Speaking of minimum wage

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Missouri Seeks Fix in Minimum-Wage Glitch

Kansas City Star (MO) (KRT)

via NewsEdge Corporation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.-- Missouri lawmakers want to fix a glitch with the

state's new minimum-wage law that could force cities to pay millions in overtime

to firefighters and police officers.

Voters in November adopted Proposition B, which raised the state's minimum

wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 an hour. However, the law, which took effect

Jan. 1, also deleted provisions in the old law that dealt with which workers

were exempt from normal overtime pay rules.

That change, according to the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial

Relations, means that firefighters and police officers who work more than 40

hours a week now are eligible for overtime.

As a result, a lawsuit was filed Friday in Cole County Circuit Court seeking

an injunction retroactive to Jan. 1 against enforcing the new minimum wage

law for local governments. The 18 plaintiffs include several St. Louis area

local governments, the Missouri Municipal League and the Missouri Association

of

Fire Protection Districts.

Under the old law, a firefighter who worked more than 212 hours in 28 days

was eligible for overtime. A police officer had to work 171 hours in 28 days to

receive overtime. Firefighters commonly have 24-hour shifts; police

sometimes work 10- and 12-hour shifts.

Markenson, executive director of the Missouri Municipal League, said the

new rules would be expensive for cities if they remained in place.

" If the Department of Labor's interpretation is not changed by legislation or

litigation, the cost to Missouri taxpayers would be in the millions of

dollars for overtime pay " or adding additional personnel, he said.

Markenson said Rolla, for example, estimates the law could cost an additional

$180,000 a year in police overtime and $350,000 a year in firefighter

overtime. In the St. Louis County community of land Heights, the cost could

be

$750,000 in police overtime, he said.

Three fire protection districts in Jefferson County, southwest of St. Louis,

said they were asking their firefighters to take hourly pay cuts so that

their pay with overtime would equal their current salaries.

, president of the Missouri Association of Fire Chiefs, said

his organization supports efforts to tweak the language in the new law.

" We'd have to lose staffing to go to a 40-hour workweek, " said. " It

wouldn't be an improvement of service, and what it really boils down to is

how good of a service can we provide the taxpayer. "

, chief of the North Kansas City Fire Department, said he was unaware

of any Kansas City area departments that were affected by the law.

Kansas City Fire Chief Smokey Dyer said the city's legal department believes

that the contract between the department and the firefighters' union

overrides the law. Dyer said the union has not asked for any changes to

firefighters'

schedules.

" We don't feel that there's any legal or fiscal impact on Kansas City,

Missouri, " he said.

Still, Dyer said he would prefer that the law was changed.

" We would rather have the fix to clarify it and make sure there's nothing

left in a gray area, " he said.

State Sen. Griesheimer, a Washington Republican, is one of several

lawmakers who have filed bills to address the issue. Griesheimer said lawmakers

wanted to put a bill on Gov. Matt Blunt's desk quickly.

By Tim Hoover and Shultz. The Associated Press contributed to this

report.

Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

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