Indiana Ambulance Company Faces FLSA Class Action Suit

An Indiana EMT has filed a class action lawsuit against an ambulance company he worked for claiming the company routinely violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by requiring personnel to work in excess of 40 hours per week without paying overtime.

Steven Schroers filed suit last week in US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana against Prompt Medical Transport, Inc. and three of its senior managers. The two count suit alleges violations of the FLSA and the Indiana Minimum Wage Law of 1965.

Schroers claims the company routinely required EMTs and paramedics to work in excess of forty hours using a variety of schemes to avoid having to pay overtime, including:

1. Requiring the Plaintiff to work as much as10 hours per week “off the clock” for the last three (3) years, while inspecting, stocking and otherwise readying ambulances to leave the garage and respond to calls (“Rig Check Work”);
2. Using a time clock system with a “snap” function that automatically rounded the Plaintiff’s recorded work time up, and down, to the beginning and end of his scheduled shifts – even when the Plaintiff actually worked longer than his scheduled shifts in most work weeks;
3. Maintaining a policy under which overtime was not paid to the Plaintiff unless it was “approved,” while at the same time requiring the Plaintiff to perform Rig Check Work that the Plaintiff could not have performed during his regularly scheduled shifts – because the Defendants required ambulances to be out on the street and ready to respond to calls at the beginning of the Plaintiff’s scheduled shifts;
4. Failing to approve and pay compensation for overtime hours when the Plaintiff would call JOSEPH MERRY and/or the Defendants’ human resources office to report that he had worked overtime

The complaint also alleges Prompt Medical engaged in the following illegal practices:

• Allowing and encouraging the Plaintiff to perform audits of his peers’ performance on his own time, while off the clock, which audits the Defendants would later use to train and discipline other EMTs;
• Allowing and encouraging the Plaintiff to attend company meetings on his own time, while off the clock, at which company business and operations were discussed, which meetings occurred approximately monthly and lasted 1 to 2 hours each;
• Allowing and encouraging the Plaintiff to perform unpaid “volunteer” work as an EMT at community events on his own time, while off the clock, at which events the Plaintiff was required to wear his PROMPT uniform and to be ready to respond to calls for emergency medical assistance and transportation.
• Allowing, encouraging, and requiring the Plaintiff to perform IT work outside of work hours, including taking phone calls, answering emails, and making service calls.
• Failing to pay the Plaintiff for numerous hours he worked altogether – requiring him to work “off the clock;”
• Failing to accurately record the number of hours that the Plaintiff actually worked each week.
• Failing to keep records of the Plaintiff’s “off the clock” work.
• Failing to pay the Putative Class members at a rate not less than one and one half times their regular hourly rates for the overtime (in excess of 40 in any given week) hours they worked/work in most, if not all, of the weeks that they were/are allowed to perform work for the Defendants;
• Failing to pay the Putative Class members for numerous hours they worked/work altogether – requiring them to work “off the clock;” and
• Failing to accurately record the number of hours that the Putative Class members actually worked/work each week.

Here is a copy of the complaint: Schroers v Prompt Medical