We hope you can figure this out. The jest of it is: During the pay periods 11/14/09 - 11/27/09 (80 hours) you will only be paid 72 hours. We are losing 8 hours of holiday pay in the mix.
On the pay checks recieved on 12/4/09, you will see a one time reduction in pay of 10%, just in time for Christmas!
Good luck.
So much for our 4 day weekend we had planned.
Instructions for Unpaid Holiday
Monday, October 5, 2009
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40 comments:
Wow have to hand it to the county. Now the citizens can't complain about lack of police coverage.
So, if I read this correctly, if you work on the 26th and 27th normally, then u still get paid and bank both as a holiday? Those who are off/take off will lose 8 hours? I'm not complaining, thank God I have a paycheck coming in...I would like it explaned a little better...
What about the Dekalb School System, they work for the same tax base?
They just make up salaries and raises as they go every year.
IN THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF COLONEL H STINKMEANOR (FROM THE BOONDOCKS)........................ MAN, THIS SOME OL BULLLLLLSH@#%$#%#$$% !!!!
If you work 103.5 hours in a 2.5 week period you need take your 8 hours of holiday, add it to the third number of your high school gym lock combination, divide that by how many years you've been with the county, ok I'm lost.
Obviously everyone is overlooking the fine print. It says: "Your screwed!"
If you work on that day you lose the holiday.
Ok this is fairly simple...If you work on the 27th then you get paid ...if you take it off as a holiday it's without pay. You can't bank the holiday since it's not being funded. This is not a furlough....basically you either take it off without pay or you work. ....It's very simple people...the only problem is some folks are going to lose money while others don't....that just isn't fair to the employees who will lose the pay......but everyone will lose the holiday.
Guess I'll be working on the 27th....
EVERYBODY LETS PLAY THEIR GAME...we are on a pay-for-performance plan. we aren't getting a raise this year and the continuous take-aways...lets do what they want. handle calls....no more no less..
If you work on the 27th, YOU ARE NOT GET PAID. The time you are banking is the furlough time to be taken on another day. I guess an easier way to describe it is that your are getting paid with comp time instead of money.
I thought under federal law "If you work you must get paid"...FSLA requies those that work to get paid for the 40hrs worked.....
So if I work 40 hours I only get paid for for 32 hours and it supposed to be given back in comp time...if thats correct. Dream on cause its not gonna work and you better believe their will be call out. I like my job doing what i do. I don't complain but this is one thing I don't work for free. County better come up with another option cause i will never see comp time. You can't make me work for free especially not in this county.
Expect a lot more of these in the future, guys. Finance director Bell stated that the county needed to reduce our workforce by 5 to 7 hundred employees. The county doesn't want to do this for unknown reasons, so a lot more furloughs are in order. The obvious move is to expand the furloughs to all holidays resulting in about a 5 percent reduction in payroll with no decrease in county services to the citizens. The CEO and BOC can keep their bloated staffs and perks and all of us will have to be five percent more frugal next year. Another obvious move is to form an early retiremen incentive policy to attrition out 500 employees, DeKalb did that 20 years ago and decided it was a big mistake, to many of the best qualified employees left and it took years to repair the damage. The next option is a reduction in force(RIF), all departments will can X percent of their workforce. This was also done 20 years ago with mixed results. Poor criteria for who was to get RIFed rsulted in a large amount of lawsuits. I think 3 out 5 suits from my department alone resulted in financial court settlements and at least one was allowed to come back.
Another option, is to form a non-partisan commission to study the county for waste and inefficiency to determine where the county workforce can be cut back with the least loss of service to our citizens. Emphasis in the study should be from the top down. County management and political staffs should be carefully studied for redundancy and job effectiveness. Under Vern's admin both management and support staffs mushroomed along with the high paying salaries for no increase to services to DeKalb citizens.
This County simply does not understand FLSA laws. They CAN NOT make any non-exempt employee (Sgts and below) work 40 hours and pay you for anything less. That information is on the US Dept. of Labor web site. Exempt employees (Lts and above) also can not have their salary reduced if they work the time. They can have it reduced by a furlough day. This to is on the US Dept. of Labor web site. Rest assured, I will be one of the first to contact an attorney and get a class action suit against the County. The solution is simple. During the pay-period of November 14 - 27th, we will have to schedule each officer off for one day as a furlough day. This way you are working 32 hours and getting paid for 32 hours. Many of the schedules have already been done and it doesn't hurt us that bad for a two week period. My only other question then is are they (the County) still taking away the holiday after Thanksgiving. In essence, reducing our current pay by 8 to 10 hours and our future pay by another 8 to 10 hours.
