Correctional officer pay dispute continues in Wis.
A dispute over whether or not some employees of Wisconsin's penal system should be paid for small amounts of time at the beginning of a shift may go to court.
Correctional officers in the state aren't paid until they report to their posts. Because they first check in with a supervisor or otherwise participate in a roll call, one correctional officer brought a grievance to a state arbitration organization over missed pay, according to local news source the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.
The amount at stake is just $85 for one officer, the disputed earnings over a period of eight weeks. However, if the officer is successful in his lawsuit over the exact definition of his employee attendance, there are potentially thousands of others who could file suit for the same amount. Paying those officers would require millions of dollars to cover the multi-year liability period.
Complicating matters for the potential suit is that Wisconsin correctional officers were previously paid for their reporting time, local radio station WTAQ reported. The state stopped that policy in 2012.
Employers can use advanced systems like biometric time and attendance programs to keep precise records of when workers are in their facilities, providing evidence to protect against possible litigation.
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