Overtime dispute: Arbitrator rules in favor of Council 2

AN ARBITRATOR has ruled in favor of Council 2 in a dispute involving overtime pay.

The arbitrator, George Lehleitner, said that Klickitat County violated the collective bargaining agreement with workers in the Sheriff’s Office by refusing to count holiday hours actually worked and paid for at time-and-one-half toward the weekly 40-hour threshold for overtime.

He ordered that the County:

Allow employees in the Communications Department of the Sheriff’s Office to count hours actually worked on holidays toward their overtime thresholds.

Reimburse the employees for all compensation lost because they were not allowed to count holiday hours worked toward their overtime threshold. The compensation will be retroactive to the 2003 President’s Day holiday.

The dispute between the union and the County arose following negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement during 2002 in which overtime was the number one priority for the union. The union wanted to change the practice of regularly scheduled hours actually worked on holidays not counting toward the overtime threshold.

An agreement was later signed between the parties which read that “actual hours worked shall not include holiday hours, compensatory time, vacation time and/or sick leave time.”

But after employees had worked on Martin Luther King Day the Auditor’s office directed that they were not allowed to count time worked on the holiday toward their overtime threshold. Workers signed a letter to their supervisor alleging the County was violating the collective bargaining agreement.

Lehleitner said the only reasonable reading of the agreement is that actual hours worked, including hours actually worked on holidays, count toward the overtime threshold.

Legal Counsel Audrey Eide represented Council 2 at the hearing.