I do not work for free - the gist of the order - from what I can figure out - is you work 40 but get paid for 32. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
So if I work on the 27th, I get paid as normal...I just don't get the holiday to use later?
You guys better look at the economy and what's going on in today's world...I have teachers in my family, four to be exact. The state is giving them 4 furlough days without pay....So if the county can make ends meet with just one...I'm for it...These are hard times, and you better be glad you aren't getting laid off....
I BET CEO Burrell Ellis gets his holiday pay. He is the same crook that vernon was......
What would Bubba Gump do in this situation, oooo yea Run Forest Run!
I bet a really good employment law firm could have a field day with this... I also think officers should complain about DeKalb's 'interpretation' of FMLA (e.g. forcing you to use your sick time - that's so crooked).
The comment about the county not understanding FLSA is correct. The county also doesn't understand FMLA. I'm surprised no one has sued yet!
This revised manner of the county saving payroll money just makes me shake my head. I agree that this sounds like a violation of FLSA. Furloughs, though they suck, sound legal. But, you know how it is around here. Someone must have gotten wind that we might could earn some income working an off-duty that day instead. Hell, can't have the employees doing that. Or, on the other hand, trying to make something positive out of a negative by just enjoying the day off with family, friends, or whatever.
For the one's who know FLSA well enough, do share where we can zoom in on this information.
If they have to furlough us, then they need to bite the bullet and deal with the reduction in manpower. But, violate the law and not pay for services provided, forget it.
Of another note, once this damn economy does rebound, I wonder if this place will ever make it up to any of us. I'm not holding my breath.
Its simple boys I dont do charity work, who in their right mind works for free.
If you do this, then you all are stool pigeons.
If you want to lay me off for a day then fine, but dont schedule me to work as im told will happen, and then tell me Kronos will be forged and then adjusted by Decatur.
Hell thats simple state laws being broken.
It's very simple. Your salary is being reduced by 10% for your first paycheck in December. Instead of being paid $25 hr for 2 weeks, you will be paid $22.50 hr. No Kronos "forgery." Just a simple salary reduction.
I like how we have a bunch of labor law attorneys on here apparently....you guys crack me up.
Come on now guys if we don’t give up our raises, our sick checks, and take a furlough how do you expect us to pay WIZ his six figures?
Directly from FLSA Compliance guidelines: "Hours Worked - Covered employees must be paid for all hours worked in a workweek. In general, "hours worked" includes all time an employee must be on duty, or on the employer's premises or at any other prescribed place of work, from the beginning of the first principal activity of the work day to the end of the last principal work activity of the workday. Also included is any additional time the employee is allowed (i.e., suffered or permitted) to work."
In essence, for all non-exempt FLSA Dekalb employees, if you work on 11/27, they have to pay you for the work. However, they can reduce your hourly rate for those hours worked on 11/27, as long as the hourly rate does not go below $7.25 per hour.
Sorry! I am a state employee following this and for this to happen at the holidays is really going to hurt the economy worse!
Yeah....I heard they talking about decreasing our pay for that day.
If they decide to decrease my pay for the day, do I have the option of just taking the day off without pay?
A pay rate of $7.25 an hour (MINUS TAXES) is a heck of a lot less than I'm will accept for a part time job.
Given the option of working/putting my life on the line for low pay (MINUS TAXES), I'd rather skip out and be with my family.
Its not worth my going to work.
This is NOT a furlough!
This is typical stupidity from the county.
Look up the definition of "furlough." It means you LEAVE WORK AND DON'T GET PAID. If you work, and don't get paid, that's something entirely different. It sure sounds illegal to me! Has anyone shown this to media or a lawyer?
I contacted the Georgia Department of Labor via email and am waiting on a response. My next step will be contacting Mr. Dale Russell and any and all other media outlets. Just say the county is doing this legally (which I dont think they are) it is completely unethical. Again I know they dont care but the general public will. I hope to God no officer gets hurt during this bs furlough day, when he/she is not being paid. Cause I for one will sue the crap out of this place. The CEO has an open door policy, lets see how long it take him to close that door. On 11-27-2009 everyone OS and report straight to his house in Southland subdivision. During the budget meetings earlier this year Ellis said "we had to take away the merit increases to avoid any furlough". Liar
Look be happy we now have electronic handsanitizer stations at Center Precinct.
