Opinion ID: 3037896
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Legal Authority and Responsibility

Text: Before we can uphold the District Court’s decision that the FSPs fall within the exemption of the FLSA, we must determine whether the City met its burden to prove plainly and unmistakably that the FSPs have legal authority and responsibility to engage in fire suppression activities, a prerequisite for finding they are not covered by the overtime provision of the FLSA. See Corning Glass Works, 417 U.S. at 196-97; Arnold, 361 U.S. at 392. The District Court stated that “[t]he parties agree that paramedics have only been called upon infrequently to aid in fire suppression,” but it nonetheless held that FSPs have such legal authority and responsibility because “it is beyond dispute that fire service paramedics have, on occasion, been directed to aid in fire suppression, and when directed have done so.” Lawrence, 2006 WL 2847330, at . We believe considerable more analysis of the record is required before that conclusion can be upheld. Because we are interpreting a statute, we need to “discern legislative intent,” considering first the plain meaning of the statutory text. Morgan v. Gay, 466 F.3d 276, 277 (3d Cir. 2006). “Plain meaning” means the “ordinary” usage of a term. See Alaka v. Attorney Gen. of United States, 456 F.3d 88, 104 (3d Cir. 2006) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted) (“Perhaps the most fundamental principle of statutory construction is that words in a statute must be given their ordinary meaning whenever possible.”). The plain meaning of the text should be conclusive, except in the rare instance when the court determines that the plain meaning is ambiguous. Morgan, 466 F.3d at 278. If so, the court can consider 30 legislative history but should do so “with caution.” Id. As we discussed above, the Ninth Circuit in Cleveland, after consulting various dictionaries, 7 stated that “‘responsibility to engage in fire suppression’” meant that the paramedics must have “some real obligation or duty,” and it held that Los Angeles had not met its burden of showing that the paramedics in that case had the “‘responsibility’ to engage in fire prevention, control or extinguishment” as required by the DOL regulation and § 203(y). 420 F.3d at 990-91. We also conclude that the plain and ordinary meaning of the term legal “responsibility” in § 203(y)(1) is unambiguous. In order to be responsible for something, a person must be required to do it or be subject to penalty. Cleveland, 420 F.3d at 989 (citing Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition (1986)). In other words, a responsibility is something that is mandatory and expected to be completed as part of someone’s role or job. Applying that definition to the facts in the record, we cannot sustain the District Court’s holding that the City has shown that the FSPs have the legal responsibility to engage in fire suppression. There is substantial evidence to the contrary. FSPs are not hired to fight fires, not even in small part; indeed, they are not expected to fight fires as part of their job duties. The job description makes no mention of fire suppression duties, but rather is medical in nature. There is no evidence of an FSP being disciplined for not engaging in fire suppression activities at a fire scene. There is no evidence that FSPs are ever dispatched to a fire scene for the purpose of fighting a fire, not even in situations when a firefighter is unavailable. There is some evidence that occasionally an incident commander may ask an FSP to help move a fire hose or that an FSP may volunteer to assist if s/he is standing by waiting to perform paramedic duties. Nevertheless, there is no evidence in the record to support the 7 This court has also held that it is permissible to use a dictionary to determine a term’s plain meaning. See Berckeley Invest. Group, Ltd. v. Colkitt, 259 F.3d 135, 142-43 n.7 (3d Cir. 2001). 31 assertion that the FSPs are expected to engage in fire suppression as part of their job duties or that they are subject to penalty if they do not do so. Indeed, FSPs are not even called to every fire scene, and when they are, their duty, as described in their job description and Department directive, is to provide medical care. The City has argued that because the Fire Commissioner stated that FSPs are expected to engage in fire suppression when ordered to do so by the incident commander, they therefore have responsibility and authority. That is a non sequitur. An FSP’s assistance in moving hose line in an emergency situation does not make the FSP legally responsible for fire suppression. Such minor assistance is not the “role” or required duty of an FSP, and therefore does not fall within the plain meaning of the term “responsibility.” To conclude that an FSP has responsibility for fire suppression activities principally because the incident commander theoretically has authority to tell an FSP to do anything at the scene of a fire would require speculation regarding an FSP’s responsibility to engage in fire suppression, which is not permitted on summary judgment. Ridgewood Bd. of Educ. v. N.E. ex rel M.E., 172 F.3d 238, 252 (3d Cir. 1999). Theoretical possibilities are not evidence. Congress could have chosen to make all paramedics subject to the exemption, but it did not; the plain language of the statute connects the exemption to fire suppression. The mere fact that certain FSPs were required to sign a statement that provided that they would be responsible for fire