PITTSFIELD — Employees in several departments inside the Pike County courthouse will receive up to five years of back pay.
At its meeting Monday, the board voted unanimously to allow each department to pay for hours worked from Jan. 1, 2016, to when the error was fixed within that department using its own budget.
County Board Chairman Jim Sheppard said each department has been given the authority to pay up to five years of pay to fix the problem because the board had previously approved the time frame for the circuit clerk’s office.
“We reaffirmed the department head’s ability to run their office and pay their employees,” Sheppard said.
According to the contract between the county and courthouse employees, employees are only supposed to work 32.5 hours a week, though many work more hours to provide coverage during the courthouse’s regular business hours.
Each office addresses the additional hours depending on its needs.
Sheppard said when the new circuit clerk took over, he was told those were factored in to their pay, so employees didn’t track the hours and were not paid for the additional time.
Once the error was discovered, the clerk approached the board about back pay for his department’s employees, going back five years.
The board approved allowing the circuit clerk to pay up to five years of back pay to the employees in his department out of a special fund.
Circuit Clerk Bryce Gleckler said everyone believed the extra hours would be included in their pay.
“This is money our employees deserved, because they’ve worked it,” Gleckler said.
Other departments since have looked into the issue and submitted reports to the board.
It was other board members that suggested the back pay come from department budgets, not the overall county budget because payroll is handled within department budgets.
Sheppard said the board was given a report that estimated about $34,000 would be needed to cover the back pay across the departments, though he said there was a little bit that went beyond the five years.
Though given the go ahead to pay the back pay, some departments will have to find the funds within their budgets. Some, like the state’s attorney’s office and county assessor’s office, do not have special fund where the money could be taken from.
“If they do not have the leeway in their budget, they can take an amended budget to the board for a vote,” Sheppard said.
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Pike board clears way to fix back-pay issue - Jacksonville Journal-Courier
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