By Ronica Shannon
City employees will be mandated to work a 40-hour work week if the commission adopts an order that was tabled at its Nov. 24 regular meeting.
“By reason of the working hours established in the past, full-time employees of the (city) have been working 35 hours per week and being paid for 40 hours per week,” the order states.
If adopted at today’s regular meeting, this mandate will go into effect before the end of the year, perhaps even by the next pay period, commissioners said.
Under the city’s current rules, employees are working 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but are given one hour for lunch.
“I don’t think the city should pay for hours that aren’t worked,” Howard said. “With 300 employees, that’s 1,500 hours a week that you’re paying for.”
Richmond Mayor Connie Lawson said Monday that each employee would be required to take at least 30 minutes for lunch, which is state law.
However, the revised order does not include language about the length of employees’ lunch break, but does state: “Employees shall not, except in cases of unavoidable emergency (which cases shall be governed by the provisions of applicable Kentucky law), work through the lunch break.”
Richmond Police Chief Larry Brock addressed the commission at its Nov. 24 meeting about how difficult this would be to enforce in the police department. His concerns was one of the main reasons why the issue was tabled, along with a request from commissioners that there be further discussion about the matter.
“Sometimes, they get a 10-minute lunch or none,” Brock said. “With patrol officers, a half-hour lunch break per shift would be very difficult.”
Much of Monday’s special-called meeting was spent debating whether to set a certain set of regular working hours for all city employees, or simply mandate that 40 hours be worked and leave it up to each department’s administration to set the hours.
“It’s up to department heads to make sure employees are doing what they need to be doing,” Lawson said.
However, Howard said it would only complicate matters if the decision was left in the hands of department’s administration.
Commissioner Rita Smart pointed out that some city departments work different hours, referencing the city’s street department that begins the work day at 7 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.
Commissioner Robert Blythe agreed that some departments would have to be considered in a different light than most departments, specifically the city’s fire and police departments.
“We need to take a very close look at what we’re doing with the city’s time because that translates into money,” Blythe said.
Another option discussed was changing over to a 37.5-hour work week.
According to state law, an employee who works at least 37.5 hours each week is considered a full-time employee.
If the city decided on that option, it would translate to each employee receiving a 6.25 percent pay cut, Howard said.
“I proposed a 5 percent cut, but nobody wants to do that,” he said.
The commission will meet at 6 p.m. today at Richmond City Hall.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 624-6608.
