The State if Illinois has announced a state-wide tax rebate for active volunteer firefighters. The “Volunteer Emergency Worker Credit” will cut $500 from a volunteer firefighter’s 2023 income provided they meet certain criteria. The credit requires that the volunteer firefighters have served their respective organizations for at least nine months and earned less than $5,000 [in nominal fees] over the ...
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Volunteer Firefighter Compensation and the FLSA
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a fulltime chief of a combination fire department. We have a mix of volunteer and paid firefighters. Like many folks, we are struggling with recruitment and retention within all of our ranks, but especially within our volunteers. Recently, some of our neighboring departments began offering their volunteers an hourly rate instead of a stipend. Some ...
Read More »Volunteer, Per Diem, and Full Time Firefighters and the FLSA
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter in a small rural combination fire department. We have 12 full-time firefighters and another dozen active volunteers. Our department has strict rules that forbid our paid firefighters volunteering their time for the department. Recently, the department began allowing the volunteer firefighters the opportunity to pick up “per diem” shifts. The volunteers ...
Read More »Colorado Governor Signs Executive Order Providing Volunteer Firefighters Paid Time Off to Fight Fires in the State
Colorado Governor Jared Polis recently signed an executive order intended to provide state employees that also serve as volunteer firefighters in their communities up to five days of paid leave while fighting wildfires throughout the state. Executive Order D 2022 036 states the following: Climate change is increasing the frequency, severity, and intensity of forest fires in Colorado. Fire season ...
Read More »Volunteer Firefighter Incentive Plan, Same Type of Services, and the FLSA
Today’s FLSA Question: I am a volunteer fire chief for a fully volunteer fire department. Like many volunteer fire departments, we struggle getting trucks on the road during weekday hours. However, we have several volunteer firefighters that are employed by the town in other departments in addition to serving as volunteer firefighters. Recently, a town official proposed allowing these town ...
Read More »Ohio City Settles FLSA Lawsuit with Firefighters
The City of Eaton, Ohio has settled a lawsuit filed by four current and former fire department employees for a total of $185,000. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2019 by four of the department’s five full-time employees, contained two basic allegations. The first allegation was that the city misclassified the four full-time fire department employees as overtime exempt executive ...
Read More »State of TN Proposing Annual Stipend to Help Volunteer Firefighters
The State of Tennessee is taking an interesting and innovative approach to combating the nation-wide problems associated with a lack of volunteer firefighters. Late last week, the Tennessee Senate passed a bill aimed at providing financial incentives for volunteer firefighters in that state. The incentive, which is anticipated to cost the state almost $5 million for fiscal year 2021-2022, provides ...
Read More »Allegations of Falsified Time Sheets Result in State Auditor Demanding Former Fire Chief and Two Firefighters Pay Back More Than $75k
Keith Faber, the State of Ohio’s Chief Auditor, has demanded the former Union City Fire Chief and two of her subordinates (one of which is the chief’s husband) repay more than $75,000 following allegations of falsified “payroll time sheets.” Pamela Idle, the former chief of the Union City Fire Department, former firefighters Craig Idle (Chief Idle’s husband) and Brian Stump ...
Read More »Volunteer Fire Company Sues CT Town Over Volunteer Stipends
An unusual battle between an independent volunteer fire company and a rural New England town has resulted in the fire company filing a lawsuit against the town. In a March 31 lawsuit—filed in New London Superior Court—the Gardner Lake Volunteer Fire Company alleges the Town of Salem, CT is unlawfully withholding almost $28,000 earmarked for volunteer firefighter stipends from the ...
Read More »City hall makes it tough for city employee to volunteer as a firefighter
Today’s FLSA Question: I am an administrative assistant for a small municipal fire department. My job is primarily related to scheduling inspections, handling public information requests, ordering supplies, and handling payroll for our full-time and part-time paid staff. Our organization has a mixture of full-time, part-time and volunteer firefighters. The volunteers do not receive any money for serving as volunteers, ...
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