LA City Facing FLSA Regular Rate Lawsuit from Police Officers

A group of more than forty current and former Los Angeles police officers have filed a lawsuit alleging the city’s pay practices violate the FLSA. The officers’ complaint was filed in federal court this week as a collective action and will likely grow to include more “similarly situated” officers. According to the complaint, the city fails to include educational incentives in the officers’ regular rate of pay.

The FLSA requires that “all remuneration” paid to an employee be included in that employee’s regular rate of pay. This includes money paid to an employee in addition to their base hourly wage or salary. Educational incentives, certification pay, longevity pay, and health care buybacks are common forms of remuneration cannot be excluded from an employee’s regular rate of pay. Proper calculation of the regular rate is critical since all FLSA overtime must be paid at a rate not less than time and one-half of the employee’s regular rate.  When an employer fails to include “all remuneration” in an employee’s regular rate, that employee’s overtime rate is shorted.

Here, the officers allege that they receive bi-weekly educational incentives for possessing either a bachelor’s degree ($290) or an associate’s degree ($190) pursuant to an MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] between the city and the officers. However, the city is not including these monetary payments in the officer’s regular rate, which in turn is shorting their overtime pay. The officers are seeking back wages, liquidated damages, and attorney fees for the past three years. Here is a copy of the complaint.