AFSCME Local 260 Wins Meal Break Compensation for Florida Paramedics

Florida Flight Paramedics Secure Compensation for Missed Breaks

AFSCME Public Safety members often find themselves sacrificing meal breaks when emergencies arise. Despite this, federal regulations under the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provide that first responders are entitled to paid meal breaks if they remain on call.

Members of Local 260, part of AFSCME Florida, recently leveraged their first union contract to claim compensation for years of missed meal breaks. Heath Schmidt, a critical care paramedic with the UF Health ShandsCair Critical Care Transport Team and vice president of Local 260, explained, “As flight paramedics we can’t take the helicopter through a drive-thru after a call, so a lot of the time the idea of a meal break never even crosses your mind.”

Schmidt and his team were instructed by management not to clock out for lunch. However, they discovered that their meal breaks were still being deducted from their paychecks. This issue was not isolated, as similar discrepancies had been found and resolved at other locations in Florida.

Seeking redress, Schmidt and three other members enlisted the help of Local 260 President Paul Tucker and AFSCME Florida staff. They filed a grievance to recover lost wages for three years' worth of unpaid meal breaks, amounting to over $5,000 per member.

“To me, this is a perfect example of the union difference being part of AFSCME has made,” Schmidt noted. “Before, first responders like us always got the scraps because we didn’t have a seat at the table. But now, we have a process to stand up for what we deserve and the support of our union when we do it.”

Following the grievance review, UF Health agreed with Local 260, and the four members will see the compensation in their upcoming paychecks. The union continues to address other issues, such as discrepancies in shift differential pay.

Schmidt praised the union's efforts, stating, “I can’t say enough good things about what the union has done. AFSCME has changed our lives for the better and made real changes that will continue to do good for years to come.”