County Commission Votes to Settle EMS Employee Lawsuit for $145K
The County Commission unanimously voted to settle the Carnell et al vs. Hardeman County Government lawsuit at its Tuesday, August 15, 2023, meeting. The suit involves 10 plaintiffs who worked for the Hardeman County Ambulance Service.
In the case, which was filed in March 2020, the plaintiffs allege they were improperly paid for overtime and suffered retaliation from previous Hardeman County Mayor Jimmy Sain for filing the suit. The alleged retaliation includes a demotion, not being scheduled for shifts, and denial of necessary work accommodations.
According to court documents, “In 2016, the schedule and pay structure for EMS employees was changed from requiring employees to work one 24-hour every three days to one 24-hour shift every four days. This worked out to employees working two shifts for three weeks in a row and one shift the following fourth week. Regardless of whether the employee worked two shifts in a week or just one, each employee was paid a salary calculated as if the employee had worked 42 hours in that week. After years of the schedule being put in place, the schedule was questioned as to whether it complied with the mandates of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime requirement.”
Hardeman County initially denied that any employees were shorted accrued time or that there was any retaliation.
An order issued on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, by US District Judge Thomas Anderson states, “The Court finds Defendants’ argument unconvincing. As far as the notion that the County acted by mistake, Defendant has not introduced any evidence to support such a conclusion. On the contrary, the parties represented to the Court, and the evidence seems to bear this out, that the County calculated overtime pay for Plaintiffs at a “regular rate” based on an hourly rate of pay, even after adopting the new payment system in 2015, and continued to pay overtime based on the hourly rate for years after that. There is simply no evidentiary support for the County’s claim that its approach to the overtime compensation received by Plaintiffs was somehow a mistake.”
The County now concedes it did not properly compensate Plaintiffs for all hours of overtime worked during their employment with the County. In order to avoid a jury trail, which was scheduled to begin next week, the County Commission voted to settle the case for $145,000. It was said at the meeting the plaintiffs were initially asking for approximately $328,000. After an update was given from Attorney Rob Binkley, the motion to settle was made by Commissioner Brad Grantham and seconded by Commissioner Johnny Weems. The County’s insurance is expected to cover $25,000 of the settlement and the remainder will be paid by the county. Attorney fees, an amount not known at this time, will either be negotiated between the parties or decided by the court and will be paid by the county.
Click here to watch the full meeting of the Hardeman County Commission.
Read more local news by clicking here.
Stay informed on what’s happening in Hardeman County by subscribing to Hatchie Press e-mail updates.
Do you have community news you’d like to share? E-mail us at news@hatchiepress.com.
