The Shawano County Administrative Committee recommended a few compensatory additions to the employee handbook Thursday but stopped short of granting every request of department heads.
The committee spent more than three hours going through the requests. The decisions mostly came down to what was allowed under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
The committee unanimously approved the following additions:
• Social services — On-call pay of $2 per hour after normal weekday hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) and $2.75 per hour for weekend hours (4:30 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday). Only one employee shall be on call at a time, and if an employee is called to render services, he or she shall receive compensatory time off.
• Jail — Uniformed officers will receive their first uniform on the county’s dime, with a receipt, and shall be reimbursed up to $200 annually for any replacements. When required to attend court appearances and mandatory meetings during off-duty hours, officers will receive a minimum of two hours pay at the normal rate.
The jail previously gave correctional officers a uniform allowance of $400 annually, with no receipt required.
• Highway — Employees will be reimbursed up to $150 per year for safety shoes.
• Technology services and building maintenance — Employees called to work outside of their regular hours will be guaranteed two hours pay at their regular rate, even if the work needed takes less than two hours.
Committee members eliminated some past practices, including on-call pay, weekend and holiday pay for building maintenance and technology services employees.
Dan Borowski, the attorney from Phillips Borowski who has been helping the county revise its handbook, argued that building maintenance and technology services are not 24-7 operations and should not receive on-call pay. He said any phone calls received at home should be applied to the number of hours worked in a week and not receive special compensation.
Building maintenance employees have been getting 1½ times the regular hourly rate for any weekend or holiday work, plus two additional hours pay for reporting to work. They also received $15 per work-related call at home, up to $30 a day, if they don’t have to report to work, $5 per day for being on-call on weekdays, and $25 per day in on-call pay on weekends and holidays.
Technology services employees have been getting $25 per call at home, up to $50 a day, if they didn’t report to work. They also have received $30 on-call pay on weekends and holidays.
The revisions also eliminated the additional 50 cents per hour jail training officers received while training recruits.
Also, jail employees will no longer receive 1½ times the normal pay rate if they are called in, even if they do not work more than 40 hours for the week. Borowski pointed out the the FLSA only requires overtime pay for hours worked above 40 in a week and recommended the provision be taken out.
Borowski said completion and implementation of a wage study should eliminate the need to compensate employees differently in some departments.
“It’s not illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act to do this,” Borowski said. “It may not be the best thing to do in the long term, though.”
The additions approved Thursday will go to the County Board on Wednesday. The board is expected to vote in December on a revised employee handbook.
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