Wage and Hour

Today’s burning question: Can a fire department cancel a firefighter’s assigned Kelly Day without violating the Fair Labor Standards Act? For example, if firefighters work a 24/48 schedule with Kelly Days every third work period, can the department contact personnel scheduled to be off on a Kelly Day, and require them to work?

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In this episode Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss the upcoming FLSA for Fire Departments web-conference May 11-14, 2021, and plans for the next web-conference October 5-8, 2021. In addition three new Advanced FLSA webinars have been scheduled for the fall of 2021.

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Today’s burning question: I am a volunteer fire chief and have been very interested in taking your FLSA course May 11-14, 2021. Is there any way to just take the section related to volunteer issues at a reduced rate? The other sections are interesting but are not the focus of what I need to know.

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A battalion chief with the City of Coronado has filed suit claiming he and similarly situated battalion chiefs have been wrongly classified as exempt from overtime. Perry Peake filed the class action suit this week in US District Court for the Southern District of California.

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The US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has ruled that a jury must decide whether company officers in the Eaton Fire Department are entitled to, or exempt from, overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The suit was filed in 2019 by three captains and a lieutenant who claimed they were improperly classified as exempt executives.

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A Missouri firefighter who was terminated after complaining about the manner in which the fire department was paying its firefighters, is now suing the department for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. Scott Jones filed suit against the Willard Fire Protection District.

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In this episode of Fire Law VLOG, Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss the changes that the Biden administration has already implemented to the Fair Labor Standards Act that will impact the fire service. They also discuss the changes that may likely be coming.

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Today’s burning question: Do we have to pay part-time firefighter/EMS employees for their lunch break? Answer: First of all, the FLSA does not draw a distinction between full-time, part-time, or per diem employees. An employee is an employee.

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In this episode, Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss the recent decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Emmons v. City of Chesapeake on the issue of whether battalion chiefs are eligible for overtime, or if they are exempt executives. Spoiler alert: if you are a BC you will not like the decision.

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A Rhode Island firefighter has filed a class action lawsuit alleging that a local fire district violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and after being found to be in violation by the US Department of Labor, persisted in refusing to pay back wages owed. James Almagno filed suit today in US District Court naming the Central Coventry Fire District.

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In this edition of Fire law Vlog, Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss the upcoming webinar on firefighter overtime and compensation, FLSA for Fire Departments. The US Department of Labor has made several important changes to wage and hour law over the past few months that will inevitably impact fire departments.

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Firefighters in the City of Huntington, West Virginia have filed suit against the city claiming they were underpaid for holidays. All 83 of Huntington’s firefighters were listed as plaintiffs and the city was named as the sole defendant, in the suit filed today in Cabell County Circuit Court.

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We have some important news to report regarding the scheduled FLSA for Fire Departments programs. Currently we have two programs that are scheduled, one in September, 2020 and the other in November, 2020.

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Seventeen California firefighters have filed suit alleging they were underpaid for overtime they worked because their department impermissibly excluded certain benefits from the rate of pay used to calculate their overtime compensation. The firefighters, members of the Borrego Springs Fire Protection District, filed the class action lawsuit yesterday.

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