Health care overhaul clashing with deputy hours [Beaver County Times, Pa.]

Nov. 10--BEAVER -- Given federal health law changes, Beaver County government has tried to curb part-time deputy hours, but a union challenged that and the sheriff's office has not yet integrated changes.

Part-time deputies have been working full-time hours, and they sought to keep those schedules, but the county Board of Commissioners has sought to minimize health care costs. The county has even suggested part-time deputies who are scheduled for more than 30 hours on average per week after Nov. 1 won't be paid.

"We have been paid," part-time Deputy Paul Clark, vice president for the deputy sheriffs' union, said Friday. "If they would try that, we would go after them federally. You're a government entity. If we work the hours, you're going to pay us."

The board issued a memo Oct. 22 reminding department heads to keep part-time hours under 30 hours a week because under the Affordable Care Act, "those who work 30 hours or more on average per work ... are entitled to be offered health insurance by their employer."

Between Nov. 1 of this year and Oct. 31, 2014, a new measurement period is occurring for employers across the country to determine whether an employee is considered full-time. A day before that period began, the sheriff's office asked for a 14-day extension before the 30-hour part-timer policy was implemented so it could review its scheduling, service needs and effect the policy would have.

Sheriff's administrative officials said they believed the memo was received Oct. 28, not Oct. 22, and they only would have had a few days to implement the reduced schedule.

Part-time deputies have continued working full-time work weeks, union officials said. Sheriff's Solicitor Myron Sainovich said the office was not trying to avoid the county's request for reducing hours. As part of a bargaining agreement, deputy sheriffs' schedules must be posted 28 days in advance.

In November 2012, the county Comptroller Office released an audit for Jan. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2012, and warned that part-time deputies may be considered full-timers, requiring health insurance and other benefits. If 17 part-time deputies were designated with full-time status, that would have meant $511,378 in increased pay and benefits for the county for 2012, according to the report.

According to union officials, that's a moot point. Beaver County Deputy Sheriffs' Association President David Mangerie said a grievance his union filed around 10 years ago that sought to obtain health benefits for working 40-hour weeks, but the union lost.

Earlier this year, part-time deputies underwent a three-month trial period from May to July in anticipation of the Affordable Care Act, where the department tried to schedule part-time deputies for 28 hours a week, Clark said. When the ACA was pushed back by a year, that reduced schedule ended.

But the union had filed a grievance around that time, arguing the reductions were improper. An arbitrator ruled the reduced hours must be uniform, so junior deputies could not receive more hours than senior deputies.

Alstadt, the chief deputy, said that particular effect was unintended. Instead, the sheriff's office had sought to balance schedules given the reduced hours and staffing availability.

"We were in this position once before," Alstadt said. "We worked out a schedule that we believe will meet the needs of what the mandate is."

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