In the settlement of the case Ralph Grant, et al. v. Pasco County, Florida, the County agreed to calculate and pay over 240 Fire Rescue plaintiffs' backpay for overtime that they performed over the past two years. read more...

Several federal courts have recently held that time spent organizing and putting on law enforcement equipment, such as Kevlar bullet proof vests and gun belts, is compensable work time under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and must be counted toward the overtime pay requirements of the Act. These courts have reached different decisions, however, on whether time spent putting on the law enforcement uniform is compensable in situations in which the employer provides employees with the option of putting on the uniform at home where it is practicable to do so. read more...

Federal employees in Hawaii and Alaska have appealed the U.S. District Court's decision denying their challenge to "locality pay" policies as unconstitutional because they unfairly exclude federal employees who work and reside in Hawaii and Alaska solely based on the identity of the state in which they reside and work. read more...

Employees may have a more difficult time mediating labor practice disputes with the government due to revisions to the Fair Labor Relations Authority's (FLRA) rules on unfair labor practice (ULP) proceedings.

The regulatory revisions were originally introduced in December of 2007. read more...

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides eligible employees with twelve work weeks of unpaid leave (during any twelve month period) to attend to family and/or personal medical conditions.  New amendments to the FMLA broaden the rights for military service/National Guard member families and entitle them to more than double that amount of unpaid leave. read more...

On December 7th, a federal court ruled that police officers are entitled to overtime pay for time spent putting on their uniforms at home before arriving at work. In Lemmon v. City of San Leandro, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel stated that the uniform and safety gear are a police officer's "survival suit" and, as such, are integral to the job. read more...

In Astor, et al. v. United States, the United States Court of Federal Claims ruled on November 13, 2007 that firearms instructors do not qualify as "teachers" under the Fair Labor Standards Act and, further, that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) is not an educational establishment under the FLSA. read more...

AFGE Local 1030 settled its Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") overtime pay grievance against the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP"), FDC Houston for $3,000,000.00 on October 4, 2007. In the grievance, the Union asserted that the BOP did not properly compensate bargaining unit members for work they were required to perform. read more...

A solid majority of the analysts at both the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Washington headquarters and those among the 11 field offices across the country have voted to be represented by a union, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). read more...

On September 6, 2007, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that putting on and taking off (called "donning and doffing") protective gear "constitutes 'work' as a matter of law."  In De Asencio v. read more...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a potential class of 15,000 former and current female employees nationwide who were denied service credit for pregnancy leave in the calculation of their retirement and pension benefits. See Hulteen v. read more...

AFGE Local 3957 settled its Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") overtime pay grievance against the Bureau of Prisons ("BOP"), FCI Oakdale for $829,832.63 on June 21, 2007.  In this lawsuit, the Union asserted that the BOP required correctional officers to perform work during their unpaid meal periods. read more...

Current and former Fire Rescue workers filed a lawsuit against Pasco County, Florida on June, 14, 2007. The 242 plaintiffs allege that the County owes them overtime pay for work they performed over the past three years. read more...

A federal jury awarded approximately $658,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages to four female firefighters in Jackson, Mississippi on May 31, 2007.

Stacy Prophet, Tiffany Alexander, Jacqueline Moore and Sandra Hawkins, members of IAFF Local 87, alleged Fire Department supervisors made unwanted advances and inappropriate comments and groped them. read more...

Employees allege that Wal-Mart failed to compensate the workers for all the time that they worked by forcing its employees "to work through meal breaks, locking employees in retail stores after they had clocked out, and by coercing employees to work off the clock. read more...