Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
In this episode, Curt and Bill Maccarone expound on Curt’s January, 2020 article in Firehouse Magazine addressing the most common ways that fire departments are being sued for overtime violations. The article entitled Firefighters, Overtime and the Fair Labor Standards Act, covers the top five reasons why fire departments are being sued under the FLSA.
In the podcast, they go beyond the top five reasons in explaining the overtime issues that are leading to most lawsuits. Here is a listing of the top 20 reasons for firefighter-related FLSA lawsuits, based upon Curt’s Fire Litigation Database.
| Rank | Violation Alleged | Cases | Frequency |
| 1 | Maximum hours | 124 | 50.2% |
| 2 | Regular rate | 100 | 40.5% |
| 3 | Unpaid hours | 94 | 38.1% |
| 4 | 207k | 65 | 26.3% |
| 5 | Executive exemption | 32 | 13.0% |
| 6 | Retaliation | 29 | 11.7% |
| 7 | Sleep time | 20 | 8.1% |
| 8 | Comp time | 15 | 6.1% |
| 9 | Meal time | 15 | 6.1% |
| 10 | Training time | 13 | 5.3% |
| 11 | Volunteers, employee status, nominal fees | 12 | 4.9% |
| 12 | Public agency versus private company | 9 | 3.6% |
| 13 | On-call time | 8 | 3.2% |
| 14 | Fluctuating workweek | 8 | 3.2% |
| 15 | Pre- and post-shift work | 8 | 3.2% |
| 16 | Fire investigators as Law Enforcement or 207k FFs | 5 | 2.0% |
| 17 | Minimum wage | 4 | 1.6% |
| 18 | Detail pay | 3 | 1.2% |
| 19 | Military leave | 3 | 1.2% |
| 20 | Travel time | 3 | 1.2% |
For those not familiar with Bill’s blog, FirefighterOvertime.org, here is a link.
Also here are more details on our upcoming FLSA for Fire Departments conferences.
| February 11-13, 2020 – Stuart, FL hosted by Martin County Fire Rescue Details/Register May 5-7, 2020 – Kansas City, MO hosted by South Metro Fire Details/Register September 15-17, 2020 – Seattle, WA hosted by the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority Details/Register |
