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Middletown council amends 2019 salary ordinance to adopt DOL overtime definition, approves related pay changes
Summary
The Middletown Town Council on May 1 adopted the U.S. Department of Labor definition of "hours worked" for town overtime policy, directed the Clerk-Treasurer to study pay impacts and approved several related pay and lunch-period changes affecting police, dispatch and other town employees.
The Middletown Town Council voted May 1 to amend the town's 2019 Salary Ordinance to adopt the U.S. Department of Labor definition of "hours worked," a change that will mean paid time off (vacation, personal and sick time) will not count toward the 40-hour overtime threshold for town employees.
Council Member Dave Wagner moved the measure, which also directed Clerk-Treasurer Drew Cooper to investigate how applying the Department of Labor definition would affect employee pay and to adjust 2019 pay rates as needed to offset any reduction in pay. Wagner also moved that employees be allowed to count paid time off toward the 40-hour threshold on an interim basis until those rate adjustments are implemented. Council Member Donita Chambless seconded. Gary Kendall voted no; the other council members voted in favor, and the motion passed.
The council approved a string of related personnel actions. Wagner successfully moved to specify in the 2019 Salary Ordinance that Police and Dispatch employees will receive paid lunch periods while other town employees will not; Gary Kendall seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
Separately, Donita Chambless moved and Dave Wagner seconded a measure authorizing the town to pay any overtime that went unpaid during a 2018 period when the Clerk-Treasurer had enforced the Department of Labor definition and employees would have been owed overtime if PTO had been counted; the council approved that payment unanimously.
The council also approved a provision setting Police overtime pay at one-and-a-half times the regular rate for hours worked in excess of 84 hours in a two-week pay period. Wagner moved the change and Chambless seconded; the motion passed unanimously.
Clerk-Treasurer Drew Cooper will examine the payroll impact of the DOL-based definition and present any recommended pay-rate adjustments for inclusion in the 2019 Salary Ordinance. The council did not set an implementation date in the minutes; members agreed to allow interim counting of PTO until adjustments are made. The meeting adjourned after completing the agenda.
