Labor Cases & Files

Ohio State Police Fires Six Troopers for Not “Looking Like Ken Dolls”

(From The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 7)

Columbus - six State Highway Patrol troopers have been removed from their jobs because they weigh too much. At a weigh-in Friday, one female trooper was 50 pounds overweight, while one of the five men suspended was 71 pounds overweight. Guidelines in their union contract specify maximum weights by height.

“It’s a sad day. It really is”, said Jim Roberts, Executive Director of the Ohio State Troopers Association. “If you smoke like a chimney - no problem, says the patrol. But if you don’t look like a Ken doll in your uniform, that’s a severe offense”, he said.

Roberts said the troopers met virtually every other fitness standard. He said Trooper Darrel Thomas, was 19 pounds overweight, and had achieved the patrol’s “star” level for flexibility, leg press, bench press and body fat.

Another suspended trooper, Neil Hedrick, is a pistol-shooting medalist selected as a district trooper of the year in 1995.

The six have a combined 113 years of experience. They were a combined 262 pounds overweight, and ranged in age from 26 to 47.

“We’d much rather have one of these troopers than someone who weights 90 pounds”, Roberts said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are underweight.”

Lt. Gary Lewis, a patrol spokesman, said the indefinite suspension without pay is not arbitrary. He said the six were put on notice for failing to meet weight guidelines nearly 2 ½ years ago.

If the suspensions become permanent, they could substantially reduce the pensions of three troopers within one year of retirement.

They will have one year to meet standards and return to their jobs and will continue to receive health benefits in the meantime. Lewis said their full pensions would be restored if they meet the standards in one year.

The vacancies resulting from the suspensions will not be filled.

Nearly 40 troopers threatened with suspension two years ago were assisted through a fitness-information program initiated by the troopers union.

Roberts said many troopers, including one who barely met the requirement Friday, lost dozens of pounds by taking laxatives and diuretics and running in rubberized sweat suites.

Lewis said nearly 1,500 troopers meet the patrol’s height-weight standards, adopted in 1986. Some might exceed weight limits but have low body fat because of exercise. The guidelines allow for that.

The fitness requirement, including the weight limit, is designed to ensure that troopers can perform their duties.
The height-weight requirement is expected to be an issue in negotiations with the union. The contract will expire June 30.
Troopers younger than 40 have physicals every two years. Checkups become annual at 40. Weigh-ins occur monthly.
Roberts said the union repeatedly has pressed management to initiate routine and comprehensive physical fitness training and testing for troopers as part of their job requirements. 

War in Iraq Could Cause Police Shortage

(From the Associated Press, Jan. 7)

Charleston, W.Va. - When a Tennessee man sped through all three tollbooths on the West Virginia Turnpike, he drove more than 75 miles before any state troopers were available to pursue him.

The delay demonstrates the sever shortage of troopers in West Virginia’s State Police force. It’s a shortfall that could get much worse if 51 troopers who also are Army, Coast Guard and National Guard reserves get called for duty in a war against Iraq, State Police Superintendent Howard Hill said Monday.

Law enforcement agencies nationwide may also feel the squeeze.

“The effects of a (reservist) call-up would be devastating”, Hill said, noting that he could lose 9 percent of his uniformed forces.

“We’re already affected in all areas”, said Hill, himself a National Guard reservist. “Our lab is behind. The interstate system is basically bare (of troopers). I hope we never go to war for a lot of reasons, but that’s a big one.”

On the West Virginia Turnpike on Sunday, Charles R. Wyatt of Morristown, Tenn., sped through a tollbooth and continued to drive for about an hour, zipping through two more tollbooths before a trooper gave pursuit, police said.

Senior Trooper Jay Powers said state police simply didn’t have the staff to respond until the driver reached Charleston.

The driver ultimately collided with another vehicle. When the trooper tried to arrest him, Wyatt resisted and was shot four times, police said. Wyatt was hospitalized in satisfactory condition Tuesday.

Similar delays may become more common if the country goes to war. The nation’s police forces have a disproportionate number of employees serving in the military Reserves, law enforcement officials say, so they suffer disproportionate staffing shortages in times of national emergency.

No group appears to keep statistics on the number of people in law enforcement who are also reservists, but anecdotal evidence puts the figure between 3 percent and 5 percent, officials say.

“It’s a significant staffing issue faced by law enforcement agencies across the country”, said Bill Johnson, Executive Director of the National Association of Police Organizations, which represents 220,000 officers.

Judith DeSantis is Executive Vice President with the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, a group representing almost 20,000 federal employees. She is also an Army reservist who is preparing to serve if a war with Iraq breaks out.

In the last six years, DeSantis has twice been activated by the Reserves, pulling her from her job with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Newark, N.J.

