Coronavirus is also taking a toll on your wallet. Keys workers have rung up $1.5M in OT
Monroe County, which has furloughed dozens of workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is also about to dole out $1.5 million in emergency overtime money, including thousands to top executives who already are making top dollar in the Keys.
Among those getting the extra pay: the county’s emergency management director, who raked in more than $30,000 in OT, more than a quarter of her salary.
It’s not all for additional hours over the regularly scheduled work week.
The county has an emergency pay policy, created in 2013, that it applied to hundreds of workers during the start of the pandemic.
“They call it COVID-19 overtime,” said County Commissioner Craig Cates of Key West.
Cates said if an employee worked 100 hours in two weeks, that equals 20 hours of overtime on top of regular administrative pay.
But under this emergency pay policy, the employee still gets the entire 100 hours paid at time and a half on top of the regular pay.
“Crazy,” he said Friday.
Shannon Weiner, the county’s director of emergency management, will receive an additional $30,772, according to records prepared by the Monroe County Clerk of Court.
That works out to 293 hours over a pair of two-week-long pay periods, from March 15 to April 11.
She will earn 133 hours of overtime, records show.
The $30,722 is more than a quarter of her $95,626 annual salary. Weiner didn’t return a call for comment Friday.
She’s receiving the extra cash under a pay policy meant for hurricane season.
“Imagine if there’s a hurricane and you have no work available, you evacuate,” said Bryan Cook, the county’s employee services director. “You’re sitting in a hotel you’re not performing any work for the county but the county has a provision in the form of this policy so you don’t lose pay. We place you on administrative leave to keep your pay whole.”
County commissioners halted the pay policy April 11 at the recommendation of County Administrator Roman Gastesi, whose staff found it wasn’t sustainable financially for the pandemic.
“I turned in an honest time card for the hours I spent,” Cook said. He’s due to receive $18,924 for 202 total hours.
Commissioners earlier this month approved the $1.5 million to pay a total of 28,822 additional hours of COVID-19-related pay to more than 400 employees above their hourly wage or salary over two pay periods, which hasn’t yet been paid.
“I blame myself,” said County Mayor Heather Carruthers, of Key West. “I assumed the decision we were making was for the entire length of the emergency which would have included those two prior pay periods.”
But Cates took them to task at Thursday’s commission meeting for approving the payout at a time when the Florida Keys is expecting to miss out on millions in tourism revenue.
Cates, a governor’s appointee to the board who is running for the office in November, said they should rescind the plan to pay.
It isn’t about overtime, Cates said, but the fact that people were making time and a half to do their same job because administrators deemed it COVID-19-related work.
“To have this many hours and now it all becomes COVID-19 overtime pay?” Cates asked his colleagues. “It’s unfair to the residents and taxpayers. Thousands of people are out of work and going to the food lines. Hundreds of people in line. People are getting double time and a half to do their jobs.”
Cates said anyone who works overtime should get it. Time and a half for regular hours is different, he said.
The motion to rescind the pay plan failed 4-1, with only Cates supporting it.
If Monroe County had scrapped the plan, it could face legal action and union grievances, said County Attorney Bob Shillinger.
“We would spend a lot of time and money to get to a point where I believe we’d end up losing those cases,” Shillinger said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will likely reimburse the county for 75 percent of the $1.5 million, leaving the state and the county to each pay 12.5 percent, Weiner told commissioners.
“That’s still tax dollars,” Cates said on Friday.
It’s too late to yank the extra pay from the workers who put in the hours, said Commissioner Sylvia Murphy, of Key Largo.
“We’re obligated to live up to our word for those two pay periods and that ends it right there,” Murphy said.
“It’s exorbitant and a hard pill to swallow but it’s an obligation to the people who worked the hours,” said County Commissioner Michelle Coldiron, of Marathon.
Coldiron said she expects there to be checks and balances in place before approving such an expense.
The commission told county staff to draw up a new emergency pay plan.
Commissioner David Rice, of Marathon, said, ”I’m certainly in sympathy with the feeling, Commissioner Cates. The least expensive way out of this problem is to proceed with compensation as anticipated under the original emergency plan.”
Sheryl Graham, director of social services, accrued $21,518 in special pay. William DeSantis, director of facilities maintenance, accrued $18,232. Kristen Livengood, the public information officer, turned in 309 total hours for the two pay periods and accrued $17,428.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 6:08 PM.
%20Cropped%20(1).jpg)