Denver board approves overtime reclassification for 29 safety workers; back-pay cost unknown

Denver’s Career Service Board unanimously approved a plan June 18 to reclassify 29 safety and industrial-hygiene employees after a review found that some workers’ duties did not match the requirements for exempt status under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Office of Human Resources presentation says the employees work across five city agencies. Eight Safety & Industrial Hygiene Professional II employees would move to overtime-eligible status and be reclassified as Safety Specialist IIs. Twelve administrators also would move into the nonexempt Safety Specialist II classification.

Those 20 employees appear to be the group eligible for the proposed two-year back-pay lookback. The presentation does not state that total explicitly; it says back pay would be proposed for employees moving from exempt to nonexempt status to account for previously worked overtime-eligible hours. It provides no total, per-employee estimate or calculation of the overtime hours at issue.

The other nine employees include one Professional II reallocated to the administrator level, two Professional I employees who would remain nonexempt and become Safety Specialist Is, and six Safety Managers who would remain exempt and become Safety & Industrial Hygiene Managers. Employees whose pay grades change would receive equivalent hourly compensation, with no reduction in pay, the presentation says.

The board’s meeting minutes show that it approved Classification Notice No. 1897 unanimously. The review followed a 2024 audit and a May 15, 2025, board hearing. OHR and the City Attorney’s Office later conducted 54 job-shadowing sessions totaling 648 hours and reviewed job descriptions, qualifications, work histories and federal wage-and-hour guidance.

The presentation lists an annualized budget impact of $24,767.90 for one employee reallocation and three employees raised to new pay-range minimums, but does not identify that figure as back-pay liability.

The plan has no fixed implementation date. The presentation says implementation is “at the discretion of department leadership.” Denver’s classification-notices guidance says classification and pay-plan changes must go through the ordinance process before taking effect. Bill 26-1190 was scheduled for Denver City Council consideration Aug. 18; the Legistar record available Aug. 14 showed no final action.

The documents do not report a broader finding of unpaid-overtime violations in other city classifications or establish a citywide violation, a larger group of affected workers or a quantified liability.