A Berlin Fire Company employee is arguing in a lawsuit that the town’s fire company failed to pay overtime as required by Maryland law and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Berlin Fire Company headquarters is pictured.
File photo
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
A Berlin firefighter is arguing the town’s fire company failed to pay overtime as required by Maryland law and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The individual has filed a FLSA lawsuit on behalf of himself and other employees.
Plaintiff George Branieki, who is listed as a Stevensville resident, was the only individual named in the suit against the Berlin Fire Company. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and alleges that the department “misclassified the plaintiff and as many as 25 other employees as 207(k) firefighters,” firefighterovertime.org states.
The 207(k) section of the FLSA stipulates a partial exemption that allows public agency fire departments to avoid the act’s requirement for overtime pay after working more than 40 hours a week.
According to the University of North Carolina School of Government, the exception permits public agency employers to “compute overtime… based on extended work schedule of 28 days…nonexempt law enforcement officers must work 171 hours in 28 days before the employer becomes liable for overtime.”
The United States Department of Labor defines a public agency as “the Government of the United States; the government of a state or political subdivision of any state; any agency of the United States (including the United States Postal Service and Postal Rate Commission), a state, or a political subdivision of a state; or any interstate governmental agency.” Firefighterovertime.org says that volunteer fire companies do not typically qualify as public agencies per the FLSA.
The petitioner is seeking wages from June 28, 2021, through March 2023, when the department allegedly paid its firefighters under the 207(k) exemption. Branieki argues that employees were not adequately compensated for overtime worked.
The official complaint argues that the fire department “misclassified” the plaintiff as a 207(k) firefighter and thus only paid him the standard overtime rate of time and a half for hours exceeding 212 during 28-day periods. As a result, the employee believes he missed out on compensation for all additional work that qualifies for extra pay as determined by the FLSA.
The 14-page complaint, characterized as a “collective and class action” and filed by the law firm of Zipin, Amster & Greenberg, LLC of Silver Spring, reads, “Defendant failed to fully and timely pay Plaintiff all earned wages due each pay period for all overtime worked exceeding 40 hours per week.”
The complaint continues, “On information and belief, prior to or during the relevant period, Defendant learned that it had and/or continued to misclassify Plaintiff and the Class Members as subject to the limited overtime exemption set forth in FLSA Section 207(k), and in so learning, knew or reasonably s have known the rate and method by which Defendant was or continued to pay Plaintiff and the Class Members for overtime worked exceeding Forty (40) hours per week was in direct violation the FLSA and Maryland overtime compensation requirements, and that its past or ongoing failure to pay Plaintiff and the Class Members at the FLSA and Maryland law constituted a past and ongoing unlawful withholding of Plaintiff and the Class Members’ earned wages in violation of the FLSA and Maryland law.”
When asked for a comment this week in response to the court filing, the Berlin Fire Company stated, “The fire company is aware of a complaint filed by a former employee relating to overtime, and our legal counsel is reviewing it.”
The statement continued, “We are committed to fairness to our current and former employees. Berlin Fire Company and Berlin Fire Company Emergency Medical Services are dedicated to providing fire, Rescue, and emergency medical services to our community with many volunteers and employees. Our Employees are an essential part of our public safety mission.”