Trinity County Units to Vote on Payroll Lag

Friday, February 13, 2009

The General Unit and the Management Confidential Unit in Trinity County will have a special vote to accept or reject the County’s offer to eliminate the current payroll lag in order to offset a $500,000 shortfall in state dollars.The Union was contacted by County administration this week and was told that the state has withheld payments to the County which has impacted cash flow. The County is proposing that the payroll period move from the current 1st through the 30th to the 16th through the 15th of each month. Paychecks will still be received on the last working day of each month. In order to implement and eliminate the lag it will be necessary to reduce the monthly salary of each employee by 9.23% for each of the next five months. This reduction over the five months would be equivalent to 80 hours for a full time employee. The hours are not lost but moved to the end of your employment with the County. During the next five months, you will receive your full paycheck less the 9.23%.

The County believes that the payroll lag is the best solution considering other options. A work furlough or layoff would result in losing income or jobs, whereas the payroll lag would defer income. The other benefit is that services will still be provided to the community which allows the County to bill for state and federal reimbursement dollars. Accepting the payroll lag will not guarantee that future furloughs or layoffs will occur; however, it will temporarily allow the County to address this funding issue.

County administration will allow the Union to conduct a secret ballot of the Union members at their work-site on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. Mike Lyon will go to Health and Human Services, WIC, Behavioral Health, Courthouse, Sheriff’s Department, Building and Planning. If you have any question’s you can contact Mike at (800) 241 1890 ext. 107.