California Police Fire Wars Arrest and South Carolina Overtime

Its been a busy week fire law wise with a number of stories breaking that are certainly of great interest. So many cases…. so little time….

Let’s start with the newest police fire wars case, this one out of Chula Vista, California where a firefighter was placed in handcuffs by a California Highway Patrol Officer on I805 in a dispute over where an engine was parked. Dave Statter’s on this one.

San Diego, California News Station – KFMB Channel 8 – cbs8.com

To sum up… nothing new to add. Its the same old police fire war battle. Until we start seeing police officers arrested for interfering with firefighters in the performance of their duties (also a crime in most states), this non-sense will continue. BTW – when was the last time a police officer arrested another police officer because he didn’t like where the officer parked his cruiser??? Somehow they find a way to work those kinds of childish disputes out without putting each other in handcuffs.

Another case of interest involved a wage and hour dispute out of South Carolina. Twenty-six current and former employees of Charleston County Emergency medical Services have filed a class action lawsuit in federal court claiming the county has not been properly paying them for hours worked in excess of forty hours.

The complaint also alleges:

Plaintiffs and other members of the Plaintiff class previously raised or articulated their concerns to officials within Defendant’s County Administration as well as within Defendant’s EMS Department about the Department’s policies and practices regarding the recording of compensable time, the calculation of overtime compensation and incorrect hourly pay rate; however, Plaintiffs were intimidated and coerced to continue working under these unlawful conditions by their immediate supervisors, by the EMS Department upper management, and by Defendant’s Human Resources Department.

The complaint has three counts, one under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), one under the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act, and the third as a simple breach of contract claim.

Here is a copy of the complaint: Charleston County EMS

Incidentally, the Charleston County FLSA suit comes on the heals of another suit filed by several Charleston firefighters who allege they are not even being paid minimum wage once all of the wage and hour calculations are factored in. For the FLSA junkies out there (Chip Kirwin), it would appear there is a whole lot going on – including fluctuating hourly wages depending on how many hours you work in a week… NO I AM NOT KIDDING!!!!

Here is a copy of that complaint.Charleston SC