On Monday the Fort Myers Beach Town Council will vote on a settlement agreement with former town employee Pareshkumar Patel. The Town Attorney is advising the council to settle with Patel for $50,000. Here’s what happened.
Patel filed a lawsuit against the town to recover unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and liquidated damages due to his alleged retaliatory firing in April of 2024.
Patel worked for the town as a project superintendent on an hourly basis. In July of 2023 the town informed Patel that his position was converted to a salary basis. He says that despite being told of the change the town continued to pay him on an hourly basis. He says he worked over 40 hours in one or more workweeks and was not properly compensated at one and one-half his regular rate for overtime hours worked…