Burning Question

Small Fire Departments and Overtime

Today’s burning question: I work for a small town fire department as one of two paid firefighters. Everyone else is a volunteer. The town manager refuses to pay us overtime until we work 212 hours in 28 days. Everywhere else I have ever worked, overtime had to be paid after 40 hours in a week. Can the town manager get away with this?

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Compensation for Voluntary Attendance at Open House

Today’s burning question: Our department hosts an open house during fire prevention week. When the recession hit back in 2009 the department stopped compensating off-duty members who attended the open house. Can the department refuse to pay us for that time, and what would happen if one of our off-duty uncompensated members is injured at the open house?

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Counting Vacation and Sick Time As Hours Worked

Today’s burning question: If a collective bargaining agreement requires a fire department to count vacation time and sick time as hours worked for overtime purposes, do these hours have to count toward hours worked for FLSA overtime purposes? Answer: No. The Fair Labor Standards Act only requires ...

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What Should A Salary Be Divided By To Determine Hourly Rate

Today’s burning question: Our city calculates our hourly pay by dividing our salary by 56 hours, not 53 hours. In other words, our hourly rate for overtime purposes is calculated by dividing the weekly salary by 56 hours. Shouldn’t they use 53 hours since the FLSA states that is the maximum allowable number of hours per week for firefighters?

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Part-Time Firefighters and the 207k Exemption

Today’s burning question: Our fire department recently hired its first full-time firefighters to supplement our volunteers and part-time personnel. Historically we paid our part-time personnel overtime after 40 hours a week. Our new full-time personnel have been designated as being subject to the 207(k) partial exemption...

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FLSA Retaliation – Why Go There?

Today’s burning question: I am a line battalion chief in a department that classifies all chief officers as white-collar exempt executives. As exempt executives we are not eligible for overtime. Our association obtained an opinion letter from a law firm that concluded line chiefs do not qualify as white-collar executives under either the traditional analysis nor under the 2004 First Responder Regulations.

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Podcast 22: Hazing, Pranks and Bullying in the Fire Service

In this episode, Curt and Linda Willing discuss the cultural and legal challenges associated with hazing, pranks and bullying in the fire service. Linda is a retired fire officer from the Boulder Fire Department and a noted author, columnist and lecturer. She is the author of On the Line: Women Firefighters Tell Their Stories.

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Narcan and EMS

Today’s burning question: Can a fire department that is not a licensed EMS provider equip its apparatus and train its personnel to carry and administer Narcan? Answer: Due to the opioid-crisis, most states are taking a rather unprecedented approach to Narcan by treating as an intervention that is in the nature of a first aid treatment that anyone can administer.

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Are BCs Eligible for Overtime Under the FLSA

Today’s burning question: Are battalion chiefs considered to be exempt executives under the FLSA and not eligible for overtime? Answer: That is the key question in a recently filed suit out of Vancouver, Washington. Eight current and former Vancouver battalion chiefs are suing the department

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Promotions and Acting or Interim Positions

Today’s burning question: Is there a maximum duration for which a fire department can keep an individual in an "acting" or "interim" capacity before the position must be awarded to the individual or awarded to another candidate?

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Does The FLSA Always Trump The CBA?

Today’s Burning Question: Can a collective bargaining agreement trump the FLSA? I heard the FLSA trumps everything, including a CBA. Answer: While the FLSA certainly can trump CBAs, that is not always the case. The best perspective is to consider the FLSA to be the floor below - which an employer cannot go.

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Sick Leave Abuse or Family Medical Leave Act Violation

Today’s burning question: I was a probationary firefighter and used accrued sick and vacation leave to take care of my wife and children, but my employer fired me. Do I have a case? Answer: While as a probationary employee you are an employee at-will, an employer cannot discriminate nor violate statutory rights that are granted by state and federal law.

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