Appeals court reverses ruling on canine training

Friday, March 5, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Carson City failed to pay a former deputy sheriff a reasonable amount of overtime for the time she spent in her off-hours caring for and training a police dog.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision of Judge Robert McQuaid, who granted a summary judgment in favor of Carson City and against Paula Leever, who was assigned canine duty in 1995.

The court ordered the case back to McQuaid for a determination on how much Leever should have received during the three years she worked with the dog.

Leever says she spent an average of 28 off-duty hours per week caring for the dog, named Scout.

The city claimed it was exempt from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act that requires overtime and added that it negotiated with the union that canine officers would receive an extra $60 every two weeks because of this assignment.

The city, in setting the figure of $60, relied on an informal survey of overtime paid by other police agencies to their canine officers.

The appeals court, in a decision written by Judge A. Wallace Tashima, agreed with Leever that this overtime pay of $60 was unreasonable given the extra hours she devoted to caring for the dog.

Leever's regular wages ranged from $17 an hour in January 1996 to $20 an hour in November 1999 when she resigned. Under the federal law, overtime is paid at time and one-half.

Day Williams, attorney for Leever, who has moved to Idaho, estimated the city shortchanged her more than $100,000.