County finds it owes more for overtime
Software mistake shortchanged prison workers by $300,000
By WENDI HIMMELRIGHT Dispatch/Sunday News
A software problem at York County Prison will probably cost the county about $300,000 in back pay, prison officials said this week.

That's in addition to almost $900,000 the county has already paid to employees who federal officials say weren't compensated properly.

A majority of hourly workers in most county departments have received back pay in a settlement ordered by the federal government. The U.S. Labor Department investigated the county's payment practices after an employee last year complained county workers were not being paid overtime properly.

The feds said the county underpaid its employees about $900,000 between June 4, 2000, and July 27, 2002.

About 30 prison guards challenged the amount of that settlement, prompting a more thorough investigation of prison records. That investigation found another $300,000 in missed payroll payments.

"In my mind, it worked just the way it was supposed to," said Kevin Cicak, president of Teamsters Local 430, representing the prison guards. "The review sparked a review, and that review found the errors."

Cicak said he thinks the additional payment of around $300,000 will affect most, if not all, union members.

Computer glitch: County Assistant Controller Deb Myers said a computer programming error led to the mistaken calculations.

The county employs 1,850 hourly employees who are eligible for overtime. Of those, 1,118 were issued checks in February ranging from $20 to $26,000. The employees work in 46 of the county's 62 departments.

County Commissioner James Donahue said most of the overtime occurred because employees punched in early. In some cases, employees were given "straight" comp time, instead of receiving 11/2 hours of time off for each hour of overtime worked.

The county policy in place before the federal investiga- tion began said employees could punch in 12 minutes before the start of their shift or up to six minutes after. The employees would swipe their time cards electronically, but the payroll department would only compensate them from the scheduled start time.

"It was a practice that was widely understood to be OK," said Commissioner Shirley Glass. "It didn't seem like there was anything wrong with it at the time."

Federal law, though, says the "lag" times for punching in before or after the start of a scheduled shift must be the same. The county has changed its policy so employees may punch in 6 minutes before, or 6 minutes after, the start of their scheduled shift and not be paid overtime or have their pay docked for being late.

Turning it down: Employees can refuse the money if they didn't work, Donahue said; but with almost all of the checks distributed, only 104 employees asked for a review.

Some employees involved in the first payout said they didn't want the money, Myers said. But others, including the 30 prison guards, challenged the amount because they thought they deserved more.

If the employees don't want the money, they must be able to say they didn't work the hours lodged on their time cards. Almost all employees who have rejected their overtime payments have said they worked the overtime, but they don't want the money because they didn't think they deserved it if they punched early of their own accord.

"People aren't saying they didn't work it," Myers said. "They're saying they don't want it."

The feds won't allow an employee to refuse the money if they worked during the time in question. If the employee absolutely refuses the money, the government will place it in a lock box for a specified amount of time, Myers said.

Donahue said he is not concerned about the settlements.

"We're doing exactly what is right. There's not a problem whatsoever," Donahue said. "I just want to know why it happened and what we've done to correct it, so it doesn't happen again."

The Labor Department will know the exact amount of the additional payout due the prison guards by the end of the week, Donahue said. Representatives of the federal agency have said they cannot discuss the case until it is settled in its entirety.

The York Dispatch

-- Anonymous, April 02, 2003