JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — A dispute between volunteers and the City of Jacksonville Beach means that lifeguard services will be different for the first time in nearly a century.
For more than 100 years, the Volunteer Life Saving Corps (VLSC) has volunteered to assist the City of Jacksonville Beach with lifeguard duties. However, due to a dispute of labor laws, the city is ending those services.
Since 1912, volunteers helped city-paid lifeguards patrol four miles of beach, especially on Sundays and holidays when the city did not have lifeguards on duty. However, in 2021 the US Department of Labor found that the volunteer services violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The city says that it gave the volunteers a 9-month notice that their services would be terminated, but on Tuesday, the City of Jacksonville Beach sent a notice to the volunteers that their service would be terminated immediately due to "disruptive behavior" on Sunday, April 3.
The volunteers sent a letter to the city that disputed the city’s claims. The letter from the volunteers in response to the city says that VLSC will consider taking legal action against the city of Jacksonville Beach if they are prevented from entering the Red Cross station at Jacksonville Beach.
As of right now, the City of Jacksonville Beach plans to expand its Ocean Rescue Division to include Sundays and holidays that were previously covered by the volunteers.