| Wednesday,
August 2, 2006
In a Civil Service hearing this morning before the Honorable Harry
S. Tervalon,
Jr., the City requested extensions on P.I.B. Cases involving 48
officers which
went in excess of the 60 Day Rule, and were initiated well before
Katrina. The
City's witness, retired Captain Caroline Weigand offered that Katrina-related
difficulties prevented the timely adjudication of these cases.
The affected officers, both PANO, FOP, and non-members, represented
by PANO
Attorney Frank DeSalvo & FOP Attorney Eric Hessler, argued against
the merits of
the City's case. After careful consideration by the Honorable Harry
S. Tervalon,
Jr., All extensions requested by the City were denied by Civil Service.
The Police Association was very pleased with the decision rendered
in this
matter by the Honorable Harry S. Tervalon, Jr., which significantly
affects the
careers of many PANO & FOP members
ALSO.
In reviewing concerns from member of the Police Association of New
Orleans and other non-member officers, a question arose with regard
to the Department’s practice of overtime compensation to its
employees. Department members whose duty obligations compel them
to work beyond their scheduled Tour of Duty, typically are not paid,
despite having actually worked. There are a number of reasons why
an officer might work beyond the scheduled tour. Examples would
include, but not be limited to, the mandated completion of a police
report of an incident which began prior to the end of the officer’s
Tour of Duty, the medical treatment of a prisoner in custody prior
to being surrendered to Central Lockup, or the time spent waiting
for support units, such as Crime Scene Technicians, K-9, tow trucks
at accidents, etc..
In addition, if an officer injured on duty seeks medical treatment,
and the time spent receiving treatment goes beyond the officer’s
scheduled tour, the officer is entitled to be paid overtime.
And further, if officers are required to perform duties on off-time,
beyond their scheduled Tour of Duty, such as acquiring new uniform
parts which are distributed form a central location during specified
hours, and officers not on duty are mandated to go and obtain those
uniforms, they are entitled to be compensated.
This list is not comprehensive but describes some rather typical
issues that arise almost daily in form or fashion. The PANO Legal
Staff & Board members reviewed several Code of Federal Regulations
pertaining to these matter as follows:
29 CFR 785.11 General
29 CFR 785.13 Duty of Management
29 CFR 785.17 On call Time
29 CFR 785.28 Involuntary Attendance
29 CFR 785.43 Medical Attention
29 CFR 785.211 General Call Back Pay
By our interpretation, these Codes require payment for the instances
I have cited and others not included in my limited examples. To
this end, PANO President Mike Glasser, Vice-President Bryant Winninger
and PANO Attorney Frank DeSalvo met with City Attorneys and discussed
the matter, presenting examples of the issues cited above and the
appropriate federal regulations. The conclusion of the City Attorneys
is that in these instances, the City is obliged to pay overtime.
Therefore, it is recommended that supervisors insure that when officers
work beyond their scheduled Tour of Duty, the hours should be entered
into the TRIP system, to the exact minute, with an explanation in
the REMARKS section of the TRIP entry. While not yet required, prudence
also dictates that the supervisor may wish to submit or at least
have on file, a 105 (Inter-office Correspondence) with any attendant
documentation demonstrating why the overtime occurred and was necessary.
It is anticipated that this will probably become necessary very
soon.
That, of course is for occurrences from this point forward. With
respect to previous instances, overtime compensation may be realized
with the submission of a Form 93, Payroll Adjustment, bearing in
mind that documentation of the hours worked would be necessary,
such as TRIP sheets, along with an explanation as to why the overtime
was necessary. Overtime requested without the attendant documentation
to support the payment requested would likely be denied. Any questions
as to specific incidents should be addressed to Ms. Stephanie Landry,
Commander of Personnel.
ONE NOPD
Mike Glasser
PANO President
504-416-0366
GlasserMD@aol.com
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