“Agencies can’t hire against these positions, so it leaves a void,” she said. “People end up doing double and triple duty to make up for your absence. It’s a problem.”

DeSantis said Law enforcement agencies should be allowed to hire up to 5 percent of additional staff to compensate for the lass of reservists’ time, perhaps with federal funds for homeland security.

In West Virginia, the State Police has 679 approved positions for troopers - but only 565 troopers on the payroll. And Hill said he anticipates up to 30 of his 51 reservists will be called at any one time.

Governor Bob Wise shielded the State Police from planned across-the-board 10 percent cuts for next year’s budget. Legislators said they expect Wise to announce increased trooper funding in Wednesday’s State of the State address, a rare move at a time of $250 million deficits.

“We are at a danger point,” Wise said Monday of the trooper shortage. “This is a major priority and one of the most critical needs of our state.”

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Bush Administration Believes That 40-Hour Week, Minimum Wage, And Overtime Are Antiquated Concepts; Sweeping Proposals For Change in FLSA Anticipated

(From the Associated Press)

WASHINGTON- Heeding the complaints of business, the Bush administration is revamping decades-old labor regulations in an overhaul that could force many Americans to work longer hours without overtime pay.

The administration argues that the pillars of American labor law, which established the 40-hour workweek, a minimum wage and overtime pay, are antiquated. But labor unions fear changes would severely restrict who is legally required to be paid for overtime work.

“Nothing prohibits employers from requiring as many hours as they want,” said Chris Owens, public policy director for the AFL-CIO. “The overtime pay requirement is the only thing that acts as a brake on excessive work hours.”

It is just one of several changes the administration is pursuing to workplace regulations and programs, including the Family Medical Leave Act, job training programs and unemployment insurance.

The overtime changes are confined to a section of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act that defines blue-collar and white-collar workers and determines who must be paid and hourly rate of time-and-a-half for working beyond 40 hours a week. 80 million workers now are covered by the overtime rules.

Under current regulations, employees are only exempted fro the overtime rules if they meet several criteria, including salary, management and other administrative responsibilities and whether jobs require advanced “intellectual” skills and training.

Under the salary test, last updated in 1975, workers earning more that $8,060 per year are exempt from overtime if they meet the other criteria as well. The administration wants to raise this.

Low-wage workers are being hurt under the current overtime pay regulations said Tammy McCutchen, administrator of the Labor Department’s wage and division. She said a minimum-wage worker logging 40 hours a week earns more than $10,700 a year.

“If this minimum level is raised, more employees automatically will be entitled overtime, thus providing additional protections to low-wage workers,” she said.

At the same time, however, the department is clarifying and simplifying job descriptions and duties tests. That could move many higher paid workers into the exempt category. Though McCutchen said that she could not qualify the impact.

“If the changes result in moving and employee who previously received overtime into exempt status not entitled to overtime, the law would no longer require the employer to pay overtime,” she said.

Employer groups such as the Chamber of Commerce complain that under the complex rules involving job duties and salary levels, many highly skilled, well-paid professional workers are required to get overtime pay. A surge in overtime pay litigation aimed at employers also is a concern.

The law “was created to protect those workers who had the least economic leverage,” said Randy Johnson, the chamber’s labor vice president. “Now it’s been distorted to provide overtime to engineers making over $80,000 a year.”

The Labor Department is expected to issue the new overtime pay rules for public comment by the end of March. Congressional action is not required.

Unions acknowledge that the overtime regulations known as “white-collar exemptions,” are outdated and confusing - they have essentially remained unchanged for 50 years.

“They’re so difficult to interpret that they generate more class-action lawsuits in the workplace than anti-discrimination laws,” Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said. This week. “We’re going to change that by brining these regulations into conformity with the realities of the 21 century workplace.”

Workers filed 79 federal collective-action lawsuits seeking overtime pay in 2001, surpassing for the first time class action suits against employers for job discrimination, according to the American Car Association.

Also on the Bush administration’s labor agenda this year and overhaul of the department’s job training programs, established under the Workforce Investment Act that Congress must renew this year.

President Bush is proposing to cut about $144 million in employment and training programs in his 2004 budget being released Monday. Most grants programs would be cut, and that money consolidated into two programs - for youth and adults. The administration wants to eliminate overlap of services foe provide more flexibility. An additional $2 billion would be added to fund the new re-employment accounts that Bush wants to offer to help workers pay for job search expenses.

A review of the Family Medical Leave Act, which marks the 10-year anniversary on Wednesday, also is underway. The law gives most workers 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child or a serious condition of the employee, parent, child or spouse.

Employer groups want leave restricted only to serious health conditions, and the object to the inclusion of what they consider to be minor ailments that they say allow some workers to abuse the law.

Employers say they aren’t able to discipline people who abuse the leave - such as being chronically late for work - because employees can claim protection under the law.