NAPE/AFSCME member Tara Rasmussen is a Disability Services Specialist at the DHHS Local Office in Alliance. In March, Tara worked several hours of overtime and elected to have the time and half overtime paid out to her in cash. After working the overtime, Tara received her paycheck and was surprised to see that the time had not been paid out on her paycheck.
Instead of being paid, the overtime had been accumulated as compensatory time. Tara reached out to HR, and was told that she must have incorrectly coded the time in Kronos. However this was not correct – Tara did select to have her overtime paid out in Kronos. It is likely that there was simply an error when payroll was completed. Regardless, HR stated that nothing could be done, and refused to pay Tara in cash for the overtime she worked.
After being told she would not receive the overtime pay she was counting on, Tara reached out to her local NAPE/AFSCME union steward, Jessica Collins. Jessica identified that forcing Tara to take the overtime as comp time was a contract violation. Our union contract states that when an employee works overtime, it is up to that employee whether they receive payment or comp time. Upon this discovery, Jessica filed a grievance on behalf of Tara. During the grievance process, DHHS agreed it had violated the contract. Soon after, Tara’s overtime was paid out to her in cash.
NAPE/AFSCME union stewards are volunteer state employees that are trained on our NAPE contract and to assist their colleagues in workplace disputes. For employees with concerns at work, consulting your local union steward can be a great place to start. Click here to see a list of our current union stewards and to learn more about becoming a union steward.