suppression duties does not mean that FSPs have legal authority and responsibility to engage in fire suppression activities; it simply means that the Fire Department required them to sign such a statement in order to retain their jobs. Saying something does not necessarily make it so. Here, the record evidence does not support the claim that the FSPs were actually legally responsible for fire suppression activities. Appellants do not argue that the small subset of FSPs that were at one time firefighters and then crossed over to become paramedics were not trained in fire suppression, as they clearly 32 were when they became firefighters. Rather, Appellants argue that these cross-over individuals do not currently have responsibility for fire suppression because their sole job now is to function as a paramedic. We agree. There is no evidence that they are dual function paramedics who still operate as firefighters part of the time. Although we conclude that the statutory language is plain, in an abundance of caution we look to the legislative history which, on this issue, suggests that Congress intended that true dual function paramedics, that is, individuals who were no doubt firefighters but also performed various other functions within a fire department, would fall within the exemption.8 That may explain why the language of the exemption covers not only firefighters but also paramedics, emergency services personnel, etc. Review of the congressional debates reinforces our conclusion that § 203(y) was added to clarify that dual function paramedics are to be exempt from the FLSA overtime provision and are to be treated as firefighters, whereas paramedics are entitled to the time-and-a-half overtime pay. Representative Erlich noted that the definition of a fire protection employee required clarification because of: the range of lifesaving activities engaged in by today’s 8 The dissent suggests, erroneously, that our construction of § 203(y)(1) will render the second part of § 203(y)(2) superfluous. A true dual function paramedic and firefighter may be both a firefighter and paramedic because of his or her training and experience in both fields. Although s/he would have the authority to fight fires (as required by § 203(y)(1)), s/he may not be “engaged” in fighting fires as required by the first part of § 203(y)(2) because the municipality chooses to utilize the individual in his/her capacity as a paramedic. Nonetheless, a true dual function firefighter and paramedic fits within the second part of § 203(y)(2) as s/he will “respon[d] to emergency situations.” Congress made clear its intent to exempt such individuals, which can be accomplished only because they fit within both prongs of § 203(y). 33 fire service, built upon its long tradition of responding to all in need of help. Specifically, today’s firefighter, in addition to fire suppression, may also be expected to respond to medical emergencies, hazardous materials events, or even to possible incidents created by weapons of mass destruction. 145 Cong. Rec. at 28,521. He concluded that: [The bill] only affects those who are trained, prepared and have the legal authority to engage in fire suppression, but also work to save lives in so many other ways. Id. Here, there is no dispute that the FSPs are paramedics who have some level of fire suppression exposure but who are by no means firefighters. The evidence shows that they “are not cross-trained as firefighters,” and therefore, as Representative Clay stated, they “will remain outside the purview of [§ 207(k)] and will be entitled to overtime after 40 hours a week, even [though] the emergency medical services are placed within the fire department.” Id. at 28,520. The decision in Cleveland is not directly analogous to this case because those plaintiffs were fully trained firefighters,9 but we consider that opinion because of the similarity of many of the facts and the issue. FSPs are dispatched to a fire scene only when it is deemed necessary to have medical personnel on site. They do report to many other kinds of emergency scenes and, in fact, fire emergencies make up only .1% of FSP dispatches per year. Finally, to the extent that some FSPs do have prior training as firefighters, the dispatcher has no idea which FSPs s/he calls to report to a fire scene. It cannot fairly be said that the FSPs have a real obligation to fight fires because it is not what they 9 Thus, the fact that the Cleveland plaintiffs did not wear bunker gear, as the plaintiffs in this case do, is not really an accurate point of comparison, given that the Cleveland plaintiffs were fully trained firefighters. 34 were hired to do and it is not what they are expected to do as part of their job duties. Therefore, we conclude that the FSPs do not have responsibility for fire suppression activities. As such, the City has failed to meet its burden of proof to show that it falls within the § 207(k) exemption, and the District Court erred in granting the City summary judgment. Because we have decided that Appellants were not responsible for fire protection activities as a matter of law, it also follows that the District Court erred by not entering summary judgment in their favor. It was the City’s burden to demonstrate that it met all three requirements necessary to qualify for the exemption. It is not necessary to reach the question whether Appellants were “trained” in fire suppression because the City has failed to meet one of the requirements. We conclude that FSPs are not exempted from the overtime provision of the FSLA.