Commissioner Cates cites Clerk of Court data in pushing COVID-19 clawback motion at special meeting
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Commissioner Craig Cates, citing conversations with the County Clerk of Court regarding pay schemes in other counties as well as his own “fiscally responsible conservative” politics, has sponsored an agenda item he said will “clarify” county pay schemes. This will be unveiled at a special meeting of the County Commission on Thursday, April 30.
Agenda Item B1 “is a Resolution rescinding the authorization for emergency response work pay for employees due to the COVID19 crisis from the pay periods of March 15, 2020 through April 11, 2020.”
The meeting information was posted too late in the business day on April 27 to contact representatives of the employees affected by the move, who may see the measure as a clawback.
Cates said he decided to sponsor the measure after receiving information to the effect that Monroe’s pay scheme was far more generous than the compensation being offered by other Florida counties.
“It’s a complicated formula,” Cates said Monday evening. “And one that I think has become too generous to the workers at a time when all our people are experiencing so much economic hardship.”
According to the item background, “The County adopted an emergency pay policy under Resolution 146- 2013 that authorized pay for employees engaged in emergency response work at 1.5 time the employee’s salary in addition to earning 8 hours of administrative leave each day. The County Administrator authorized pay under that resolution effective March 17, 2020 for emergency response work done pursuant to the COVID19 crisis. At the April 15, 2020 meeting, the Board adopted Resolution No. 105-2020, which limited the scope of Resolution No. 146-2013 to exclude payment for COVID19 work. This was to cover work performed from April 12, 2020 forward. The proposed resolution would rescind the authorization for emergency response work pay for COVID19 work during pay periods  March 15, 2020 through April 11, 2020. The resolution would authorize payment only for overtime work performed by non-exempt employees in excess of 40 hours, as provided for in the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
The full meeting agenda is available at:
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