Read More »RI Law Mandates OT for Firefighters After Working 42 Hours Per Week
The State of Rhode Island (RI) has enacted historic legislation expanding overtime protection for firefighters working in the state. The new law [well, to be precise, it is actually an elimination of a past exemption and the expansion of an existing statute] mandates overtime pay for local firefighters for all hours worked over an “average” of forty-two hours per week. ...
Read More »Unpaid Commute vs. Paid Travel Time
Today’s FLSA Question: I am the fire chief of a full-time paid fire department with seven stations. Firefighters bid by seniority to a preferred station. We utilize an out-of-rank system to fill most vacancies within the officer ranks. This out-of-rank system requires senior firefighters to move up and cover vacant officer positions. This can result in firefighters being required to ...
Read More »Allegations of Improper Sleep Time Deductions by National Air Ambulance Company
Three flight paramedics and one flight nurse have filed an FLSA lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, against their employer, Air Methods Corporation. The suit alleges Air Methods improperly deducts sleep time from employees hours worked in an effort to evade FLSA overtime requirements. While this suit only includes four plaintiffs at this time, attorneys ...
Read More »IN Firefighters File Lawsuit Seeking Overtime Pay
A group of fifteen firefighters and their local union, are suing the Town of Chesterton, Indiana, over unpaid overtime that dates back almost 10 years. The suit, which was filed on February 16, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana alleges the town has “willingly, deliberately and intentionally refused to pay Chesterton Firefighters for time and ...
Read More »NY EMT Sues Village For Overtime Pay
A New York EMT is suing his employer for violations of both the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York wage and hour laws. Ronald Tappen, an EMT for the Lindenhurst Fire Department filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on January 22. Tappen alleges the town failed to pay him ...
Read More »