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Legal issues affecting pets,
companion animals, and their people |
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K-9 Cop Has His Day in Court!!
A 1998 U.S. Court of Appeals decision from the Second Circuit gave new hope to a Newburgh, New York police officer. In Holzapfel v. Town of Newburgh, NY, the Court held that K-9 police officer Joseph H. Holzapfel was entitled to a new trial after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York gave erroneous instructions to a jury deciding the K-9 cop's case.
The Second Circuit's May 29, 1998 decision may be a landmark case for exploring the remarkable time and energy that some K-9 police officers give their work, and whether they should be compensated for the overtime training they give their pooches when this training is "necessarily and primarily for the benefit of the employer, and is an indispensable and integral part of the job."
Holzapfel commenced an action against his employer, the Town of Newburgh, in 1995, contending that police department policy of giving two (2) hours of overtime pay each week violated the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq. The officer testified that he was spending about 44-45 hours of overtime off-duty each week looking after his police department dog, "Bandit." This overtime was in addition to the 40 hours per week that he normally worked for the Town of Newburgh. |
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© Joel R. Zand, Esq., Copyright 1998 - 2004, All rights reserved. Read my disclaimer! |
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