You May Be Owed Back Pay

A while ago Detention Tech Dave B. filed a class action grievance regarding incorrect overtime calculations. As many of us learned first hand contacting Sheriff's Office payroll and County payroll was useless. We all remember the rude responses since APEX. So Dave B. filed a grievance. The Sheriff's Office and County denied it so our BA Tom Perkins sent Dave to the Department of Labor informed him about the procedure and who to contact. Dave is now getting backpay and you can too.


You need to add up all of your overtime from July 1, 2008 to October 10, 2009 (APEX inception).

The following info came from Dave B.:

If you feel your overtime was not correctly figured or paid to you and afte rCounty payroll did not help, you should contact Investigator Ferris or the DOLWage & Hour Division Office for assistance.

ATTEN:
V. Ferris InvestigatorUS D.O.L.Wage & Hour Division
Minneapolis, MN612-370-3341 office reception / 612-370-3377 direct line

Dave has a table on the EGROUP. The time table starts at Jul 2008 to Oct 2009 (APEX started) to figure what is backpay owed. The longer anyone waits to request their backpay the less they may be getting. You would need to contact SH.PAYROLL to request any backpay.

The long and short is run your OT, especially if you get Stability Pay, all of that and weekend and night differentials are to be calculated into overtime. APEX does that so you are owed pre-APEX. This is money owed you!

Take a math class Star Tribune!

Maybe someone can interpret this for me:

Star Tribune reporter Matt McKinney is reporting:

15 homicides aside, serious crime drops on North Side

Violent crime is still up on the North Side, but serious crime as a whole has fallen 3 percent there. Star Tribune

The article goes on to say:

The overall trend for violent crime -- rape, murder, robbery and aggravated assault -- shows a 10.2 percent increase in the Fourth Precinct, the name the police use for the North Side. But the area has seen sharp drops in burglary (down 21 percent), arson (down 37 percent) and rape (down 19 percent), and smaller numbers in those categories mean a drop in the total count of Part 1 crimes.

So if I read this correctly, homicides are up, rape, murder, robbery and aggravated assault -- shows a 10.2 percent increase in the Fourth Precinct but burglaries and rapes are down? Yes, rape is up and down.

I don't think I'll be moving there anytime soon! Especially since the fourth precinct had another homicide since this story came out.

Oh and Matt McKinney is the reporter who never ran our No Confidence Vote.

Wasting Taxpayers Money at the Hennepin County Jail

What happens when the prosection controls the media and falsely accuses prison guards

Nurses Settle: The Power of a Strike

The MNA and Twin Cities hospitals have reached an agreement.

The union also posted a statement to members on its website, saying “all the hospitals’ takebacks and concessions are GONE, the pension is untouched and all the benefits of your current contract (including MNA Health Insurance, etc.) remain in place as they always have been. In essence your entire contract has been completely protected and preserved. We will be having an all-member vote early next week (probably July 6 or 7) to officially ratify the contract.”

The union also agreed to drop a series of unfair-labor practice charges that it had filed against the hospitals during the contentious negotiations, Schriner said. (Full story Star Tribune)

The power of the strike is awesome. The very threat (with the will to follow through) can result in contract settlements. The right to strike is labor's backbone.

Our own Teamsters Local 320 had a strike against Hennepin County in 1981 that resulted in much of what we have today.

LEAP's (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) California ad

June Update

The grievance I filed regarding changing into uniforms on the clock has been denied again. The county is citing the FLSA and says because the Waseca decision was based on FLSA not our contract they are under no obligation to go to arbitration.

Compare this to a recent Department of Labor ruling: DOL Reverses Its Position On Donning And Doffing "Protective Equipment" In Union Setting June 18, 2010 11:49, and IBP v. Alvarez, 126 S.Ct. 514 (2005). This should prove interesting.

This has been returned to Teamsters Local 320 for further action. Probably court. Several other metro area jails have done the same thing.

Dave B. has filed a grievance on behalf of the techs regarding the rate their overtime is calculated (they fall under FLSA for OT). This is going to step 2.

The state still has not given us a date for our contract arbitration.

MNA Nurse's Strike Solidarity

Fact or Fiction?

The Star Tribune has an excellent article about the now defunct Gang Strike Task Force.

There's enough sludge to chew on for a while, but one of the more interesting segments deals with the information or misinformation, coming from the HCSO:

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, who with Campion backed the inquiries that brought the Strike Force down, says his department did not rely on the unit, "and now that they are gone, we do not miss them."

