Southington registrar seeks clarity on extra hours as board moves to write overtime policy

Tammy Thompson, of the Registrar's office, told the Board of Finance that an employee is seeking pay for extra hours worked beyond the historical 15‑hour stipend arrangement and that the office is currently deadlocked because both registrars must authorize payroll adjustments.

"I have someone in the office who's looking for extra hours," Thompson said, describing that the person has not worked regular hours for many years and that past practice provided a stipend of about $23,000 for 15 hours per week. Thompson told the board the additional hours being claimed are treated as straight time once they exceed the 15‑hour stipend, but that the statutory employment relationship limits eligibility for overtime pay.

Board members agreed the immediate fix is to finish a written Registrar policy that clarifies pay triggers (base stipend versus additional straight‑time or overtime) and payroll authorization. Chair John Leary said the board's priority is to produce a collaborative policy "that registrars agree with, town manager, town finance, and payroll say, yep," and then to apply it consistently.

Because the employee who raised the concern was not present, the board took the matter as an informational heads‑up and said it would not change pay in the absence of the employee's request and without a finalized policy. Thompson said she is working on a job description and the board invited registrars to submit input for the policy drafting process.

The board indicated it will address any specific pay requests at a future meeting if the employee appears, and emphasized the need for a clear written policy to avoid recurring deadlocks in payroll approval.