Paramedics Lose Claim for Overtime Pay
A paramedic is not a "firefighter" for purposes of §112.18(1), Fla. Stat., the "Heart-Lung" bill. So said the First District Court of Appeal over twenty years ago in Lansford v. Broward Co. Bd. of Co. Comm., 485 So.2d 845 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986).
But now the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has held that paramedics are firefighters for another purpose -- the exemption (29 U.S.C.§203(y) and 207(k)) from the requirement of overtime pay provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act. See Gonzalez v. City of Deerfield Beach, Florida, decided on 11/24/2008.
