The court discussed the limited investment by the workers, noting that ODPS periodically supplied them with basic equipment necessary for the job, including signage, reflective jackets, and badge-shaped patches with the ODPS logo.  While the workers had to purchase or lease a police uniform and supply their own vehicle, the cost of those items “pale[d] in comparison to the amount ODPS spent running its business per year.”  The court determined that the facts supported employee status. Images by Romaniaboy/Thinkstock, moodboard/Thinkstock, and Jupiterimages/Thinkstock. On the degree of skill required, the court credited the officers’ trial testimony that the tasks they performed required little skill, initiative, or training.  The court was less persuaded by ODPS’s argument regarding the high degree of skill and training required to become a licensed police officer, noting that this factor does not concern the skills possessed by the workers, but rather the degree of skill required for the rendering of the services.  That ODPS engaged non-sworn officers further supported the conclusion that the work did not require the high degree of skill that sworn police work can require.  The court determined that the facts favor employee status. That introduces a whole other issue, doesn’t it? In fact, part of the reason why private employers hire them is that they’re perceived as more official than private security guards. There are officers who work a day shift and get off at, say, 5 p.m., then they go home for a little while and then go work five or six hours at their off-duty jobs in the evenings. Learn more. Liability is a huge issue. Rep. Kevin Brady, R … So when you have private businesses, neighborhoods, even potentially private individuals hiring police, it cuts against that general approach of police as a public good that serves all of the citizenry without regard for anyone’s ability to pay. Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. And 62 of those, almost 50 percent, do not track the number of officers who do it. And what happens when the officer does enforce those dress codes and gets sued for discrimination? Most plaintiffs are probably going to sue both, because there can be ambiguity. moonlight Moonlight is literally the light we can see shining from the moon, but to moonlight is to work a second job. For many people, moonlighting may take the form of a seasonal job at a retail chain. ODPS provides some of these services by engaging sworn, off-duty police officers who—when they’re not working for ODPS—are employed full time or otherwise by a law enforcement agency.  ODPS classified the workers as independent contractors, and did not pay them overtime wages or keep the pay and hours records required by FLSA regulations.  The U.S. Department of Labor sued ODPS. The debate over law enforcement that’s been raging in America for the past two years has naturally focused on the decisions police officers make when they’re working—not what they do after they punch out for the day. This moonlighting policy template (or outside employment policy) is ready to be tailored to your company’s needs and can be a starting point for setting up your employment policies. I think it’s a good sample—the agencies that responded employ just under 20 percent of the entire state and local police force in the country—but I don’t want to extrapolate from it too much. The defendant, Off Duty Police Services (ODPS), contracts with businesses in and around Louisville, Kentucky, to offer private security and traffic control services. They’re in uniform, they have a badge, they have a gun belt. In most places, are police officers taking this work to line their pockets, or are there places where the public pay is so low that this is really the only way to earn a decent living? For example, if a private employer has a dress code that has racial implications—like, no gold chains, no hats turned backwards, no baggy shorts, no basketball jerseys. But a new paper by law professor Seth Stoughton, posted online this week in draft form, makes the argument that we’ve been ignoring an important aspect of policing—namely, the massive amount of moonlighting that cops do for private companies when they’re off duty. When cops moonlighting as private security guards screw up, Chicago taxpayers pay for the lawsuits. Higher-Income neighborhoods that have a marked police vehicle with them in addition to one 's full-time job a number thorny! They’Re moonlighting to make ends meet no alcohol, but to moonlight is to at... Research is that it’s pretty common employees to inform management if t… moonlighting police..., the actor explained how everything changed: “Thank God Cybill Shepherd in the lower-income.. 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Slate Plus to continue reading, and developing more information about how agencies are Handling off duty,...

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