Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A South Carolina fire chief who resigned two weeks ago, is now facing a state police investigation into his claiming $42,000 worth of overtime since July of 2022. David Watson resigned as fire chief for the Town of Wagener on October 19, 2023 after being confronted with the allegations by Mayor Michael Miller and Mayor Pro Tem George Smith.
According to a police report submitted by Wagener Police Chief Michael A. Goodwin, Chief Watson claimed between 20 and 26 hours of overtime each week between July, 2022 and October 11, 2023. Chief Goodwin reported that the case was being turned over to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for further investigation.
Attached is a copy of the police report. Also here is a recent new video on the situation. A more recent video is available at this link, but is not available for embedding at the moment. When it is it will be added here.
By the way, is it possible that a fire chief could be eligible for overtime under the FLSA? Bill Maccarone will be addressing that issue on November 8, 2023. Join us at 1PM.
