Firefighter Overtime Discussing Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Firefighters, First Responders as well as Human Resource & Finance Professional

Two Storey County, Nevada firefighters have filed an FLSA suit against their employer, the Storey County Fire Protection District. The pair claim the district fails to pay them, and other similarly situated firefighters, overtime as required by the FLSA. Specifically, firefighters Victor Yohey and Chris Tillisch allege the district has a practice of not paying firefighters any FLSA overtime for ...

The City of Charleston, West Virginia has reached a $1.7 million settlement with more than 160 current and former firefighters over the way the city pays them for holidays. This settlement follows claims made by firefighters last year that the city’s holiday pay plan violated West Virginia law. This settlement is unique in two ways: First, the Charleston firefighter’s claims ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the Fire Marshal for a mid-sized fire department. The town considers my position overtime exempt. I have been pressing town hall for an explanation of why my position is classified this way. The HR Director initially told me I was an overtime exempt executive employee. However, I informed him that exempt executives must supervise other ...

This is the second of a three-part series related to recent updates to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations pertaining to the FLSA. Click here for Part I. The updated regulations will undoubtedly affect many workers in different ways. However, for the purpose of this series, we will look at several key components of the update and how it may impact ...

Firefighters, Overtime, and the Fair Labor Standards Act is the title of an article appearing in this month’s Firehouse Magazine. The article was written by my friend and colleague Curt Varone. The article is based on Curt’s Fire Litigation Database and delves into the top five reasons fire departments are getting sued under the FLSA. In the following podcast, Curt ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time firefighter. I recently left my first firefighting job in a small combination department. I worked there for almost 5 years before moving onto a bigger department. My former colleagues at this small combination department recently settled a long-running contract dispute with the town. As a result of this settlement, the firefighters will be ...

The Department of Labor (DOL) will be implementing several important updates to regulations related to the FLSA over the next few weeks. These updates include an increase in the minimum salary required for overtime exempt “white-collar” employees and critical changes to DOL regulations related to the regular rate of pay. It would be nearly impossible to properly address these changes ...

Madison County, Tennessee, has agreed to a $1.25 million settlement with over 100 county employees following an FLSA lawsuit filed earlier this year. In July 2019, Natasha Grayson filed the suit in the U.S. District Court from the Western District of Tennessee on behalf of herself and other similarly situated county employees. The suit quickly grew to include over 100 ...

The City of New York has been ordered to pay a total of 2,519 current and former FDNY EMTs, medics, and Fire Safety Inspectors (EMTs) $14,477,026 in back pay and liquidated damages after being found liable of violating the FLSA. On October 24, 2019 a jury unanimously found the city failed to pay EMTs for time spent working before and ...

Following several years of sparring between the City of Wilmington, DE and its firefighters’ union, the city is proposing a drastic change to the firefighters’ work shifts. The city has submitted a proposal to a neutral third-party arbitrator calling for firefighters to move from a four-platoon to a three-platoon organizational structure as a way to save money. According to ABC ...