$4 Million For FLSA Retaliation Claim
A Los Angeles County jury awarded a former Los Angeles police officer – Richard Romney - nearly $4 million after he was unlawfully terminated by the LAPD in retaliation for testifying against the Department in a labor dispute.
At issue – whether the LAPD violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) by failing to compensate police officers for overtime work. Here, the police officers routinely did not take their allotted 45 minute lunch breaks, however the department had an “unwritten policy” that barred officers from requesting pay for less than an hour of work.
The FLSA guarantees that all employees who are not exempt be paid at a rate of one and one half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any workweek. Retaliation for complaining of FLSA violations or participating in someone else’s discrimination case is strictly prohibited.
Here, Romney testified in another officer’s trial accusing the LAPD of FLSA violations, stating that if officers requested overtime compensation for increments less than an hour, they were ostracized and made to feel they were not “team players.” Within days of providing this testimony, Romney was recommended for a suspension, and then fired.
Finding the termination constituted retaliation, the jury found in favor of Romney.
Although in this instance the retaliation was swift termination, retaliation may consist of less obvious actions such as changing your hours, transferring you to a different location or any other conduct that may deter a reasonable employee from pursuing his or her rights.
If you believe your employer has violated the fair labor standards act, or if you have been retaliated against for complaining about possible violations, please contact Buckley & Klein, LLP, a Georgia Law Firm dedicated to protecting employee’s rights.
