Daily Bar News

Todays Date: Click here to add this website to your favorites
  rss
Bar News Search >>>
law firm web design
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
D.C.
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Mass.
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
N.Carolina
N.Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
S.Carolina
S.Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
W.Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Fire Paramedics In Philly Win Overtime Pay Appeal

•  Recent Cases     updated  2008/06/02 09:35


More than 300 paramedics for the Philadelphia Fire Department won the right to receive overtime pay in a 3rd Circuit ruling. The court voted 2-1 to reject the city's argument that fire service paramedics fall under an exemption from Fair Labor Standards Act overtime requirements that applies to workers who "engage in fire protection activities."

Judge Dolores Sloviter said fire service paramedics do not qualify as exempted fire protection employees, because they "are not hired to fight fires, not even in a small part."

"Every substantive aspect of the job description is medical in nature," Sloviter added, citing the statistic that plaintiffs' dispatches to actual fires account for 0.1 percent of their total annual dispatches. That's about five to 10 times a year, compared to 6,000 to 8,000 total dispatches for emergency medical services. Even when fire paramedics are called to a fire, it's for the purposes of providing medical care, not for putting out a fire, the ruling states.

For these reasons, the court concluded that fire paramedics do not fall within the overtime exemption and should receive time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours a week.

ⓒ Daily Bar News - All Rights Reserved.

The content contained on the web site has been prepared by Daily Bar News
as a service to the internet community and is not intended to constitute legal advice or
a substitute for consultation with a licensed legal professional in a particular case or circumstance.

Affordable Law Firm Website Design by Law Promo