During this month’s snow and ice storm, Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy decided to pay about 2,000 county workers their normal pay for the two days she ordered them not to report to work.
Meanwhile, so-called “essential workers” who were ordered to go to work, such as Sheriff’s Department deputies, were not given normal pay if they couldn’t make it in.
McCarthy’s decision to pay people who stayed home as if they were at work runs counter to what Pierce’s County’s two largest cities did. Tacoma and Lakewood each required employees to take some type of paid leave, including vacation or personal time off.
McCarthy declared Jan. 18 and 19 – Wednesday and Thursday during the storm – “inclement weather days” and closed county facilities, including the County-City Building.
McCarthy said she made the decision to pay nonessential workers and ordered them not to report to work for the two days to protect their safety and the public’s safety. She also said it’s been the county’s practice to pay employees for inclement-weather days dating back to her predecessor, John Ladenburg.
Ladenburg, executive from 2001 to 2008, couldn’t be reached for comment. But county spokesman Hunter George said Ladenburg declared an inclement weather day in 2004 and another in 2008 and paid employees both times.
About 1,000 essential county workers – including Sheriff’s Department deputies and corrections deputies, road division workers and emergency management employees – were required to work during the storm.
The county code says that when the executive declares an “inclement weather condition” and an employee can’t report to work, the worker should be paid first from any compensatory time, followed by accrued personal holiday hours, vacation and sick leave.
County Council Chairwoman Joyce McDonald said the code applies when an employee can’t make it to work. It doesn’t address when the executive tells employees not to report to work, she said.
McDonald said McCarthy’s actions were within her authority as executive.
But McDonald also said the code needs to be revised to say when an employee will be paid or required to take leave.
“It’s not clear here,” McDonald said. “It’s time to fix it now that this has come to light.”
She said county managers on Friday began discussing changes to the code’s language and will bring them to the council at a later date.
McCarthy said she used the powers of the county executive in the county charter to enforce her decision.
“I took the option out of employees’ hands” of using their own leave time, McCarthy said. “They didn’t have any option to show up because I closed down the building.”
County facilities used by the public including courts in the County-City Building were closed for both days.
“It’s incumbent upon me to make sure that public safety is first and foremost for our citizens,” McCarthy said.
Deborah McCall, shop steward for the county’s corrections deputies guild, spoke out about the pay issue to the Pierce County Council last week.
“We had to come to work every single day,” McCall said. “The people that worked in the County-City Building got paid for not being here.”
Deputies “that could not come in from Olympia and some other places that got a lot of snow, we got charged for eight hours of vacation,” McCall said.
Both Lakewood and Tacoma didn’t pay employees unable to report to work.
Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz said employees who couldn’t make it in to work had to take a vacation or other leave day. Lakewood City Hall opened late and closed early Jan. 18 but otherwise maintained normal business hours during the storm.
“We don’t pay people to stay home,” Neiditz said. “Our labor contracts are really specific.”
In Tacoma, interim City Manager Rey Arellano closed city offices at noon Jan. 18 and required only essential city staff members to work then and Jan. 19, said city spokesman Rob McNair-Huff. City offices were open Jan. 19.
In keeping with city policy, nonessential workers were required to take personal time off, vacation time or furlough if they didn’t or couldn’t come to work, McNair-Huff said.
In Puyallup, nonessential employees who didn’t report to work Jan. 18 or 19 had to use leave time; City Hall was closed for much of those two days. City offices were closed Jan. 20 for the entire work day and nonessential workers weren’t expected to show up. But they were expected to be available to work and received their normal pay.
City Manager Ralph Dannenberg said the city’s policy is somewhat confusing and officials are working to clarify it.
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
Staff writers Christian Hill and Sara Schilling contributed to this report.
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