Wage and Hour

The City of Wilmington has agreed to settle an FLSA overtime suit brought last year by six current and former battalion chiefs for $459,695.36. The chiefs claim they were improperly classified as exempt executives.

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The fire chief of Salcha Fire & Rescue, Inc., has filed suit in US District Court for the District of Alaska seeking compensation for overtime worked since 2021. Chief Darrell VandeWeg claims that his duties as fire chief do not qualify him for any of the white-collar exemptions that normally would apply to fire chiefs.

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A captain with the Phoenix Fire Department has filed suit in federal court alleging he was improperly denied 7.25 hours of overtime and then retaliated against for seeking the extra compensation. Captain David Johnson filed suit naming the city and five chief officers for violating FLSA and retaliating against him.

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Twenty-six fire inspectors for FDNY have filed suit in federal court claiming the city failed to pay them overtime compensation in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. The inspectors claim they routinely work in excess of their regularly-scheduled forty hours per week, are not compensated for those extra hours unless they are pre-approved.

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Two Brookline fire lieutenants have filed a class action lawsuit claiming the town failed to pay them overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Lieutenants Brian Bergeron and Paul Trahon filed suit in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on behalf of 150 similarly situated firefighters.

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The president of Lancaster Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 319 has filed a class action lawsuit claiming that the city has failed to include longevity pay in the regular rate for purposes of calculating overtime compensation. Geoff L. Stone is seeking to recover damages for the unpaid, improperly calculated overtime compensation.

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A South Carolina fire chief who resigned two weeks ago, is now facing a state police investigation into his claiming $42,000 worth of overtime since July of 2022. David Watson resigned as fire chief for the Town of Wagener on October 19, 2023 after being confronted with the allegations by Mayor Michael Miller and Mayor Pro Tem George Smith.

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A former deputy chief for a fire district in Florida has filed suit claiming he was not paid overtime in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. Brian C. Dubrasky filed suit against the Upper Captiva Fire Protection & Rescue District.

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The City of Tulsa has agreed to settle an overtime lawsuit with over 500 current and former Tulsa firefighters for $1,060,000. The suit was filed in January, 2022 by thirteen Tulsa firefighters alleging the city was not properly paying overtime.

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An FLSA lawsuit filed by ten battalion chiefs with the Alexandria Fire Department has come to a rather surprising conclusion. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment to the city based upon a rarely used exemption for fire officers: the highly compensated employee exemption.

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A Florida fire chief who resigned last December as part of a mass resignation, has filed suit against the fire district under the Fair Labor Standard Act claiming he was improperly designated as an exempt executive. Chief Jason Martin claims the Upper Captiva Fire Protection & Rescue Services District owes him overtime for all the hours he worked beyond 53 hours per week.

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The Los Angeles County Fire Department is facing a class action lawsuit that seeks compensation for fire academy attendees who were quarantined in hotels while not in class during the COVID19 pandemic. The suit was brought by a John Doe plaintiff alleging an overtime violation under the Fair Labor Standards Act and breach of contract under state law.

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The City of Encinitas has agreed to settle an FLSA lawsuit with four current and former battalion chiefs. The chiefs filed suit last year claiming they were wrongly classified as exempt executives ineligible for overtime.

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Two FLSA-related cases are in the Fire Law news, one involving a small volunteer fire department in North Carolina, the other involving one of the nation’s largest fire departments: the Los Angeles City Fire Department. My colleague Bill Maccarone covered the LAFD case in his blog, so I would direct my readers to FirefighterOvertime.org, for more on that case.

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