The proposed new Shawano County employee handbook could be eliminating some of extra pay workers negotiated in union contracts.
Maintenance Director Steve Dreher brought the issue of on-call pay to the Public Property Committee’s attention Friday. He said the omission of that item and others shows the handbook “leaves a lot to be desired.”
“This document basically tells new employees, ‘You’re at-will, and we can fire you at any time.’ It says that repeatedly throughout the document,” Dreher said. “It doesn’t tell new employees that, if you do good work, you can progress.”
The handbook has been a work-in-progress since the state Legislature enacted Act 10 in 2011, limiting public employee unions’ rights to the point where most of the county unions disbanded. The only Shawano County employees working under a union contract are the deputies, as law enforcement was exempt from the provisos of Act 10.
The Administrative Committee spent several days in August combing through concerns furnished by department heads about the new handbook and forwarded it to the County Board. Dreher submitted his concerns, but said Friday he did not notice the lack of on-call pay until after the review process had been completed.
Dreher said the department heads were informed when the process started two years ago that the goal was to determine what in the union contracts could be incorporated into the employee handbook.
Employees currently get $5 a day during the week for being on-call, even if nothing happens that day. Weekend on-call employees get $25 a day.
County maintenance employees get two hours pay if they are called in, even if the emergency takes only 20 minutes to remedy, according to Dreher. They also get 1½ times their normal wage for the time they are working.
“It’s something that, in my opinion, was overly generous, but it was something negotiated in during contracts,” Dreher said.
The on-call pay issue, Dreher said, also impacts social workers, public health officials and technology services employees.
Dreher also questioned the wording of a section that addresses overtime. He said it tells managers no overtime, although there are circumstances when employees have to work more than 40 hours in a week.
“It doesn’t say anything about, if it’s necessary overtime, it’s OK,” he said.
The new handbook gives managers so much power that they could fire employees for any reason, Dreher said.
“It’s rather harsh. It really leans to the county’s favor,” he said “Basically, I could walk in to my employees and say, ‘I don’t like the way you look today. You’re fired.’”
Supervisor Robert Krause questioned if the County Board would be able to approve the proposed handbook on Sept. 25 if there were not some provisos to protect employees.
The unions abused their power before Act 10, Krause said, but it would not be wise for the county to do the same now.
“They’re still our employees, and they’re human beings,” Krause said. “We have to be cogent about what it means to be on-call, what it means to give up your weekends to be local (for emergencies).”
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