Luzerne County Government

March 19, 2010

County discusses on-call pay

Managers in three departments lost their ability to collect the pay.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
Jennifer Learn-Andes on Facebook   |   @TLJenLearnAndes on Twitter

Luzerne County officials met in executive session for about two hours Thursday to discuss on-call pay that was canceled the day before due to a county Salary Board tie vote.

Managers in three Luzerne County departments lost their ability to collect $575 a week in on-call pay because Commissioner Stephen A. Urban and Controller Walter Griffith successfully blocked a vote to authorize the stipends.

Commissioners Thomas Cooney and Maryanne Petrilla approved the pay.

County officials are scrambling because these supervisors oversee on-call union workers who handle night and weekend emergencies in the Children and Youth, Mental Health/Mental Retardation and Area Agency on Aging departments, including psychiatric commitments and the removal of children from their homes.

Griffith said Thursday that he will consider voting for the payments if supervisor involvement is mandated by law and the departments list the names and qualifications of the workers who will be paid.

However, he stressed he will not release any on-call payments for these workers until the Salary Board publicly votes. A meeting is not scheduled until April 14.

Griffith said he was also surprised to learn for the first time Thursday that some of the impacted supervisors are entitled to on-call pay because they have “memorandum of understanding” agreements with commissioners.

These memorandums are similar to union contracts for employees who are not in collective-bargaining groups. The county uses memorandums for first-level supervisors in the three agencies but no other county workers.

Griffith said his hands are tied because these memorandums are in effect through the end of 2010, though he said he won’t honor the on-call pay for these workers until the Salary Board approves the agreements. Griffith said the administration should have spelled out the memorandums at Wednesday’s meeting.

Griffith said he’s willing to meet sooner if the administration wants to schedule a special meeting.

Urban said he would vote to approve the on-call pay for employees with memorandum agreements, but he might not agree to pay other management-level workers the additional pay unless there’s evidence that these managers are mandated to do the work.

Several managers who have been paid for on-call in the past are not covered by memorandums, he said.

The on-call pay for managers had been in place for years but was put on the county Salary Board agenda for ratification because Griffith had refused to pay it without the board’s approval.

Unionized caseworkers in the three departments are already paid $435 to $585 per week to be on call, but officials say some supervisory clearance is also required.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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