Overtime & Federal Law

[Mike Glasser]

In reviewing concerns from member of the Police Association of New Orleans and other non-member officers, a question arose with regard to the Department’s practice of overtime compensation to its employees. Department members whose duty obligations compel them to work beyond their scheduled Tour of Duty, typically are not paid, despite having actually worked. There are a number of reasons why an officer might work beyond the scheduled tour. Examples would include, but not be limited to, the mandated completion of a police report of an incident which began prior to the end of the officer’s Tour of Duty, the medical treatment of a prisoner in custody prior to being surrendered to Central Lockup, or the time spent waiting for support units, such as Crime Scene Technicians, K-9, tow trucks at accidents, etc..

In addition, if an officer injured on duty seeks medical treatment, and the time spent receiving treatment goes beyond the officer’s scheduled tour, the officer is entitled to be paid overtime.

And further, if officers are required to perform duties on off-time, beyond their scheduled Tour of Duty, such as acquiring new uniform parts which are distributed form a central location during specified hours, and officers not on duty are mandated to go and obtain those uniforms, they are entitled to be compensated.

This list is not comprehensive but describes some rather typical issues that arise almost daily in form or fashion. The PANO Legal Staff & Board members reviewed several Code of Federal Regulations pertaining to these matter as follows:

29 CFR 785.11 General
29 CFR 785.13 Duty of Management
29 CFR 785.17 On call Time
29 CFR 785.28 Involuntary Attendance
29 CFR 785.43 Medical Attention
29 CFR 785.211 General Call Back Pay

By our interpretation, these Codes require payment for the instances I have cited and others not included in my limited examples. To this end, PANO President Mike Glasser, Vice-President Bryant Winninger and PANO Attorney Frank DeSalvo met with City Attorneys and discussed the matter, presenting examples of the issues cited above and the appropriate federal regulations. The conclusion of the City Attorneys is that in these instances, the City is obliged to pay overtime.

Therefore, it is recommended that supervisors insure that when officers work beyond their scheduled Tour of Duty, the hours should be entered into the TRIP system, to the exact minute, with an explanation in the REMARKS section of the TRIP entry. While not yet required, prudence also dictates that the supervisor may wish to submit or at least have on file, a 105 (Inter-office Correspondence) with any attendant documentation demonstrating why the overtime occurred and was necessary. It is anticipated that this will probably become necessary very soon.

That, of course is for occurrences from this point forward. With respect to previous instances, overtime compensation may be realized with the submission of a Form 93, Payroll Adjustment, bearing in mind that documentation of the hours worked would be necessary, such as TRIP sheets, along with an explanation as to why the overtime was necessary. Overtime requested without the attendant documentation to support the payment requested would likely be denied. Any questions as to specific incidents should be addressed to Ms. Stephanie Landry, Commander of Personnel.

ONE NOPD

[Mike Glasser]

I have had some questions, mainly from supervisors, concerning these overtime issues. The questions I get most often are, "How do I enter it into the TRIP system", and if we are supposed to enter it into the TRIP system, "why hasn't there been something put out by the department instructing us to do that?"

I spoke with Stephanie Landry, Commander of Payroll along with the City Attorney's office. The proper means of entering unscheduled overtime (such as those I described above, like staying after your tour), is W -03- SHIFT CODE (1,2, or 3), and enter into the remarks, the item number, signal, and a BRIEF statement as to why the over time was needed, For example, an officer stays later than an 11:00pm ETOD, because a 10-15 was taken to the the hospital before booking, so the officers' actual ETOD was 11:45pm. The Overtime entry would be W-03-3, the time entered would be 11:00 pm to 11:45 pm, and the remarks would be Item J-12345-06, Signal 966, suspect taken to CHNO before brought to CLU. That's all. The item is the most important, and the remarks very simple and to the point. It's not a justification per se, more of an explanation, so it need not be involved or wordy. I am told that something will be sent out from R & P conerning the overtime entries shortly. In the meantime, enter any unscheduled overtime as W-03- (SC).
If you have any other questions, give payroll a call, but this should be adequate. Of course, it may also be done via Form 93, Payroll Adjustment, if the payroll is locked before the OT can be entered.

[ronnied]

would this overtime also be applied to activities such as comstat meetings which some are required to attend, but is outside of their tour of duty?

[Sgt. Donovan Livaccari]

would this overtime also be applied to activities such as comstat meetings which some are required to attend, but is outside of their tour of duty?

You should be paid for anything that you are ordered to do. If you are ordered to (or expected to, where the order is implied) attend COMSTAT, then you should be compensated for those hours.

Again, anything that you do on a mission for the New Orleans Police Department that you are ordered to do should be compensated. Officers should pay particular attention to PIB statements, SAT 4's, and other things that you are ordered to do via the Operations Manual. You do not have to receive a specific order verbally or in writing from a superior in order for it to qualify as compensable time. Think about it like this, if you can be disciplined for Instructions from an Authoritative Source or Neglect of Duty, then you should be compensated for it.

Donovan

[Mike Glasser]

Donovan's exactly right. If you are told to do domething while off-duty that is actionable as a failure of Instructions from an Authoritative Source if you do not do so, then you are entitled to be paid for your time. Well put.

[caw639]

Mike,

Just a note in regards to FLSA rules. You don't have to be ordered or directed to perform the "work". According to the FLSA rules, you can't even volunteer to put in uncompensated time, AND it's incumbent on the supervisor to insure that an employee is not performing uncompensated work. In fact, if the "violation" of FLSA guidelines is found to be egregious enough, the supervisor/s (all the way up to the Superintendant) can be held personally liable for the unpaid compensation as well as "liquidated" damages. FLSA takes the position that the supervisors are supposed to know what their people are doing. (Take a look at the transcripts of the K9 case if you need a good laugh).