Stanek created a countywide antigang strategy with assistance from suburban police. He said violent crime in the county is down 29 percent.

Really? But wait in the same article:

In Minneapolis, though, homicides rose from four last year at this time to 21 so far this year. While violent crime is up over last year, it is "well within the average range for the past five years," said Deputy Police Chief Rob Allen. The increase still is unacceptable, he said, and the city is working hard to reduce it.

Which part is fact and which part is fiction?

Seriously, either violent crime is down or it's up. Or perhaps Minneapolis is no longer part of Hennepin County.

I know the administration reads this blog, please post on it and back up the claim.

The Labor Movements' hypocrisy

As all of you know I'm pro-labor. The labor movement is big, millions and millions of men and women. Big enough that there is always going to be differences of political opinion. That's all well and good. But when large unions with millions of members dollars play both sides of the fence, then this Teamster has something to say.

Two big players in the Change to Win Coalition are the Teamsters and the SEIU.

Workday Minnesota is reporting the story:UFCW, SEIU lead suit against Arizona immigration law. The UFCW and SEIU are pro-illegal immigration and pro-NAFTA.

On the other hand the Teamsters Rally to Keep Border Closed and Teamsters Oppose Trade Deal That Sells Out American Workers. The Teamsters are against NAFTA, especially the trucking laws allowing Mexican trucks on US highways.

The SEIU even protested our Teamsters shop, the Hennepin County jail recently because we hold illegal aliens for ICE. Imagine that, one Change to Win organization protesting another for doing their job!

So I'll discuss the elephant in organized labor's room. On the one hand we have the Teamsters wanting out of NAFTA and secure borders and on the other hand the SEIU wanting open borders and bleeding US jobs.

How can Change to Win simultaneously hold these two views. On the one hand secure borders and jobs and on the other not only supporting NAFTA but even allowing workers to illegally enter the US and take jobs from US workers.

Well, which is it? Is this about internationalism or U.S. jobs? Put me down for U.S. jobs.

Good bye Fares

Fares Daoud retired on May 26th after 24 years of service to the Sheriff's Office as a Detention Deputy. The jail will not be the same without him. He had a very nice turnout at his retirement party at work and a good turnout at Elsies afterwards. Good Luck Fares.

Mike Nifong

Who is Mike Nifong?

Michael Byron Nifong (born September 14, 1950) is a disbarred North Carolina attorney.[2] He was district attorney for Durham County, North Carolina (the state's 14th Prosecutorial District), but was removed and disbarred due to his misconduct in the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case.[3] Observers consider several criminal justice bills passed by the North Carolina legislature later that same year to have been influenced by Nifong's actions in the Duke lacrosse case.[4] (Wikipedia)

Why am I posting this?

Last Friday a Kastigar hearing took place in Ramsey County because of violated rights of one of our members. A Kastigar or taint hearing takes place to determine if 5th Amendment (aka Garrity) protected material was used to wrongfully prosecute someone. This was a closed hearing and I can say nothing more then it took place.

Some should be fearful, some should be happy soon.

But, hey this has come from the HCSO before. Read here.

2010 DRIVE endoresments

Why is a DRIVE endorsement important? Because DRIVE endorses politicians that are pro-labor. These are people who support our pension and other legislative efforts. You may not like a particular candidate's point of view on everything but these folks have passed the pro-labor litmus test. It's also important who's NOT endorsed.


2010 DRIVE Endorsements – MINNESOTA
U.S. Congress
District
1 Tim Walz
3 Jim Meffert
4 Betty McCollum
5 Keith Ellison
6 Tarryl Clark
7 Collin Peterson
8 James Oberstar

Governor
Mark Dayton

Secretary of State
Mark Ritchie

State Auditor
Rebecca Otto

Attorney General
Lori Swanson
State Senate

District
5 David Tomassoni
9 Keith Langseth
17 Rick Olseen
37 Mark Germain
39 James Metzen
43 Terri Bonoff
49 Paul Meunier
59 Lawrence Pogemiller
64 Richard Cohen

State House of Representatives
District
3B Loren Solberg
26B Patti Fritz
46A Mike Nelson
49B Jerry Newton
58A Joe Mullery
62A Jim Davnie
65A Jeremiah Ellis
67B Sheldon Johnson

Anoka County
Commissioner
District
4 Jim Kordiak

Sheriff
James Stuart

Hennepin County
Attorney
Mike Freeman

Commissioner
District
2 Mark Stenglein

Ramsey County
Attorney
John Choi

Commissioner
District 5
Rafael Ortega

Sheriff
Bob Fletcher

Brooklyn Center
Mayor
Tim Willson

Maplewood
City Council
Marvin Koppen

Seriously sick of this misinformation crap

The Star Tribune is falsely reporting: A witness in two murder cases was beaten up by the man he implicated when the two were inadvertently put in the same holding cell at the Hennepin County jail, according to charges filed Thursday.

