Tag Archives: overtime

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?

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »

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...

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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?

Read More »

In a long awaited decision the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Chicago in a case where police officers sought compensation for the off-duty use of their smartphones. Sergeant Jeffery Allen claimed he and his fellow officers in the Bureau of Organized Crime were required to use their smartphones to communicate while off-duty, but were not compensated for their time.

Read More »

It is my pleasure to welcome my good friend and colleague Bill Maccarone to cyberspace with the creation of a new blog called FirefighterOvertime.org. Bill and I have been teaching the FLSA for Fire Departments program for the past two years, and Bill's plan is to pass along his accumulated knowledge – together with the latest in FLSA headlines – to firefighters everywhere.

Read More »

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

Read More »

The Borough of Deal, New Jersey has proposed eliminating its three full-time firefighters on May 1, 2017 in an effort to curb spending. However the firefighters believe there is a more ominous reason behind the cuts. The Borough settled an overtime pay dispute with firefighters less than a month ago.

Read More »

Today’s burning question: If a collective bargaining agreement requires a fire department to count vacation and sick time as hours worked for overtime purposes, do these hours have to count toward hours worked for FLSA purposes.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

Firefighters in Santa Rosa have filed a class action lawsuit claiming the city has been improperly calculating their overtime pay in violation of the FLSA. The suit was filed last week in federal court by 118 Santa Rosa firefighters.

Read More »

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government has agreed to settle a long-standing overtime dispute with its firefighters for a reported $17.7 million. The case was originally filed in November, 2005 in Fayette Circuit Court by firefighters who claimed the county miscalculated their overtime compensation.

Read More »

In this episode, Curt and Bill Maccarone continue their discussion about overtime issues in the fire service with an overview of "regular rate". Regular rate refers to the amount of hourly compensation that must be multiplied by 1.5 to determine the overtime rate. While that may seem simple, its application is anything but.

Read More »