By Rick Gautschi
In Diorio v. Village of Tinley Park, No. 11 C 6724, July 6, 2012 (N.D. Ill. 2012), a K-9 officer sought overtime compensation for the off-duty time spent in the maintenance, care, training and transport of a service dog. A collective bargaining agreement provided that the employer would pay the officer the sum of $2000.00 per contract year in which he spent off-duty time maintaining, caring for, training and transporting the dog. The officer claimed that performing those services caused him to exceed a 40 hour work week. As a result, the employer’s failure to pay him overtime violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employer contended that 29 CFR §785.23 provides an exception to the FLSA’s overtime requirement where a collective bargaining agreement contains a “reasonable agreement” regarding the compensation at issue. [Read more…]
