DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711290204

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   56 lines

BEACH TARGET OF LATEST OVERTIME SUIT 200 POLICE OFFICERS ARE CLAIMING 3 YEARS OF UNPAID OVERTIME.

About 200 city police officers said Friday they will sue the city for three years of back overtime pay - potentially the biggest legal action ever for unpaid overtime in South Hampton Roads.

On Friday, the first lawsuit was filed in federal court in Norfolk by 46 Virginia Beach narcotics detectives. About 150 other Beach officers will file suit next month, said their attorney, Andrew M. Sacks.

When all the lawsuits are filed, the number of plaintiffs probably will eclipse the 170 Norfolk police officers who sued that city in 1995, and may surpass the 200 Portsmouth officers who sued that city in 1994. Virginia Beach has about 700 city police officers.

Sacks said he does not know how much money the Virginia Beach officers are owed, and the lawsuit does not state a figure. The 200 Portsmouth officers who sued in 1994 got $1.4 million to settle their case a year later.

Until now, Virginia Beach was the only regional city not hit by an overtime lawsuit by police or emergency medical workers since 1994. Almost all those lawsuits have ended in out-of-court settlements.

In Norfolk, the city paid nearly $1 million to about 170 police officers who said they were cheated on overtime pay.

In Chesapeake, the city paid $362,469 to 72 paramedics for back overtime pay in 1995. Now another overtime case is pending: 41 emergency medical services workers sued in August for $2 million.

In Suffolk, two police officers sued for overtime pay that they say they earned for the care, feeding and training of dogs in the former K-9 corps.

In Portsmouth, nearly the entire police department - more than 200 officers - sued for back overtime in 1994. That was the biggest legal action ever in South Hampton Roads over the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

That case ended with a $1.4 million settlement. Then, last year, 189 of those officers sued their attorney in Northern Virginia for $21.5 million, saying he had mishandled their overtime cases. That lawsuit is pending.

The Virginia Beach cases are unusual in at least one respect: The 46 officers who sued Friday say their claim is supported by a written city policy as well as federal law.

In Virginia Beach, city workers get one hour of paid time for every four hours on ``standby duty,'' according to the lawsuit. Narcotics detectives, because of the nature of their jobs, must carry beepers at all times while they are in Hampton Roads, the lawsuit says, and that qualifies as ``standby duty.''

The lawsuit says other city employees in animal control, arson investigations, juvenile intake, sanitation and public utilities are paid under this ``standby duty'' policy, but police officers are not.

The lawsuit also says the detectives were not paid for arriving early at work, leaving late, responding to pages by informants or other officers, and checking evidence in and out for court proceedings.

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the city attorney could not be reached for comment Friday. KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE LAWSUIT

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