Supreme Court awards overtime pay to Houston firefighters
In 2011, three former Houston firefighters sued the city, alleging that illegal deductions were made from their retirement pay.
Under state law, the city is required to pay firefighters overtime if their work averages more than 46.7 hours per week within a 72-day work cycle. At the time of the workers' employment, their schedules generally did not reach this threshold, so the city added two debit days, 24-hour periods during which the firefighters were often assigned to irregular shifts and different stations. The debit days were unpopular and had high rates of absenteeism.
To encourage attendance for these shifts, the city designated eight hours of each debit day eligible for overtime pay, as long as firefighters were physically present. Workers on authorized leave for the day received 16 hours of pay, but no overtime.
Upon the retirement of the three workers, the city deducted overtime it had previously paid, claiming that they had received the pay for days during which they were absent from work. The workers argued that because authorized leave time is included in the 72-day work cycle under state law, the city had illegally deducted the pay.
The initial court ruling favored the fire department workers, and they received the previously deducted pay. When the city appealed, the court decided in its favor. When the case went to the Supreme Court in June, the court ruled in favor of the workers once again.
To prevent expensive and long-lasting court cases, workplaces should maintain proper records. In addition to creating policies that clearly dictate under what circumstances workers will receive overtime pay, it is necessary to utilize time and attendance software keep records of employee time.
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