Gibson County sheriff’s lieutenant alleges unpaid overtime in federal lawsuit
GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. — A Gibson County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant is suing the county in federal court, claiming he and several other employees have been working overtime for free.
A federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday. It lays out that the Gibson County Sheriff’s Department allegedly required deputies to be on-call. According to the lawsuit, some employees were not paid for their on-call work.
The plaintiff is Lt. Joe Westmoreland, who has been working at the department since 2000. He filed the lawsuit for himself and roughly 20 other employees.
On-call requirements
According to the complaint, employees with the department were required to work three 16-hour on-call shifts every month, which is a total of 48 hours a month in addition to their regular 40-hour work weeks.
The lawsuit says during those shifts, officers were required to stay available to report to calls and their assigned duty station.
They were also required to be fully dressed in uniform and in their patrol vehicle within 30 minutes of receiving a call.
The complaint further states the plaintiff and plaintiff class members were not paid for the on-call time. They were only paid for time spent responding to a call and the hours spent on the specific call.
The lawsuit claims that if an on-call officer fails to respond to a call within the required time, the sheriff’s department dispatches a deputy to the officer’s residence to determine why they did not respond to the call.
Officials decline comment
Michael Weinman is Westmoreland’s attorney. WBBJ-TV reached out to him regarding a comment, but he did not get back.
Michael Hill is Gibson County’s attorney. When WBBJ-TV reached out to him regarding the lawsuit, he said he had not had the opportunity to read it and could not comment.
WBBJ-TV also reached out to Gibson County Mayor Nelson Cunningham and did not receive an answer back.
WBBJ-TV also reached out to Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas regarding the lawsuit and he was unavailable at the time of the call.
View the full lawsuit here.
