Stumbo changes overtime policy

FRANKFORT — House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Tuesday that he will develop a written policy to ensure more transparency of overtime payments to aides of House leaders.

The Herald-Leader reported Sunday that aides to House and Senate leaders have received more than $300,000 in overtime payments over the past four years.

Some staffers for House leaders have received multiple overtime payments in the same year, a benefit not available to Legislative Research Commission staff who don’t work for an elected leader.

Under the new policy, House aides will no longer receive multiple block overtime payments in the same year.

“The HL story has brought to my attention overtime payments made prior to my election as speaker,” said Stumbo, who became House Speaker in January, in a written statement. “I will establish written procedures to guarantee fair and transparent overtime payment policies. They will be based on the same rules that apply to all LRC staff.”

The Legislative Research Commission — the bureaucracy that serves the Kentucky General Assembly — has 439 full and part-time employees, 58 of whom work directly for legislative leaders.

Most legislative staff are salaried employees. Rather than receiving overtime payments as they are earned, workers accumulate the extra hours, which can be traded for time off or cashed out in one bulk payment per year.

Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said his staff found no written overtime policy when Stumbo took over after defeating former House Speaker Jody Richards.

Stumbo’s office also said it was not aware that some aides had received more than $10,000 in bulk overtime payments in previous years.

Richards, D-Bowling Green, has not returned repeated phone calls seeking comment about the House’s overtime policy.

The Senate said it follows the same policy as regular LRC staff, who can be paid for up to 80 hours of overtime each calendar year after they accumulate 240 additional overtime hours.

Unlike in the executive branch of state government, legislative staff receive block overtime payments at their regular rate of pay. Executive branch staff eligible for overtime receive time and a half.

Many rank-and-file House members said Tuesday that a written policy is needed to ensure that overtime is granted fairly and not abused.

“They need a policy dealing with it,” said Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort. Carroll, whose legislative district includes many state workers, said it is difficult to defend the overtime payments to his constituents.

“It appears to be getting out of control,” Carroll said. “I am wondering what some of this overtime pay is for. I sometimes see staff at a function after hours and I wonder if they are collecting overtime for that. There needs to be a policy and it needs to be scrutinized before it is approved.”

Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington, R-Fort Wright, noted that not all executive branch personnel, who ultimately report to Gov. Steve Beshear, receive overtime payments.

Webb-Edgington is a former Kentucky State Police major and the former executive director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. Webb-Edgington said while she was in the Kentucky State Police, officers were only paid overtime if it was funded by a federal grant.

While she was at the helm of homeland security, Webb-Edgington said the office only gave people compensation time — or additional hours off — and did not pay for overtime.

“There has to be a policy,” Webb-Edgington said. Without a policy, there can be an appearance of impropriety if one staff member receives overtime and another does not, she said.

House Democratic Caucus Leader Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, agreed. But Damron noted that leadership staff work exceptionally long hours during the legislative session, which typically begins in January.

“I have seen staff walk out the door well after midnight,” Damron said. Some staff only go home to take showers or short naps and then return to work, Damron said.

A representative for one of the state employee unions said overtime for many rank-and-file state workers has been cut over the past 18 months to plug budget shortfalls. The fact that legislative leaders’ aides receive overtime and other workers have not should be addressed, the union says.

“Some have quit asking for additional time because they know they won’t get it,” said David Patterson, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 8,000 state employees. “State employees are in crisis and this is another prime example of state government’s misplaced priorities.”

- Beth Musgrave

Filed Under: Greg Stumbo • State Government