High Court OKs Overtime for Fire Officers : Ruling: The justices also refused to bar Calif. cities and counties from restricting onshore facilities for seeking and producing offshore oil.

WASHINGTON —  The Supreme Court today left intact a ruling in a California case that other state and local governments said could force them, if ever applied nationwide, to pay billions of dollars in overtime to public employees.

In a second California case today, the justices refused to bar California coastal cities and counties from restricting onshore facilities used in exploring for and producing offshore oil and gas.

In the overtime case, the court rejected without comment an appeal by Kern County, Calif., against an order to pay overtime to its fire battalion chiefs.

The case could have devastating financial consequences for state, county and city governments and their taxpayers, various groups said.

They also joined Kern County officials in urging the justices to overturn a key 1985 high court ruling that provided the underpinning for the case acted on today.

The court in 1985 ruled that the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act apply to state and local governments.

Congress softened the impact of the ruling by amending the law to let states, counties and cities substitute compensatory time off for overtime pay for many workers.

But the new law did not protect Kern County in the dispute with its fire battalion chiefs.

Almost all the chiefs, along with most fire department personnel, do not work customary 40-hour weeks. Instead they are scheduled to work 144 hours during each 18-day period.

The county classified the chiefs as executives, barred from receiving time-and-a-half pay for overtime given to others who work more than 136 hours over any 18-day period.

A federal judge rejected the chiefs’ claim that they are not executives. But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction in nine Western states, overturned the judge’s ruling.

In the oil case, the court rejected an appeal by oil industry groups that said local governments should not be allowed to block the search for offshore energy resources.

The circuit court in June rejected a challenge to the local governments by the Western Oil and Gas Assn. and the National Ocean Industries Assn.

The trade groups represent, respectively, companies seeking oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf and companies that provide them drilling and related supplies and services.

The appeals court ruled that the challenge is premature.

The 9th Circuit Court noted that President Bush in 1989 signed a law halting further offshore activities. The federal government controls the ocean property and is empowered to issue leases for offshore drilling.

The appeals court said that at least until the federal moratorium is lifted there are no grounds for a lawsuit challenging the power of nearly all the coastal cities and counties.