Conn. town faces snow-day pay arbitration confusion
Drastically different rulings about a similar pay issue have left officials in a central Conn. town puzzled.
The two rulings - one that went against the union representing town supervisory employees and the other for a group of workers in water-related positions - came from the same agency, the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration, according to local news source the Record-Journal. The issue was the same for both groups of employees, whether a request from Wallingford Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. to not report for duty during a serious snowstorm in early 2013 violated labor contracts that guaranteed certain amounts of pay and work hours.
Because the town expressly requested that employees not work during the storm, it believed that it did not owe its workers any pay during the weather event.
The Fair Labor Standards Act includes a number of provisions regarding bad weather, including a rule that hourly employees do not need to be paid when their time and attendance isn't required by their employer, according to attorney Sara H. Jodka of law firm Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP.
Knowledge of labor contracts and employee management software that adapts to the individual circumstances of union agreements can benefit employers looking to properly pay workers and stay compliant with applicable laws.
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