S. 3963 — Rural Emergency Response Support Act

This section expands the partial overtime exemption of FLSA section 7(k)—which deems certain public safety employers not to have violated the standard 40-hour overtime requirement of subsection (a)(1) if they meet specified work-period averaging conditions—to public agencies that are political subdivisions of a state with fewer than 100,000 residents, and to private entities contracted by such agencies, with respect to employees serving as emergency medical technicians or paramedics. (As background, section 7(k) permits eligible public fire and police departments to average overtime pay over work periods of 7 to 28 days, rather than requiring time-and-a-half pay after 40 hours in a workweek.)