Fri, 08/06/2021
On August 5, 2021, the Honorable U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick fully denied the City’s attempt to overturn the February 5, 2020 $17.7 million judgment in favor of 2,519 EMTs and Paramedics employed by the City of New York and the FDNY in an action brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The judgment followed an October 24, 2019 verdict in which a ten-person jury unanimously found that the City suffered or permitted EMTs and Paramedics to work before and after their shifts without paying them and that the City’s failure to do so was done in reckless disregard of the law. In denying the City’s unsuccessful motion to set aside the jury’s well-reasoned verdict, Judge Broderick found that the City did “not come close” to raising arguments that would justify taking the “extraordinary step of overruling the jury’s judgment and credibility determination.” In short, the Court ruled that the decision of the jury must stand.
This decision represents another tremendous victory for the hardworking EMTs and Paramedics, who went years without the overtime pay required by law, and who have spent the last 18 months waiting for their long-overdue pay while battling on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the decision, Oren Barzilay, President of Local 2507, Uniformed EMTs Paramedics and Fire Inspectors, stated: “Our members, who are predominantly women and workers of color, work steadfastly saving the lives of New York’s residents and visitors on a daily basis, yet were cheated by the City for countless years. Today we prevailed and will finally see the damages we rightfully deserve.”
See NY Daily News and Law360 for additional coverage of this decision.
Molly Elkin was the lead counsel for this case. Click the image to learn more.