I'm sick to death of the jail getting blamed for other divisions screw ups. These inmates were put together not in the jail, but in the holding cells at court. The article goes on to say, The witness was not seriously hurt, said Lisa Kiava, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

Isn't Lisa Kiava supposed to provide facts? How about telling the press where the assault actually occurred?

Of course we've all seen the "red ribbons" being passed out to everyone who assisted in the RNC, everyone except the Detention Deputies and techs. During the RNC all days off were cancelled, all days were 12 hours long (22 hours on one day for the SRT Team when a busload of protesters was being processed) and we worked anywhere from 15 to 20 days in a row depending on what squad we were on.

So it appears we get blamed for other divisions screw ups and get no credit for our hard work. What else is new?

New Grievance Filed Over Start Time

I filed a new grievance over start times in light of the AFGE Local 801 and Waseca Federal Correctional Institution Arbitration Opinion & Award.

It has been the Union's contention that our workday starts and ends in the locker room. This Arbitration decision combined with the fact that:

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld that you must be PAID for time spent putting on and off your uniform!"Therefore, the time, no matter how minimal, that an employee is required to spend putting on and taking off gear on the employer's premises is compensable "work" under the FLSA."http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/FieldBulletins/AdvisoryMemo2006_2.htm Should greatly increase our chance of success.

Does this sound familiar?

Deputies Attacked - Told Not to File Charges
Source Teamsters Local 320 website

Waseca Arbitration Award for start times

Arbitrator upholds key box to key box compensation. AFGE Local 801 and Waseca Federal Correctional Institution Arbitration Opinion & Award. This Minnesota arbitration award agrees with our grievance settlement that you must be paid key box to key box. Your day begins in line to get your keys and ends when they are returned.

Thanks to the MNTLEL for passing on this info.

I still believe we should continue to the next step and be paid for donning and doffing our uniforms. 320?



If you haven't already check out the Teamsters Local 320's new website.

Corrections News & Views, vol. 6

A little glitchy, but here's another:

What happans if your employer violates Data Privacy?

Anyone who goes to Internal Affairs is required to sign a Garrity and Tenneson Warning.

Garrity protects your statements from being used against you criminally. Tenneson protects your privacy. Read my Internal Affairs Primer for more info.

So what happens when your employer illegally releases protected information? Ask the Minneapolis Police Department:


A Minneapolis police lieutenant since demoted to sergeant and his attorney will share a $75,000 settlement of his lawsuit that claimed the city defamed him and improperly disclosed news of his suspension. (Star Tribune)

Also read this Ohio case which discusses a Garrity violation:

In other words, a public employer or a public official, who compel an employee’s testimony but then violate Garrity by turning the statement over to the police or use the statement in criminal proceedings, could be held personally liable for violating the employee’s constitutional rights. This may be a powerful incentive for employers and officials, who utilize Garrity to compel testimony, to actually comply with Garrity.

Our own Sheriff's Office made the law books by violating 2 detention deputy's Garrity rights in State of Minnesota vs. Gault, Zielke. This case was upheld all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

This is serious business.

Our 2 on 2 guard, compliments of Washington State!

READ who you are sitting with:


Gregory Bowles will be released today (Thursday) from the Washington State Prison in Monroe. He's served his time for severely beating a Bellingham man with a baton. But those who've worked with Bowles have concerns about his release. The concern is that he's still violent and may assault someone. Bowles will be monitored in a state program as he re–enters the community.

Gregory Bowles is 27 years old. He's been diagnosed as mentally ill. And recently, he's been suicidal.

He's one of 200 men and women currently classified by the state as a Dangerous Mentally Ill Offender or DMIO. After he's released from the Monroe Correctional Facility, Bowles will have two options. He could be sent to Western State Hospital for a three–day psychiatric hold. Or he could go to a hotel in downtown Seattle.

FULL STORY
State Plans to Release Dangerous, Mentally Ill Offender to King County