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J U14 ( 2 'M89 BOOK 7�E 62 The FLSA requires that all covered and non-exempt employees be Paid not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a work week. Section 7(k) of FLSA provides a partial overtime pay exemption for emergency medical personnel not employed by a fire protection or law enforcement agency. As stated in Section 553.8 of Part 553, emergency medical personnel may be treated as employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement activities if their services are substantially related to those activities. The Emergency Management Services staff also researched EMS activity for the months of February and March for determination of the response profile. The results were as follows: RESPONSE PROFILE February Total Runs Fire Law Enforcement Other 823 568 221 34 70% 25% 4% March Total Runs Fire Law Enforcement Other 1,005 703 245 56 70% 24% 6% The exempt category is met since the paramedics spend an average of 70% of their time responding to fire related emerg- encies and an average of 25% of their time in response to law enforcement related emergencies. Only an average of 5% of the paramedics time is spent in response to the other category such as administrative, etc. ALTERNATIVES AND ANALYSIS When the Paramedic transition from the Hospital to the County occurred, time was of the essence and for continuity purposes the current personnel system utilized for County employees was utilized. This approach allowed for sufficient time and research to occur so the proper recommendations could be made to the Board of County Commissioners. The current system utilized for the Paramedics established a work week of 37.5 hours. The County Rules and Regulations define the vacation accrual rate as ten working days for the first five years of employment. It also identifies that the accrual rate for medical leave amounts to one day per month. Breaking this down "to a monthly tally, county employees are receiving 6.25 hours and 7.5 hours respectively. With this in mind, the 24/48 schedule the ALS employees work involves a three week cycle that averages to 56 hours per week. While their payroll sheet indicates a large number of overtime hours, these overtime hours are mandatory and continue year round. If these same accrual rates that most county employees enjoy are applied to the ALS personnel, they will only receive a vacation benefit equivalent to slightly more than one week and a sick bank that would reflect more than 3 months of accrual to compensate for one shift of medical leave. 62