Elgin cops lose overtime suit

Some 142 rank-and-file Elgin police officers came out on the losing end of a federal lawsuit against the city seeking weekly overtime pay retroactive to 2005.

Federal Judge David Coar last month dismissed the police union lawsuit seeking time-and-a-half pay for the 1.25 hours a week officers are required to work beyond the standard 40 hours.

"Public agencies are exempted from the general overtime requirement with respect to firefighters and law enforcement officers when there is an established 'work period' that satisfies certain statutory criteria," Coar wrote.

The judge ruled that the city of Elgin met the criteria for it to be exempt from some sections of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, specifically that employees were working within a 28-day work cycle.

William Cogley, the city's corporation counsel, said officials were pleased with the ruling.

"There's a provision for public safety agencies we felt we were acting within," he said. "We thought it was a straightforward case. It went exactly as we hoped."

Also, a provision in the union's 2007-2009 collective bargaining agreement, states that overtime is paid for hours worked beyond 41.25 per week.

Craig Mielke, the Geneva-based attorney representing the union, declined to comment on Coar's ruling, but added the union will not appeal the decision.

Officers had hoped to receive overtime for a 15-minute "training period" mandated before their eight-hour shift. Officers have been paid regular time for the 1.25 hours a week they worked.

The lawsuit did not specify exactly how much the officers believed they were owed, but Mielke in the past had estimated it to be about $550,000.

The union initially filed the lawsuit in Kane County in August 2007, but it was moved to federal court a few months later.

Cogley said the city is seeking about $3,300 in miscellaneous court fees from the union and its attorneys.