O’FALLON - A former supervisor of paramedics has tagged the city of O'Fallon with a lawsuit, claiming they wrongly fired him for questioning their refusal to pay him overtime, even though he was allegedly working nearly 60 hours a week responding to emergency medical calls, performing duties substantially indistinguishable from those of the department's rank-and-file, union-represented paramedics.
Timothy McClain filed suit in Southern Illinois federal district court on Dec. 31 against the city of O'Fallon.
According to the complaint, McClain served in the O'Fallon Fire Department as a paramedic from 2008 until he was terminated in 2023.
According to the complaint, McClain was considered to hold "a supervisory or management title" at the department. According to published reports and McClain's page on professional networking site LinkedIn, McClain held the position of paramedic supervisor.
Despite the title, McClain asserts his "actual job duties consisted almost entirely of ... paramedic field work."
Thus, while he held an alleged "supervisory" title which under federal law could exempt O'Fallon from the law's overtime pay requirements, McClain said the actual work he performed should have overridden his title and forced the city to pay him overtime pay.
"Approximately 90% of Plaintiff’s (McCLain's) work involved hands-on paramedic duties, indistinguishable from those performed by hourly, union-represented paramedics," McClain wrote in his complaint.
According to the complaint, McClain was paid $99,000 annually, "amounting to roughly $1,903.85 per week or $32.82 per hour based on actual hours worked." He said he was paid solely based on 40 hours worked per week.
McClain asserted he should have received an additional $46,087 in overtime pay over his final three years with the O'Fallon department, just as "union-represented paramedics" with the department were owed under the union's collective bargaining agreement.
As a "supervisor," McClain said his position was not included under the CBA.
In the lawsuit, McClain said the city fired him 2023, ostensibly citing "a 'mistaken' work report as the reason."
McClain said the justification for his termination offered by the city was "pretextual." Rather, he asserts he was "terminated in retaliation for engaging in protected activity" under federal state labor and wage laws, "including questioning his exempt status and unpaid overtime."
He asserts the abrupt termination also violated his rights under the city's own "written disciplinary policies."
McClain has accused O'Fallon of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, among other counts.
McClain is seeking unspecified back pay and lost benefits and compensatory damages, plus attorney fees.
McClain is represented in the action by attorney Charles J. Baricevic, of the firm of Chatham & Baricevic, of Belleville.
The city of O'Fallon has not yet responded to McClain's lawsuit in court.