A Denver firefighter has filed swimsuit towards the town claiming he was required to work greater than 40 hours per week whereas attending the 18-week fireplace academy, and never compensated for these additional hours. Shane Walters filed the FLSA lawsuit in US District Court docket for the District of Colorado as a category motion.
Walters attended the academy in 2022, and claims recruits have been required to work from 4:30am to between 3:15pm and 4:00pm five-days every week, plus required to review after courses ended. He’s in search of compensation for all of these hours, together with research time. The swimsuit additionally alleges that he was threatened earlier this yr when he inquired into his proper to compensation for the extra hours whereas attending the hearth academy.
Quoting from the grievance:
- Plaintiff Shane Walter was employed as a probationary firefighter and attended the Fireplace Academy through the interval of August 15, 2022, via December 16, 2022.
- Plaintiffs have been paid their common wage representing 40 hours of labor per week for his or her work carried out on the Fireplace Academy.
- Plaintiffs labored 5 days per week on the Fireplace Academy, and Defendant required Plaintiffs to report back to work at 4:30 a.m. every workday.
- Plaintiffs’ coaching on the Fireplace Academy typically ended between 3:15 and 4:00 p.m. every workday, at which level Defendant required Plaintiffs to finish sure chores. Plaintiffs have been assigned to one among six teams on a rotating foundation all through the Academy, and particular chores have been assigned to every of those teams. These obligatory chores included duties resembling cleansing Plaintiffs’ stations and tools, laying firehoses out to dry, emptying trash cans, and brewing espresso. Defendant didn’t compensate Plaintiffs for, or report, any time spent by Plaintiffs performing these obligatory chores past common working hours.
- Because of the schedule described above, Plaintiffs labored over 40 hours per week on the Fireplace Academy.
- Plaintiffs have been required to go weekly written examinations whereas attending the Fireplace Academy. The fabric that was examined was not taught as a part of Plaintiffs’ on-site coaching throughout common working hours. Subsequently, Plaintiffs have been required to attend nightly research periods carried out by the Denver Fireplace Division on the Academy and/or research the fabric whereas away from the Academy. Defendant didn’t compensate Plaintiffs for any time spent attending research periods or finding out independently, and Defendant didn’t place a restrict on the period of time Plaintiffs have been permitted to spend finding out independently. All time spent finding out was along with the hours labored on-site by probationary firefighters every workday.
- Every Plaintiff was required to spend a minimum of one to 2 hours per night time, three to 4 nights per week, to finish this obligatory finding out at both nightly research periods or impartial research.
Walters pursued the matter earlier this yr, however was rebuffed by rating officers. He was formally suggested that the academy hours have been 0600 to 1430 hours every day, and that the town thought-about recruits to qualify for the “worker in fireplace safety actions” 7(ok) exemption of the FLSA. Below the 7(ok) exemption (29 U.S.C. § 207(ok)), qualifying staff are solely required to be paid extra time after working 53 hours per week, and permits the division to undertake a piece interval of as much as 28 days. The grievance states the town makes use of a 21-day work interval, which might imply that extra time is simply required for firefighters working greater than 159 hours in 3 weeks.
The case raises various fascinating questions:
- Is coaching time compensable to the identical extent as different kinds of work?
- Are recruits eligible for the 7(ok) exemption?
- Is research time compensable?
- What occurs when an employer’s time information battle with these maintained by an worker?
- Can a probationary firefighter ignore an FLSA violation till they’re off probation after which elevate a declare?
- What are the implications of threatening an worker who raises an FLSA declare, even when the declare isn’t legitimate?
We cowl every of those vital points in our 3-day FLSA for Fireplace Departments program. The final supply for 2024 is in Mesa, Arizona October 1-3, 2024. If these points are of curiosity to you, please contemplate attending.
Here’s a copy of the grievance: