Henderson County Detention Center employees were not properly compensated for all hours worked for a roughly four-year period, according to findings from a Kentucky Department of Workplace Standards investigation.
The Kentucky Department of Workplace Standards recently completed an investigation into wage and hour practices by former leadership at the Henderson County Detention Center.
In a letter to Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider, Investigator William Hampton said, “The case findings indicate that Henderson County Detention Center failed to compensate 215 employees for all hours worked during the period Jan. 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2023. The unpaid hours worked were the result of employee being required to arrive approximately 15 minutes prior to each shift to receive shift briefing and shift instructions.”
Schneider held a press conference on Monday morning to address the findings of the investigation, which he said his office first requested in 2018 and was completed in late 2024.
The investigation found that the jail violated state statutes regarding the proper recording of hours worked and payment for overtime, he said.
“More specifically, the basis for contacting Workplace Standards was our human resource department’s concern that, over a period of several years, jail deputies were not paid for pre-shift briefings they were ordered to attend, nor for post-shift time spent filing reports or waiting for the next shift to come on duty,” Schneider said.
After reviewing evidence and interviewing detention center employees, representatives of the Department of Workplace Standards have directed the jail to pay from its accounts a total of $215,245 to 223 current and former jail team members as compensation for that unpaid time. The amounts of individual payments will equal one hour per week each hourly employee worked at the jail between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2023, at their normal rate of pay at the time.
Per the directive of Workplace Standards, the county will send all the checks to its office, which will then contact each recipient with an acknowledgement letter that must be signed and returned to the state, Schneider said.
Once the state has received the signed letter, the check will be mailed to the individual. The state expects to begin sending those letters before the end of the month.
Schneider said that in 2018, the county’s Human Resources departments received confidential complaints about unpaid time from multiple jail deputies. Human Resources Manager Angela Comer informed Jailer Amy Brady that if the complaints were true the jail was in violation of state law.
When she continued to hear stories of unpaid time and received no indication from Jailer Brady the practice would change, Comer reached out to Workplace Standards, which is a division of the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet and asked the state to look into the complaints.
“It’s important to note the Jailer is an elected official and is fully responsible for overseeing the detention center, including the time sheets turned into our finance office for preparing paychecks,” said Schneider. “Fiscal Court approves the jail’s budget and its personnel policies but does not have direct purview over operations at the jail nor the ability to discipline or terminate the Jailer.”
Comer contacted Workplace Standards again in 2020. She was unaware if any investigation had been carried out yet and was still hearing complaints of unpaid time from jail staff, Schneider said.
She was told that COVID had interfered with the department’s ability to conduct an inquiry. For another three years, the judge said HR continued to document complaints about unpaid time, especially in exit interviews our office organized to identify trends among deputies who’d chosen to leave.
“In 2023 Comer reminded the state again we were waiting on an investigation, and we learned a representative from Workplace Standards began interviewing jail personnel and reviewing time sheets in early 2024,” Schneider said. “The results of that work were reported to the county in December of last year, and the state’s final plan for compensating employees affected was given to my office late last month.”
Schneider said neither his office nor HR have evidence that the practice of not paying deputies for all time worked continued after Jailer Brady retired in late 2022.
“We believe interim Jailer Ed Vaught and current Jailer Bruce Todd have complied with wage-and-hour laws and treated their employees fairly,” he said during the press conference. “Remember, our first call to the state was in 2018 when Jailer Brady was in office.
“However, despite presenting to us no specific examples of violations in 2023, the state opted to include that year in the compensation timeline,” he continued. “We believe that was done as a means of assuring as many negatively impacted jail personnel as possible received payments. The state extended the payment period only back to 2020 because, as best we understand it, four years is the statue of limitations on such matters.”
At the start of 2024, Jailer Todd installed biometric time clocks to once and for all be certain jail employees are paid for every single minute they work, Schneider said.
“On behalf of Henderson County Fiscal Court, our staff, and current and former jail deputies who have been patiently waiting for a resolution, we say thank you to the Department of Workplace Standards for looking into our concerns and helping us make certain our team members are paid what they are truly owed for the very important work they do for our community.,” he said.
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