Current, former officers file overtime lawsuit

MANSFIELD – Sixty-two current and former members of the Mansfield Police Department filed a lawsuit earlier this month in U.S. District Court against the city of Mansfield, Mayor Timothy Theaker and Safety-Service Director Lori Cope saying the city has not paid overtime correctly for the past three years as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The lawsuit, filed May 15 in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, says the city employed the plaintiffs in the police department as patrol officers, sergeants, lieutenants and captains.

On Wednesday, Cope said pending the ongoing litigation, she could only say that, “they are not disputing that they got overtime. They are disputing how it was calculated.”

In the complaint, the plaintiffs say the defendant city’s method of calculating overtime wages violates the act because it fails to include the officers’ contractually guaranteed wage augments in their “regular rate” of pay, the rate to which the act’s time-and-a-half overtime multiplier is applied.

The city and safety-service director, the lawsuit says, failed to include longevity pay, uniform allowance and shift differential in the regular rate of pay used to calculate the overtime rate of pay.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Michael Piotrowski, could not be reached for comment.

During the last three years, the lawsuit alleges, the plaintiffs regularly worked in excess of eight hours in any 24-hour consecutive period or in excess of 40 hours in any six-day consecutive period. Under the act and the applicable collective bargaining agreement, the plaintiffs were entitled to be paid the overtime rate for the excess hours.

The plaintiffs ask for a judgment against the city and the safety-service director of more than $50,000 and equal to plaintiffs’ unpaid back wages at what they say is the correct rate for each overtime hour worked in the past three years. The plaintiffs also seek all costs incurred and a reasonable attorney’s fee.

lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir