Tag Archives: §7(k)

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a city HR manager. One of our firefighters is out of work with a long-term illness. Unfortunately, this firefighter has exhausted all of his sick time. In response other firefighters have been working as substitutes for his assigned shifts. In theory, we have no issues with this practice since firefighters frequently substitute for each other’s ...

The City of Fayetteville, Tennessee has paid twenty-three current and former city firefighters a total of $92,515 after city officials discovered errors in the way overtime was calculated. City officials acknowledged a “discrepancy” related to firefighter overtime back in August 2018. It appears the city moved quickly to resolve the issue and avoided a protracted and often costly legal battle ...

The City of Niagara Falls, NY will be looking for new police and fire chiefs this New Year. Both chiefs stepped down from their positions just prior to the end of 2018. On first glance this type of change is not unusual. Many high-ranking public safety officials plan retirements around this time of year, however in this instance, neither men ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am an assistant chief for a small combination fire department. In addition to myself and the chief, our department consists of 9 full-time paid firefighters and over 20 dedicated volunteers. The full-time firefighters work a 24/48 schedule on a 14-day work period. We recently negotiated a change in the paid firefighters’ union contract related to training ...

The City of La Verne, California has reached a settlement with a group of twenty-seven current and former city firefighters following allegations of unpaid overtime. The settlement follows a February 2018 FLSA lawsuit filed by the firefighters in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The firefighters made two basic claims in the suit. First, the city ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I recently read that a small village outside of Chicago decided to privatize its fire service in an effort to reduce costs. In particular village leaders claimed the overtime obligations for village firefighters was too high and by privatizing fire services the village would save significant money while maintaining the same daily staffing. I would think private ...

A former Indiana firefighter and fire chief is suing his former employer for allegedly violating the FLSA. Ernie Campbell, a former firefighter and the one-time Fire Chief of the Center Township Fire Department, in LaPorte, Indiana filed the suit on December 10. Campbell—an employee of Center Township Fire Department from 1989 to 2018—makes two basic claims in his complaint. The ...

Captain Margerita Noland-Moore, a paramedic for the City of Cleveland’s Division of Emergency Medical Services, has filed a lawsuit against the city alleging she and as many as 300 other city EMS employees have been shorted overtime pay. The complaint, which was filed on November 26, alleges several specific violations of both the FLSA and Ohio law. According to the ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I recently resigned my position with a municipal fire department to take another position at a neighboring fire department. Before I left, I had accrued over 200 hours of FLSA compensatory time (comp time), 80 hours of vacation, and another 250 hours of sick leave. Now, my former department refuses to pay me for these hours. Can ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the chief of a small municipal fire department. In addition to myself, we have 21 full-time firefighter/medics that work an average of 56 hours per week. They rotate between all the apparatus, but the vast majority of their time is spent on the ambulances. A couple of firefighter/medics have stated they should receive overtime after ...