Adams v. City of Norfolk

274 F.3d 148, 2001 WL 1555298
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedDecember 6, 2001
DocketNos. 00-2269, 00-2315
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 274 F.3d 148 (Adams v. City of Norfolk) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. City of Norfolk, 274 F.3d 148, 2001 WL 1555298 (4th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge LUTTIG wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILKINS and Judge NIEMEYER joined.

OPINION

LUTTIG, Circuit Judge.

Appellants are certified firefighters, but they are cross-trained to provide varying levels of emergency medical services (“EMS”) as part of their job duties at the City of Norfolk’s Department of Fire and Paramedical Services (“NFPS”). They contend that their simultaneous service as emergency medical personnel defeats the partial exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (“FLSA”) overtime requirements for “employee[s] in fire protec[152]*152tion services,” 29 U.S.C. § 207(k), entitling them to overtime pay for all hours worked each week in excess of 40. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the City on appellants’ claim. We affirm.

I.

Section 7(k) of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 207(k), provides a partial exemption from otherwise applicable overtime pay requirements for an employee engaged in “fire protection services.” Department of Labor regulations define an “employee ... in fire protection activities,” 29 C.F.R. § 553.210(a), and limit the amount of work unrelated to fire protection that such an employee may perform without the employer forfeiting the “fire protection services” exemption. 29 C.F.R. § 553.212(a). We conclude that, because appellants are employees engaged in fire protection activities within the meaning of section 553.210(a), and do not perform work unrelated to their fire protection activities in excess of the amount specified in section 553.212(a), the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements are inapplicable to them.

A.

Department of Labor regulations define an employee engaged in “fire protection activities” as one

(1) who is employed by an organized fire department or fire protection district; (2) who has been trained to the extent required by State statute or local ordinance; (3) who has the legal authority and responsibility to engage in the prevention, control or extinguishment of a fire of any type; and (4) who performs activities which are required for, and directly concerned with, the prevention, control or extinguishment of fires, including such incidental non-firefighting functions as housekeeping, equipment maintenance, lecturing, attending community fire drills and inspecting homes and schools for fire hazards.

29 C.F.R. § 553.210(a). As to the first of these regulatory requirements, appellants acknowledge that they are employees of NFPS, an entity “responsible for providing fire protection, emergency medical, and technical rescue services to the City’s residents.” Br. of Appellants at 8. That is, appellants acknowledge that they work for a fire department. As to the second of these requirements, the district court found, and appellants do not deny, that they all have obtained “the base fire-certification level of Firefighter II with the Commonwealth of Virginia.” J.A. 752. As to the third requirement, appellants do not dispute that they are “legally required to, and ha[ve] actually engaged in suppression, control and ex-tinguishment of fires on behalf of the NFPS.” Br. of Appellants at 16. And as to the final requirement, appellants admit that when they are not responding to fire emergency calls, they participate in, among other things, fire training, fire drills and inspections, and perform equipment maintenance, Br. of Appellants at 17-18 — activities deemed by the regulations to be “directly concerned with” or “incidental” to firefighting. Because appellants satisfy all four requirements of section 553.210(a), they are employees engaged in “fire protection activities” within the meaning of that regulatory provision.

B.

Appellants contend, however, that even if they do meet the requirements of section 553.210(a), they are nevertheless entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA because they exceed in hours the limitation on work “not performed as an incident to or in conjunction with their fire protection activities.” 29 C.F.R. § 553.212(a) (“The [153]*153performance of such nonexempt work will ... defeat ... the section 7(k) exemption ][if] it exceeds 20 percent” of an employee’s workweek.). We conclude, to the contrary, that all of appellants’ tasks are exempt, as either fire protection activities per se or as tasks performed “incident to or in conjunction with their fire protection activities.”

Appellants work in 24 hour shifts, dividing their time between fire and EMS units. During these shifts, appellants may be tasked to fight fires, render medical services at scenes of fire emergencies, or perform medical services at non-fire emergencies.

Both fire units and EMS units respond to fire emergencies. If an EMS unit is the first on the fire scene, it may well fight the fire, leaving medical services to be performed by a back-up rescue unit. J.A. 770-71. If the fire unit is first to the scene, then the EMS unit performs medical services, if it is not otherwise needed. It goes without saying that when appellants fight fires, whether on duty with a fire unit or with an EMS unit, they are engaged in fire protection activities. It is no less obvious that the performance of medical duties at the scene of a fire is, at the very least, “incident to or in conjunction with” fire protection activities, and appellants do not contend otherwise.

The more difficult question is whether appellants’ performance of EMS duties at non-fire emergencies is “incident to or in conjunction with [their] fire protection activities,” and therefore also exempt. We are satisfied that, even when performing medical services at non-fire emergencies, appellants are still subject to the FLSA’s exemption from overtime pay requirements. First, even when appellants are responding to non-fire emergencies, they are, of course, yet trained firefighters. Second, while at non-fire emergencies, appellants may be called away to fire emergencies, see Br. of Appellants at 12. Third, when called away from a non-fire emergency, appellants must and do, when directed, actually fight fires. J.A. 770-71. Indeed, so integrated are appellants’ firefighting and EMS duties that appellants are required to have their firefighting tools with them when performing services at non-fire emergencies so that they are ready to fight fires, if called upon to do so. J.A. 770-71.

Under these circumstances, we believe that appellants’ performance of medical services even at non-fire emergencies is sufficiently “incident to or in conjunction with their fire protection activities” as to satisfy the requirements of section 553.212(a).

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274 F.3d 148 (Fourth Circuit, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
274 F.3d 148, 2001 WL 1555298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-city-of-norfolk-ca4-2001.