4.1. ERMUSR 10-13-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~J~ Elk River -~..-~ Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330-0430 October 8, 2009 To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission John Dietz Jerry Gumphrey Daryl Thompson From: Troy Adams Subject: Review and Consider Revisions to the ERMU Employee Handbook Phone: ?63.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 At the September 8th commission meeting, staff was directed to have Mark Mathison from Gray Plant Mooty continue with the review of the ERMU Employee Handbook. There were a number of policies that required additional research or information. These included the Weapons Prohibited policy, the Electric Reconnect Stipends and Lead Pay Differential policy, the Paycheck policy, and the Voting Leave policy. This revised handbook is attached for commission review. The question remaining regarding the Weapons Prohibited policy was if there would be a specific exception to this policy that allows a weapon to be transported in a utility vehicle for use at an organized event associated with an industry school. Gray Plant Mooty has drafted this exception into the policy for commission review. In reviewing the Electric Reconnect Stipends and Lead Pay Differential policy, it has been determined that there were issues with method used for the FLSA calculation. The problem is with the reconnect stipend. This dollar amount needs to be included with the hourly compensation in the calculation as well as including the time it takes to complete the reconnect being included in the total hours worked. There are a number of options going forward. One, the current practice of paying the stipend could continue and the FLSA calculation would then need to include the stipend dollar amount. To do this fairly, the time spent per reconnect should also be tracked and used in the FLSA calculation. Two, the stipend could be eliminated and the time spent performing reconnects could be paid based on the current call out practices. This would include the minimum of 2 hours pay per call out. This option would appear to be simpler, but in actuality, the FLSA calculation still needs to be done. So, there would not be a reduction in administration time. If neither of the first two options have commission support, another option would be it develop and implement something entirely different. In discussion with Gray Plant Mooty, there wasn't any legal need to eliminate the stipend and continue with the current practice as long as the corrections to the FLSA calculations were made.