Police sue city for unpaid overtime Suit cites recent ruling changing overtime pay calculations
Art: Dave Arnold?
Public Safety
Fifty-eight Redondo Beach police officers have filed a labor lawsuit against the City of Redondo Beach to recover what they claim is unpaid overtime compensation. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court’s California Central District on Dec. 19, is tied to a decision made in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last May. However, according to the attorney representing the officers, there is a strong chance that the two sides may come to an agreement before the case goes to a jury trial.
The suit, according to Attorney Michael McGill, representing the officers, is not due to bad blood between the City and its police, who said that the Redondo Beach Police Officers Association and the City have worked well together in recent years. The Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the RBPOA, expiring in June 2018, was updated in January 2017 and included the cost of living adjustments and base salary increases.
“We debated whether to file or not…but thought better safe than sorry,” McGill said. “We’ve been in the process of trying to work out a resolution with the city, and I still feel that’s what’s going to happen, but we had to file to preserve the [officers’] rights.”
RBPOA President David Arnold did not respond to requests for comment.
The Ninth Circuit Court’s decision in the case of Flores v. The city of San Gabriel found that payment of an employee’s unused health and medical benefits must be included in their regular rate of pay, and then in the calculation of overtime pay rates.
Lawsuits of this variety are being filed throughout the nine states under the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction. Locally, Hermosa Beach firefighters filed a lawsuit on Dec. 4 for unpaid overtime compensation. McGill, a specialist in representing public safety officers, said that he is representing a handful of other employee groups in similar suits, including Costa Mesa firefighters.
“I’m estimating that half of all cities or counties are facing this issue to some extent, and are having to sit down [with their employees],” McGill said.
Redondo Beach City Attorney Michael Webb declined to comment.
It’s not yet clear how much the City will have to pay in compensation. The suit does not explicitly state the time period it covers, nor does it explicitly state a value for sought damages. However, the Flores v San Gabriel decision states that plaintiffs are entitled to a three-year statute of limitations, which in this case covers back to Dec. 2014.
The 58 officers named in the lawsuit, combined, earned more than $1.2 million in overtime pay in 2016, according to TransparentCalifornia.com’s public employee pay database. That’s approximately 22 percent of Redondo Beach’s 2016 total overtime pay of $5.4 million.