Archives for September 2012

A Federal Trial Court Declines to Dismiss a Claim for Additional Compensation for the Care of a Service Dog Beyond What a Collective Bargaining Agreement Provides

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…]