Tag Archives: white collar

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 battalion chief who recently left the Lumpkin County Fire Department has filed suit claiming she was improperly categorized as an exempt employee, and improperly denied overtime. Sharon Booth filed suit November 30, 2022 against seeking back wages for the past three years.

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Today’s burning question: If an Assistant Chief who is classified as an exempt executive employee is deployed on a 2-week wildland or USAR deployment that is fully reimbursable through FEMA or the state, can the fire department only pay the assistant chief his regular weekly salary?

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Today’s burning question: We are losing senior instructors from our fire academy because they are being promoted to Battalion Chiefs (or higher), at which point we cannot compensate them to teach on their days off… not even straight time. I am told this is because they are exempt under the FLSA but cannot find any legal clarification that explains what is going on. Why can’t we at least pay these officers straight time to come back and teach on their days off?

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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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After losing at the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Fairfax County has opted to cut its losses and settle a Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit with 174 fire captains for $7.85 million. The county had long considered the captains to ...

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Twenty-one states are challenging new overtime rules that increase the minimum salary requirements for exempt “white collar” employees under the FLSA. The rules are set to increase the minimum salary that an employee who is exempt from receiving overtime must be paid from $455 per week to $913 per week.

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