A Dog Is at the Center of a Federal Lawsuit Between a Firefighter and the City of Providence

A Dog Is at the Center of a Federal Lawsuit Between a Firefighter and the City of Providence

The City of Providence has been hit with a lawsuit in federal court by a recently retired city employee, but this is not your average wage dispute.

This lawsuit involves a Providence Fire Department career veteran named Peter Sword. Sword served his career as both a frontline firefighter and an EMT for 22 years and then in the Fire Investigation Unit. In total, Sword had a 32-year career.

But what makes this lawsuit so different is it involves a dog.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

In March 2019, Sword began working as a canine handler with Accelerant Detection K9 Wizard (“K9”), a then-2-year-old Labrador retriever.

According to the lawsuit, at that time, K9 Wizard was one of only two Accelerant Detector K9s in Rhode Island.

He was a working dog specifically trained to detect arson.

 

Handling the Dog Is the Critical Element of the Lawsuit

According to the lawsuit, Sword was responsible for the K9 at all times, with the K9 going home with him each night, where he continued to care for, maintain, exercise, and train K-9 Wizard. 

The lawsuit states, “Seven days a week, [Sword] did care for, maintain, exercise, and train the K9. This is time for which [Sword] was not paid, though [Sword] was performing work-related duties.”

Further, “Each day [Sword] spent approximately (70) minutes caring for, maintaining and training the K9.  Each day, he spent approximately one (1) to one-and-a-half (1½) hours exercising the K9.” 

Despite the time and energy, said Sword, he received no additional compensation.

“Sword was paid nothing, and no overtime, for his care, maintenance, exercise, and training with the K9 despite it being work-related duties that the City of Providence was aware he was performing," according to the lawsuit. 

The suit also focuses on how Providence Police K9 handlers are compensated for the additional work time. 

“The City’s actions are willful as it knows and is aware that K9 handlers are required to work for the City’s benefit beyond their regular work schedule, as the City provides Providence Police canine handlers additional compensation for the care they provide police canines,” states the lawsuit.

And, the lawsuit alleges, “The City of Providence did not limit or specify the amount of time Sword was to spend caring for, maintaining, exercising, and training for the K9 while on-duty or off-duty, yet the City required Sword to appropriately care for, maintain, exercise, and train the K9 every day and to have the K9 fit and ready for duty.”

 

Hours Piled Up for Years

In the lawsuit, Sword says, “As a result of the failure to compensate the Sword for care, maintenance, exercise, and training of the K9, as required by federal regulation, he worked approximately eighteen (18) hours of overtime each week for which he was not paid.”

The nine-page multiple account asserts that the city failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in overtime, in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Rhode Island Minimum Wage Act.

Now, this suit will be determined at the federal courthouse in Providence.