800 Paramedics and EMTs may get $20 million

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Associated Press : Texas Wire

Appeals court orders city to pay EMTs, others overtime

The Associated Press

Web Posted : 12/18/2001 4:57 AM

About 800 paramedics and emergency medical technicians may get

as much as $20 million in overtime from the city after an appellate court

overruled a lower court's decision denying the pay.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ordered the

U.S. District Court district court to rule in favor of the paramedics and EMTs

and to assess how much is owed them.

Troy Blakeney Jr., an attorney for the employees, said he was

" elated " with the decision.

Based on amounts awarded in similar cases, Blakeney estimated

that the paramedics and EMTs could be owed as much as $20 million.

The EMTs and paramedics sued in 1999, saying they were wrongly

required to abide by the same standard as fire personnel, who were paid overtime

only after 53 hours a week, a schedule since abandoned by the Houston Fire

Department.

The city argued that paramedics and EMTs were considered fire

personnel because they are engaged in " fire protection activity. " The EMTs

disagreed and argued for overtime pay after a 40-hour work week.

U.S. District Judge Lynn agreed with the city's

position and entered a partial summary judgment in the city's favor in March

2000. A settlement was later reached with the other fire personnel involved in

the suit.

Connie Acosta, an assistant city attorney, said Monday that

she had read the 5th Circuit's opinion and was unsure how Blakeney arrived at

his $20 million estimate.

" We're considering our options at this point, " she told the

Houston Chronicle for Tuesday's editions.

According to the 5th Circuit's interpretation of the labor

law, ambulance and rescue employees may be exempt from the standard 40-hour rule

if they receive training in the rescue of fire, crime and accident victims and

if they are regularly dispatched to fires, crime scenes, riots, natural

disasters and accidents. The court determined that both elements applied.

From 1996 to 1998, only 17 percent of EMS dispatches were

related to such emergencies, with the rest applying to medical incidents,

according to the court's opinion.

Congress passed legislation in 1999 that included paramedics

under the definition of fire protection employees. The city argued that the new

definition barred the employees from asserting their claims, but both the

district court and the appellate court said the law was not retroactive.

12/18/2001

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