Tag Archives: wage and hour

The City of Modesto, California, has agreed to settle an FLSA lawsuit filed by several current and former city firefighters. The 2016 suit alleged the city failed to include cash payments made to some firefighters in lieu of receiving health benefits in the firefighters’ regular rate of pay. While not all firefighters opted out of city sponsored medical benefits, those ...

Want to rectify past FLSA mistakes without costly litigation? Many employers (including fire chiefs and city administrators) have been reluctant to tackle FLSA compliance concerns for fear of the unknown. Very often, the amount of money in wages owed as a result of an FLSA violation is easy to determine. What follows is the real question . . . The ...

Twenty-three current and former La Verne, California, firefighters have filed a federal lawsuit against the city for violations of the FLSA. The firefighters make two basic allegations in a six-page complaint filed in the Central District of California. First, the City of La Verne failed to pay some firefighters for all hours worked attending meetings, training, and performing other administrative ...

Today’s FLSA question: I am a U.S citizen working as a contract firefighter at a U.S. military base overseas. The company I work for is based in the U.S. My co-workers and I receive straight time for all hours worked. We receive zero overtime. We average over 80 hours of work per week! Does the FLSA apply to us? The ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the chief of a small but increasingly busy volunteer fire and EMS department. Our volunteers are paid $12 per hour when responding to calls. I was picking up the firefighters’ 1099s last month, and the accountant asked me a question about “our employees.” This caught me by surprise. I told her we have volunteers, not ...

Adolfo Jimenez, a former police officer for the City of Parlier, California, has filed a federal law suit in the Eastern District of California, claiming the city violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The suit alleges the city failed to adequately compensate Jimenez for off-the-clock work related to the care, training, maintenance, and transport of his police work dog. ...

The FLSA requires any public agency electing to utilize the §207(k) partial overtime exemption for police officers and firefighters establish a work period. In other words, to avoid paying overtime to firefighters and police officers after they work 40 hours every 7 days, the public agency needs to establish a qualifying work period. While establishing a work period may not ...

Today’s FLSA Question: Our employment contract contains a provision entitled “annual vacation buy-back,” which allows firefighters to cash out up to 100 hours of unused vacation hours annually. The hours are paid at the firefighter’s hourly rate at the time of buy-back. Does this “buy-back” money for unused vacation time need to be included in the firefighter’s regular rate? Excellent ...

Former Killian, Louisiana, Police Chief Dennis Hill has been indicted on felony malfeasance charges for allegedly requesting payments for overtime he never worked. The felony charge comes on the heels of an investigation conducted by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor into the former chief’s actions. Despite numerous claims of alleged criminal conduct within the auditor’s report, the grand jury only indicted ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the HR director for a small city. Before taking this job I worked for many years as an HR manager in the private sector. I am struggling with some of the unique components of the FLSA that only apply to public sector workers. I am especially concerned about some of the practices within the fire ...