Thanks DEMA now those guys are watching out for our health.
Now when I shake the hand of the man who makes the rules I can go decon the filth that he has just spread to me.
Well Well Well boys, looks like were gunna finally get a vacation. Thats what all of you guys complain about no time off so here ya go.
Courtesy of good ol Dekalb County, now I dont know about you but I could use a little more time off.
Three days a week just isn't enough for more I want it all. I suggest we start a 3 day work week with 4 days off, yea thats the ticket.
AAA the good ol days with working 5 days and 2 off life was so much sweeter then. I think of how much time I had to spend with the wife and kids.
Look stop your complaining be glad your not in the damn soup line. You hardly work when you are here, if life is so much better then leave.
Now leave me be im gunna smack Ethel around a tad more!
Out of curiosity, I just checked the department's website pertaining to pay and benefits. They are still advertising 10 paid holidays/year to lure prospective new hires. There is no disclaimer.
Ah, the place to be in law enforcement were false advertisement (lying) is acceptable. Hell of a first impression.
they are not giving us a day off they are simple cutting everyones pay by 10% for the pay period.
Ahh....haven't you learned yet?!?
Grasshopper,
Things written down are not a given... they are only SUGGESTIONS.
Cutting my pay be 10% for the pay period.
I forecast lots of driving that will have officers pumping more gas than usual at 10-42, lots of business checks that will NOT result in tickets and overtime when possible.
What is truly sad about this whole situation is that the chain of command isn’t telling the officers anything. True leadership is at its best during times of adversity. This is one of the biggest morale problems to face this department since O’Brien and Wiz took over and they are doing nothing. I know that payroll decisions are made in Decatur, but they should be out front being honest and open with the officers about what is happening and why.
I believe they aren't telling us anything because they're still trying to figure out what they can legally do TO US in order to save money..... without getting sued.
Here's their dilemma:
1)The citizens will have a stroke if manpower is dropped (even temporarily).
2)Because of their corruption and poor decisions, they don't have the money to pay us...ie, How can we keep the same protection for LESS money.
3)Cutting out pork and waste is not in the mix.
As in the case of the switch to "punching in and punching out", they're making a move that will shift the burden to the rank and file.
We went to the clock because they needed to shift the cost of THEIR not having enough patrol cars on the street to the officers' paycheck....ie, we've hired you and you agreed to work 10 hours per shift, but we don't want to pay you for the time you spend bringing cars in early or waiting for them at the start of your shift. Our mistake, but your problem.
We'll simply shift the cost of "non-patrol" time to the cost of overtime/court time...we'll just deduct that cost from the first 2.5 hours you spend working beyond 40 hours.
Now today...
We went from a loss of one paid holiday/banked holiday, to a furlough day, to your working for free, to a reduction in pay.
They have a political time bomb that they're trying to successfully hand off to you and me.
A furlough is an unpaid leave of absence.
This is an unpaid day of work. The county is making you work and they aren't going to pay you for it. Oh, they are being clever by saying they are just cutting your pay by 10% for that pay period. The net effect is exactly the same. They just know that saying they won't pay you for that one day is illegal, so they changed the wording of the plan
Latest development, "Don't go telling citizens about the furloughs...", etc, whatever. Listen up leaders. Whatever pertains to how you run this department (manpower) certainly concerns the citizens. Why are you afraid of them learning about the furloughs, or reduction in pay, or day of work without pay; however you want to sugar coat this crap. You want us to just keep quiet and get screwed, huh? Fat chance. If all we have is our first amendment right to free speech, then free speech all day long we will. After all, you won't let us have a union with representatives to speak for us. If you don't like it, I suggest you start making some sort of effort to show some respect and appreciation in ways that you are able since you are unable to with pay and benefits. Speaking of which, stop lying to prospects you all are out there trying to recruit in here in the first place. Who is their right mind would want to come here with such a pathetic track record of caring for its employees. Y'all are too much. How about start taking care of the ones you have already invested in rather than worrying about adding more. It's cheaper.
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