A Mount Vernon firefighter is suing the town, alleging that it failed to pay his wages for six months of work and retaliated against him by suspending him over a joke posted from his personal Facebook account.
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Justin Legendre, a part-time firefighter, filed his federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Maine on Thursday for himself and “all others similarly situated” who have also not received their pay.
“This is so much more then money! This is retaliation this is wrong full leadership this is if you don’t do as I say you will be terminated! This is simply right is right and wrong is wrong! Time for justice! I am now trespassed from the fire department and indefinitely suspended pending select board review! Insane world we live in,” said Legendre on Facebook.
The filing is a federal lawsuit because it requests redress under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
According to the suit, Legendre has served as a part-time firefighter for the Mount Vernon Fire and Rescue Department since 2022 and works for approximately $17 per hour.
Legendre does not know the specific pay rate because the town allegedly failed to issue pay stubs.
Until November 2025, the town paid Legendre’s wages approximately once every six months, but the suit alleges that he has received no pay since then.
The suit estimates that Legendre worked 10 hours per week since the last payment date. At the time the suit was filed, Legendre alleged that over eight days had elapsed since his unpaid wages were due.
The suit brings a collective allegation that would allow any firefighters employed by the town to join the suit and claim that they had not been paid.
“Plaintiff and the members of the proposed FLSA Collective are similarly situated because they worked for the same fire department, were subject to the same or substantially similar pay practices and were not timely paid for recorded compensable work,” the suit alleges.
According to the suit, the town was legally required to pay wages at regular intervals not exceeding 16 days, which it failed to do.
Legendre also alleged that the town retaliated against him in June after he complained to the fire department’s chief about the lack of payment. He said that he was one of the most vocal firefighters in his objections to the lack of pay.
On July 9, less than a month after his complaints, he was suspended without pay by Fire Chief Jason Beckler for thirty days.
The stated reason for the suspension was a joke Legendre made from his personal Facebook account while off duty. He pointed out that the subject of the joke was not offended and found it amusing.
In a phone call with The Maine Wire, Legendre explained that the joke was about a woman’s husband potentially cheating, and that the woman responded to him saying that she didn’t have a husband and found the joke funny.
The suit alleges that the suspension violated the town’s personnel policy regarding disciplinary procedures.
After the initial suspension, Legendre went to the fire station to talk about their failure to pay employees.
He posted a video of that interaction that shows him knocking on a door and window, trying to speak with someone. At no point in the video does he become violent or attempt to force entry into the station.
“When the Plaintiff returned to the station to talk to other workers about their collective
right to be paid wages for their work and again to demand payment, he was suspended indefinitely and ordered to return equipment,” said the suit.
He told The Maine Wire that, after that incident, Chief Beckler called the police, who called him to issue a criminal trespass order preventing him from being at the fire station. He said that police told him Beckler claimed he threatened him, though video of the incident seems to contradict that claim.
He said that another firefighter, who could be seen in the video encouraging him not to persist in trying to speak with department officials, was suspended for the incident.
The suit argues that the stated reason for the suspension was simply a pretext, and that it was actually done in retaliation for his complaints about pay.
Legendre’s suit requests that the court allow the suit to proceed as a collective FLSA action and award him and others their unpaid wages, along with interest, attorney’s fees, and an additional amount equal to twice those unpaid wages in damages.
The suit also requests that the court award damages for the suspension and vacate the suspension.
Finally, the suit demands a trial by jury.
Legendre is being represented by Andrew Schmidt and Peter Mancuso of the Portland-based Borealis Law.
Legendre told The Maine Wire that, after he filed his suit, the Mount Vernon Select Board told him not to hand in his gear and that they were looking into his suspension.
