“Gap time” is a recurring issue under the FLSA, one that has produced contradictory opinions from different federal courts. A recent opinion from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals does a good job of explaining what gap time means and how courts have produced such diametrically opposed opinions on what compensation, if any, is due…
Joseph Caiazza was a deputy sheriff with the Lee County, Florida Sheriff’s Department. Before his retirement, Caiazza worked on Captiva and Sanibel Islands (the “Islands”). The Islands had only one other patrol officer, along with a supervisor who had mostly administrative duties. Every 14 days, the Sheriff scheduled Caiazza for seven 12-hour shifts of active…
The Management & Training Corporation (MTC) operates the Otero County Prison near Chaparral, New Mexico, for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A group of corrections officers sued MTC alleging that MTC’s pre- and post-shift practices violated both the Fair Labor Standards Act and New Mexico’s minimum wage law. The officers generally work eight-hour shifts,…
A group of lieutenants in the Travis County Sheriff’s Office in Texas brought an overtime lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The lieutenants claimed they were wrongly treated as exempt employees. When a jury found in the lieutenants’ favor, the County appealed. The County’s argument was that the lieutenants were exempt “executive” employees. A…
The opening of the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion in a long-running lawsuit brought by two Travis County, Texas detectives is one of the best descriptions of FLSA litigation to find its way into a court opinion: “Whether a worker is entitled to the FLSA’s time-and-a-half requirement for overtime pay is an important…
The collective bargaining agreement between the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Missouri Corrections Officers Association provides that the DOC “will comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).” The DOC’s policy manual similarly states it is intended “to ensure departmental compliance with FLSA rules.” In 2012, a group of corrections officers brought a…
The Spokane Valley Fire Department in Washington filed a federal court lawsuit against Local 3701 of the IAFF, seeking a declaratory judgment that some of its employees – battalion chiefs and fire marshals who are members of Local 3701 – were exempt from certain wage and hour provisions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).…
From OklahomaQuestion: I work for a municipal law enforcement agency in Oklahoma. Nothing in the FLSA relieves employers from their contractual obligations under a collective bargaining agreement. My employer has a practice that conflicts with what is agreed to in the CBA. There is a group of officers in the department that hold upper positions.…
From New Mexico Question: Where in the FLSA does it say that work hours can’t be adjusted to avoid the payment of overtime? Answer: The FLSA’s rules are pretty specific. Under the FLSA, an employer cannot adjust the start of the employee’s FLSA work week or work period for the purposes of avoiding overtime. However,…
From Montana Question: Can the County Attorney’s office legally maintain possession of an internal investigation file of a Deputy in which a district court judge deemed was not Brady material? Answer: Unless there’s something to the contrary in Montana state law or in the County’s ordinances and codes, we see no prohibition that would bar…
Police officer “donning and doffing” cases – lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act seeking compensation for putting on and taking off required police equipment and uniforms – have received uneven treatment in the courts. One federal court of appeals – the Ninth Circuit – has ruled that donning and doffing is not compensable work…
Fairfax County, Virginia treated its fire captains as exempt “executive or administrative employees” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and did not pay them overtime. The captains sued and the case wound up before the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court held that the captains were not exempt and were legally entitled…
Many health care plans have a feature that allows employees to opt out of insurance coverage in favor of receiving a cash payment. For some time, questions have arisen as to whether these in-lieu-of-insurance payments must be included in the regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating the FLSA overtime rate. In a recent…
On May 18, 2016, the Department of Labor finalized regulations governing who is exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), modifying the weekly salary and annual compensation threshold levels for white collar exemptions to FLSA overtime requirements. The new regulations are effective December 1, 2016. The FLSA has three major exemptions from…
Section 207(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act sets a series of rules as to when compensatory time off is a legal substitute for cash compensation for overtime. Among the requirements of Section 7(o) is that if the employees have a collective bargaining representative, there must be an agreement between the union and the employer…
A group of 51 Chicago police officers, sergeants and lieutenants sued the City under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), claiming they were improperly denied compensation for the off-duty time they spent with their department-issued BlackBerry devices. After years of pre-trial skirmishing, a five-day non-jury trial was held in August 2015. Months later, the federal…
A group of deputy sheriffs for the Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Sheriff’s Department sued the County alleging that they had worked overtime for which they had not been compensated. In the lawsuit, the County admitted that the deputies had worked the uncompensated hours, but argued that it owed no overtime because it had no contemporaneous knowledge…
Firefighters working for the Menlo Park, California Fire District are issued two sets of turnout pants and coats, made of fire-resistant fabric with reinforced cuffs and reflective stripes, and two bags to store them, so that one is always available while the other set is being laundered. The District issues only one set of the…
A group of 28 police officers for the City of Sanger, California sued the City under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The officers alleged that the City had failed to include in the FLSA overtime rate two forms of compensation: (1) cash-back payments for officers who opted out of the City’s health care plan,…
From Maryland Question: Can you poll your members if they use the health care provided to them by the State or by another source (retiree benefit from another jurisdiction, spouse /partner) without violating any laws concerning privacy (HIPAA, ADA, ACA)? Answer: We’re not health insurance experts, but our take on this would be that so…
Section 7(k) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows employers to take advantage of longer overtime thresholds for public safety employees. Using a “work period” of between seven and 28 days, an employer need not pay law enforcement officers overtime until they work more than the equivalent of a 40-hour week; for firefighters, the…
Gwendolyn Gibbs and Lanita Drew worked for the New York Police Department. Each was identified by the NYPD as having a problem with alcohol use, although each employee disputed this characterization as false. NYPD required both employees to attend mandatory alcohol treatment and counseling sessions, or else face disciplinary action including, potentially, termination. NYPD’s counseling…
Leonard Avila was a police officer for the City of Los Angeles. In January 2008, Avila testified under subpoena in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) suit against the City of Los Angeles in the Central District of California brought by a fellow officer who sought overtime for working through his lunch hour. Avila testified…
Section 207(k) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows an employer to treat law enforcement and fire protection employees less generously than general employees. Under Section 207(k), an employer can “establish” a work period as an alternative to the usual workweek measure of overtime. The overtime thresholds for a work period are also longer…
A group of corrections officers at the Butler County, Pennsylvania prison sued the County under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The County required the officers to work eight and one-quarter hour shifts, which include a meal period, but only paid them for eight hours of work. The County required the officers to take a…
