Court Grants Conditional Class Certification For Police Officers’ Overtime Claim Based On After Hours Blackberry Use

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
02/27/2013

On January 14, 2013, a federal district court approved a Chicago police sergeant’s request for conditional certification of an FLSA collective action for unpaid overtime wages.  Allen v. Chicago, No. 10-03183 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 14, 2013). The lawsuit alleges that the Chicago Police Department failed to pay police officers overtime pay for time spent working on their city-issued BlackBerry devices after regular work hours.  According to the plaintiff, the Department’s Bureau of Organized Crime had an unwritten policy requiring police sergeants and lieutenants to be available twenty-four hours per day on their BlackBerry devices or risk losing promotion opportunities or coveted assignments to the specialized unit.  The plaintiff alleges that approximately 180 to 200 sergeants or lieutenants in the unit worked more than 171 hours during a 28-day work period at least once in the past three years.  After the plaintiff produced deposition testimony of eight other officers who supported his claim of an unwritten BlackBerry use policy, the court determined that he was similarly situated to potential opt-in plaintiffs and conditionally certified the FLSA collective action.

 

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