Static educational checklist — not a calculator. No 7–28 day punch grids, no 212/171 threshold engines, no live overtime math. Spot common FLSA § 7(k) / 29 CFR § 553.230 public-agency fire protection and law enforcement work-period red flags: when a public agency may replace the ordinary 7-day / 40-hour workweek with a fixed work period of 7 to 28 consecutive days, when overtime is due only after the prorated fire (212/28) or law-enforcement (171/28) maximum, and when payroll collapses that special system with hospital § 7(j) 8/80, private-security schedules, or ordinary weekly-40. Distinct from the hospital 8/80, compensatory-time (§ 7(o)), sleep-time, and premium-credit cheat-sheet pages.
Baseline — what § 7(k) / § 553.230 require (and do not)
Under 29 U.S.C. § 207(k) and 29 CFR Part 553 Subpart C (including § 553.230), a public agency may establish a work period of 7 to 28 consecutive days for employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement activities (including security personnel in correctional institutions). Overtime compensation at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate (or qualifying compensatory time under § 7(o)) is required when hours worked in the work period exceed the maximum that bears the same relationship to 212 hours (fire) or 171 hours (law enforcement) as the number of days in the work period bears to 28 — e.g., 106 fire / 86 law-enforcement hours in a 14-day work period. WHD Fact Sheet #8 restates the same framework. § 7(k) is a public-agency + fire/LE activities + established work-period partial overtime exemption — it is not a private-security overtime relief, not a hospital § 7(j) 8/80 system, and not permission to float work-period length to evade overtime. This page does not compute 7(k) overtime — it only flags compliance red flags.
Checklist — fire / police § 7(k) work-period red flags
Private employers / private security force-fitted into § 7(k). Flag private ambulance companies, contract security firms, campus private police, hospital security crews, or staffing agencies that borrow the 28-day / 212–171 frame. § 7(k) applies only to public agencies (State, political subdivision, or interstate governmental agency) — employer branding as “public safety” does not expand the statute.
No established, regularly recurring 7–28 day work period. Flag “we always run 14-day cycles” practices with no clear agency adoption, floating periods that restart whenever overtime would accrue, mid-roster flips between weekly-40 and a 28-day period for the same employee, or work periods shorter than 7 / longer than 28 days. § 553.224 / Fact Sheet #8 require an established and regularly recurring work period; the employer bears the burden of showing it.
Fire 212 vs law-enforcement 171 thresholds mixed or mis-prorated. Flag firefighters paid against the 171-hour LE table, patrol officers paid against the 212-hour fire table, 14-day periods that ignore the 106 / 86 examples, or “close enough” rounding that silently raises the overtime gate. § 553.230 sets separate fire and LE maxima and a day-ratio table for periods under 28 days.
Non–fire / non–law-enforcement staff parked on § 7(k). Flag civilian dispatchers, mechanics, clerical, IT, or purely administrative roles forced onto a 7(k) work period without meeting the fire-protection or law-enforcement activities tests in §§ 553.210–.211. Partial or occasional ride-alongs do not convert an office job into a § 7(k) covered activity.
Hospital § 7(j) 8/80 / Belo / FWW / weekly-40 collapses. Flag public hospitals that swap § 7(j) 8/80 language onto fire/EMS crews, fire departments that borrow hospital 14-day / 80-hour frames, or Belo / fluctuating-workweek guarantees used as a substitute for an established § 7(k) work period. § 7(j) is hospital / residential-care 8 and 80; § 7(k) is public-agency fire/LE work periods — they are not interchangeable.
§ 13(b)(20) under-five overtime-exemption myths. Flag agencies that claim a total-staffing “under five” exemption while counting only sworn officers on one shift, mixing fire and LE headcounts to stay under five, or applying the exemption to weeks when five or more employees actually engaged in the activity. Fact Sheet #8: the § 13(b)(20) exemption turns on employing fewer than five employees in fire protection or in law enforcement during the workweek — and it is separate from the § 7(k) work-period rule.
Compensatory-time § 7(o) / 480-hour public-safety cap gaps. Flag agencies that bank § 7(k) overtime only as straight-time hours, ignore the 1½× compensatory-time rate, exceed the 480-hour public-safety accrual cap without cashing out, or refuse use-on-request without a bona fide “unduly disrupt” record. § 7(k) overtime may be paid in cash or qualifying § 7(o) compensatory time — it is not unpaid flex.
Sleep-time / 24-hour tour myths mixed into § 7(k) without Part 785 gates. Flag 24-hour fire or corrections tours that auto-exclude 8 hours of sleep without a bona fide agreement, adequate facilities, or the usual uninterrupted-night test — or that exclude sleep on tours under 24 hours. Sleep exclusion is a Part 785 hours-worked question that can sit beside a § 7(k) work period; it is not automatic with § 7(k).
Regular-rate / stub / record gaps. Flag § 7(k) schedules that never revisit the regular rate when shift differentials or nondiscretionary bonuses land in the work period, wage statements that never show work-period length vs fire/LE threshold vs overtime / compensatory-time lines, missing work-period adoption records, and unsigned “28-day period” calendars. Record gaps turn every surge week into a he-said / she-said overtime fight.