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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    2

    Default Fire Department Overtime Scheduling and Pay

    My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: South Dakota

    So I work for a combination fire dept. that has 5 employees and a paid cheif (6 employed). We work off the 7(k), so we work 24hr on 48off and based of a 56 hr work week. In the summer we have to go out on wild fires as part of our duty. while on fire we usually work 16 hour days for 14 consecutive days. in order to get overtime we would have to work over 212 hours in a 28 day period.

    So... the cheif says that he is exempt from paying over time since the dept is so small... flsa says(less than 5 is exempt)?
    cheif says that the 212 hours have to be in consecutive days so If I get one day off in 28 days the hours start over ? is this true.
    last 28 days i worked 344 hours!

    we are on salary and the dept gets all the extra money when there is out of state money to be had. never gotten an over time check

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Fire Department Overtime Scheduling and Pay

    The FLSA says nothing of the kind. There is no provision in the FLSA exempting employers of less than x employees from paying overtime.

    It is next to impossible to be exempt from the FLSA. There is a two-prong exemption and you have to meet BOTH prongs. If the business as a whole grosses more than $500,000 a year, then the FLSA applies, no matter how few employees there are. There could be one employee and if the employer grosses over $500,000, the FLSA applies.

    The other prong has to do with interstate commerce. We'll assume for the sake of argument that you've met the >$500K prong. Now the question becomes, does the employer engage in interstate commerce? Here's where it gets interesting - the definition of interstate commerce has been defined so broadly that it is almost impossible to NOT be engaging in interstate commerce. You're in South Dakota. Do you buy equipment manufactured in Minnesota? Write with pencils ordered from North Dakota? Drive on an interstate highway? Congratulations, you engage in interstate commerce and the FLSA applies

    Now, I will grant you, if I recall correctly there are special overtime rules for firefighters and I do not know what they are. Mr. K. or Betty or jk might know them. But your chief's assertion that small employers are exempt from the FLSA is only so much nonsense.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Fire Department Overtime Scheduling and Pay

    thank you for your quick reply

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