By Kim Bell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — Fire district officials hope a lawsuit filed Friday will end confusion over the state’s new minimum-wage law and how it affects firefighters working their typically long shifts.
Monarch Fire Protection District, one of the plaintiffs, said the new law forces them to pay firefighters overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week. That would cost the district $1.2 million a year.
The Monarch district, which serves a large part of western St. Louis County, is one of 18 plaintiffs in the suit filed in Cole County Circuit Court against the state and the state Labor Department. The suit wants the court to say that firefighters and police aren’t subject to those overtime requirements.
As it stands, Kevin O’Keefe, a Clayton attorney for the plaintiffs, argues that public safety agencies statewide could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in overtime.
“These requirements will be dramatic and devastating to law enforcement and public safety agencies across the state,” O’Keefe said. “They might have to have service reductions or staffing changes.”
In November, Missouri voters approved by a 3-to-1 ratio Proposition B to raise the minimum wage. On Jan. 1, the wage went to $6.50 an hour. The proposition made no mention of something that had been in previous minimum wage laws — an exemption for fire and police agencies from having to pay overtime to employees who work more than 40 hours a week.
Firefighters usually work either two or three 24-hour shifts a week. They normally don’t get overtime until after they have worked more than 212 hours in 28 days. A lot of police agencies have gone to 12-hour shifts. They usually don’t have to pay them overtime until the officer has worked more than 171 hours in 28 days.
Plaintiffs in the suit include the Missouri Municipal League, the Missouri Association of Fire Protection Districts and St. Louis County.
Michelle Sleet of the Monarch fire board said she knows the Legislature has bills pending to determine what triggers overtime pay, but any such law is months away. Monarch officials turned to the courts to get a faster remedy, Sleet said.
Those behind the minimum wage drive say they never intended to have this controversy. They wanted to change the minimum wage, not alter how overtime pay is handed out.
“Everybody’s had access to this law for the last 10 months, so it’s a little frustrating they’d wait until after Jan. 1 to raise the issue,” said Jim Kottmeyer, who helped write the petition. “It seems to me, local districts should’ve seen this six months ago, so folks would be prepared to put a legislative fix in place.”