COVINGTON — The state has ordered Kenton County to pay back wages to nearly 200 jail employees who say they were required to report to work 10 minutes before their shifts started and not paid for their time.

        Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson told Kenton Fiscal Court he doesn't believe the county owes the $145,872 the state says is due to past and current jail employees. He has recommended the county fight the state directive.

        The violations allegedly occurred when Kenton County Jail employees were required to report to work 10 minutes before the start of their shifts for roll call, but were not paid for that time.

        Kenton County Jailer Terry Carl said investigators from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet told him the unpaid overtime accrued during the five-year administration of his predecessor, Don Younger.

        In a June 8 letter to Mr. Carl, Pat Patterson, a supervisor with the Kentucky Labor Cabinet, said that requiring employees to report before the start of their shifts for roll call was a violation of state law, and must be paid. Failure to do so could result in fines and other penalties, he warned.

        Some jail employees are owed as much as $3,300 in back pay, the state estimates. The lowest amount owed is $7.94.

        Mr. Carl said he believes the deputy jailers and other employees are entitled to the back wages.

        “This is one of those occasions where in all fairness, as well as fiscal responsibility, we should pay these monies and put this matter behind us,” Mr. Carl wrote in a June 20 letter to Kenton Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd.

        However, Mr. Edmondson said that he has determined otherwise, and he is advising Kenton Fiscal Court not to pay.

        “The Department of Labor says that that's what they believe may be owed some employees,” Mr. Edmondson said. “As a matter of fact and law, I do not believe it's owed.”

        Mr. Edmondson — who maintains jail employees were not required to come in before their shifts for roll call — said he is discussing a possible compromise with state officials on the amount owed.

        Among the 165 employees the state claims are owed back overtime is Freda Younger, the wife of the former jailer. She would receive more than $3,100 in back pay.

        “That shows I treated everybody the same,” said Mr. Younger, who added his wife, like other employees who worked under him, “is waiting for her money.”

        “If one's entitled to (the back wages), they're all entitled to it,” Mr. Younger said.

        Current and former jail employees told the Enquirer they were required to report 10 minutes before the start of their shifts for roll call during jail administrations that preceded Mr. Carl's.

        “We weren't paid for that time, but if we clocked in nine minutes prior to the shift change, we would be docked 15 minutes off our regular pay,” said retired deputy jailer Lawrence Callen.

        In law enforcement circles, roll call is a brief meeting called to update each new shift on problems or situations that occurred during the previous shift.

        “I believe that definitely the 10 minutes should be paid, and if they were docked because they came in late, they should get that money back,” Mr. Carl said.

        While Mr. Carl requires his employees to report 15 minutes before the start of their shift, he said they are compensated for that time.

        Former Kenton County Jailer Jim Knauf, who preceded Mr. Younger as jailer said that he required his employees to come in 10 minutes before the start of their shifts for roll call, but he added he also let them leave 10 minutes early.

        Mr. Younger said he believed he had the right to withhold payment for the 10 minutes jail employees spent in roll call because they were getting paid for their half-hour lunch break.

        “We paid them for eight hours, but they were only there for 7 1/2 hours, counting lunch,” Mr. Younger said. “Whether I'm right or not, I thought I was doing the right thing at the time.”

        Mr. Edmondson said he found that a number of jail employees punched the jail's time clock before the start of their shifts, then spent that time drinking coffee or otherwise relaxing — a claim that Mr. Callen and current Deputy Jailer Mabel Bailey denied.

        “I've got a job that literally I can go to work healthy and wind up in the hospital,” said Mrs. Bailey, whose husband, Arthur, also is allegedly owed back overtime because of his job at the jail. “Now the county's telling me that because I work there that I am not equal to them. That's what's really offensive to me.”

        This is not the first time wage and hour officials have required a Northern Kentucky county to pay back wages to jail employees.

        Two years ago, the federal wage and hour board audited the Campbell County Jail, and that county ended up paying $5,000 to jail employees. Under previous Campbell County Jailer Earl Ping, employees were required to report 10 minutes before the start of their shifts to ensure they were at their assigned locations on time, but they weren't compensated for coming in early, said current Jailer Greg Buckler.

        Boone County also paid between $10,000 and $12,000 in back wages two years ago after federal wage and hour officials found that the jailer was allowing employees to take compensatory time off instead of paying overtime.

        “My employees could always take the overtime, but quite frankly, a lot of them wanted to take comp time,” said Boone County Jailer John Schickel. “The federal wage and hour inspector told us government agencies weren't allowed to give employees comp time.”

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