California Medics Get $442,000 Because Firefighter Overtime Exemption Doesn’t Apply

San Diego helicopter medics will share a $442,000 settlement because they were deprived of overtime pay even after the firefighter overtime exemption was deemed inapplicable to them. The medics worked 56-hour work weeks.

The $442,000 settlement will be divided depending upon the number of overtime hours worked by each helicopter rescue medic. The highest award is $135,000 and the least award is for just under $1,000.

The firefighter overtime exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows a firefighter to work more than 40 hours a week without earning overtime. Instead, a firefighter earns overtime when more than 212 hours are worked within a 28-day span.

Los Angeles helicopter rescue medics had been covered by the firefighter overtime exemption, which means they were working nine 24-hour shifts in accordance with the shifts of firefighters and paramedics. Therefore, the helicopter rescue medics worked 216 hours within 28 days, meaning they received little overtime pay.

In 2017, the shifts were changed to shorten the helicopter rescue medics’ hours and another medic was added to ensure services were not interrupted, San Diego city spokesman Greg Block told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A group of Los Angeles helicopter rescue medics went to court to challenge that firefighter overtime exemption by saying their scope of work does not include suppressing fires.

A lower court ruled in the medics’ favor, a ruling which was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2014 that said the helicopter rescue medics “do none of the activities normally associated with suppressing a fire.”

Firefighter Overtime Exemption Doesn’t Apply

The firefighter overtime exemption was designed to allow firefighters to work as many hours as needed to put out a fire with the understanding that a fire would not wait for a shift change or for a new work week to begin.

The helicopter rescue medics sometimes load a helicopter with water when needed to help extinguish a fire, but the medics do not ride in the helicopter for those ventures. According to the lawsuits, the medics’ responsibilities are overwhelmingly medically related, even though they will help secure landing sites and evacuate people in danger when needed.

The firefighter overtime exemption is only for employees who are “employees of fire protection activities,” and include a firefighter, paramedic, emergency medical technician, rescue worker, ambulance personnel, or hazardous materials worker who “(1) is trained in fire suppression, has the legal authority and responsibility to engage in fire suppression, and is employed by a fire department of a municipality, county, fire district, or state and (2) is engaged in the prevention, control, extinguishment of fires or response to emergency medical situations where life, property, or the environment is at risk.”

The firefighter overtime exemption lawsuit made note that medics do not wear fire protection suits and that they do not participate in fire suppression activities.

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