The Long Beach Police Officers Association wasn't a legal party in those lawsuits; individual police officers joined in bringing suit and were the legal litigation parties.

We assume that the proposed settlement now coming to a public Council vote has been discussed and directed by a Council majority in closed City Council sessions. [The collective City Council as a policy setting body is the City Attorney's client in such matters.]

[City Attorney Parkin agendizing text]

RECOMMENDATION:

Recommendation to authorize City Attorney to pay sum of $ 43,405.56 in full settlement of lawsuits entitled Battle et al. v City of Long Beach, Case No. CV12-5055-JEM and authorize City Attorney to increase contract amount with City's outside counsel by $101,983.16.

DISCUSSION

In these consolidated cases, nine (9) separate police officers, who opted-out of a prior class action settlement, sue the City for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Plaintiffs claim that they are owed overtime for various activities, including putting on their uniforms at the beginning of their shifts, and taking off their uniforms at the end of the shift.

You will recall that approximately 790 police officers previously sued the City making similar allegations. That class action was resolved by providing the police officers twenty-five (25) hours of vacation time, or roughly the cash equivalent for police officers who retired from the police force between the time of the lawsuit and the time of the settlement.

As to the nine (9) officers who opted out, they eventually agreed to accept the same settlement as the original settling group. The settlement amount represents attorneys' fees and costs. The settlement and the winding up of outside counsel costs were discussed with the Economic Development and Finance Committee, which approved the settlement on April 1, 2014.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Approve recommendation.

Very truly yours,

Charles Parkin

Nearly all of the officers agreed to settle their "doffing and donning" cases in December 2010, with City Council approval under then-City Attorney Bob Shannon. That settlement included officers receiving roughly 47 vacation hours over four years, and payment of the officers' attorneys fees.

The officers filed suit in December 2006 seeking reimbursement for (among other things) time spent putting on and taking off their uniforms plus protective equipment and performing other police tasks. The massive lawsuit, with hundreds of officers joining as plaintiffs, had potentially exposed the City to tens of millions of dollars in back pay costs and damages, plus payment of the officers' attorney fees (if they prevailed) and payment of outside legal counsel to defend the city in the process.

A major break in the litigation came with a March 2010 9th circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion (Bamonte v. City of Mesa (Arizona)) that donning and doffing allegations could only be maintained if a police department has a rule or regulation requiring officers to get dressed at work. Since LBPD didn't have such a rule, the Appeals Court ruling undercut the doffing and donning portion of the Long Beach litigation (although some officer claims remained for settlement.)