We’re Fighting the County’s Efforts to Take Away Overtime

Responding to the County of Riverside’s move to exempt several hundred SEIU members from receiving overtime pay, County SEIU members recently filed unfair labor practice charges with the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB), alleging the move to eliminate overtime is a contract violation.

“The County has taken a position that the employees will work on their own time if asked to without compensation. This has never been a practice in the past,” said Mike Van Wonterghem, a communications analyst at the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS). “If this is about saving money, County employees are more than willing to be sensitive to the amount of overtime, but don’t force us to work for free.”

Riverside County has a long-established policy and practice of compensating employees for overtime or time worked beyond the 40-hour work week:

- The usual overtime rate is 1.5, also referred to as time and a half. A large majority of County employees have received overtime regardless of whether the job was considered exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

- Now the County is claiming the right to decide which positions are nonexempt or exempt under the FLSA, a decision which will leave many employees not fully compensated for time worked.

Who’s Impacted:

Many of the SEIU members affected by Human Resources implementation of FLSA include members who work at the County Fire Department, Information Technology, Detention, Health, Community Health Agency, and in several other departments.

Many of those who are affected are tasked to provide emergency medical care, natural and manmade disaster support, and maintain the integrity and security of private data, all at a moment’s notice. 

What members are saying: