In the case of Adams v. the City of Kansas City, Missouri, 383 current and former firefighters of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, alleged in a lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in 2019, that the city failed to include speciality/incentive pay in their regular rate of pay as required by the FLSA.
The City reached a global settlement agreeing to pay over $2 million to the firefighters for overtime work in the three years prior to filing the lawsuit, costs of litigation, and attorney fees.
The settlement designates $300,000 for attorney fees and litigation costs, while the remaining $1,760,192.83 will be distributed among nearly 400 of the accusing firefighters based on their hours worked prior to the lawsuit.
Key lessons from this case:
- The FLSA mandates that all employee remuneration, with few exceptions, must be factored into the regular rate of pay to ensure proper calculation of overtime wages. Failing to include all remuneration results in employees receiving less overtime pay than legally required.
- It is imperative that professionals responsible for managing their employees’ hours worked and compensation understand the FLSA’s basic requirements.
- Certain occupations require meticulous calculations and awareness when it comes to work hours and overtime. The case highlights how this is important particularly since calculating a firefighter’s regular rate of pay is complex due to additional compensations like wage augments, such as longevity and shift differentials, that must be included.
- Mistakes in wage calculations can have significant consequences, especially considering the frequent and extensive overtime worked in today’s fire service. It is not uncommon for firefighters to work 20 or more hours of overtime in a single week on a continuous basis.
If you want to know more about overtime regulations, read our guide on Missouri Overtime Laws.
