Posted by: Curt Varone
3 days in the past
Sixteen members of the Hackensack Fireplace Division have filed swimsuit looking for extra time compensation for the time they carried out numerous inspections exterior on their usually assigned shifts. The firefighters allege they had been paid $25 per hour whereas performing the inspections, which is considerably decrease than their present hourly price.
The swimsuit was filed in Bergen County Superior Court docket alleging a violation of state wage and hours regulation. It doesn’t allege a violation of the Honest Labor Requirements Act. Quoting from the grievance:
- Over the course of a few years, all the above-named people carried out numerous inspections on behalf of the fireplace division in numerous workplace buildings, suites and places of work within the Metropolis.
- For these inspections, all of which had been carried out exterior of their often scheduled contractual hours, they acquired 25.00 per hour for these inspections.
- When all the above-named people started their employment with the Metropolis, the above follow had been ongoing for plenty of years previous to their employment.
- In consequence, and on the time of their employment, there was no have to query the method or the pay.
- The above-named people believed that these inspections weren’t a part of their job and accordingly, didn’t query the quantity of pay they acquired for these inspections.
- Unbeknownst to those people, conducting these inspections had been a part of their duties as a firefighter and/or dispatcher.
- In response to the New Jersey Civil Service Fee a part of the duties of a firefighter embody (however aren’t restricted to) “making periodic inspections and points citations to make sure compliance with security laws.”
- The New Jersey Civil Service Fee has expressly discovered that municipal firefighters performing fireplace prevention inspections aren’t performing “out of title” actions. 11. On the time of those inspections, most, if not all the firefighters had been incomes $72.00 per hour, if no more.
- Time and a half for these workers could be no less than $108.00 per hour, if no more.
The grievance alleges a violation of New Jersey Wage and Hour legal guidelines, and particularly NJSA 34:11-56a4(b)(1), which reads:
- An employer shall additionally pay every worker not lower than 1 1/2 instances such worker’s common hourly price for every hour of working time in extra of 40 hours in any week, besides that this extra time price shall not apply: to any particular person employed in a bona fide govt, administrative, or skilled capability….
Here’s a copy of the grievance: