Overtime, hazard pay boost Westmoreland County employee wages in 2020

Nearly a quarter of Westmoreland County employees were forced to sit home without a paycheck for several months last year while furloughed during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Other staffers, though, more than doubled their annual salaries though hazard pay and overtime.

A Tribune-Review analysis of overtime and pandemic pay earned by the county’s 1,800 workers found that more than $11 million in added personnel costs were paid out. Certain staff earned time-and-a-half wages during 2020 through pandemic and overtime pay.

“Because of our rolling furloughs and the use of our covid (CARES Act) funds, we were able to offset that for 2020,” county Commissioner Sean Kertes said. “If we didn’t have that money, we would have been in worse shape.”

The Trib’s review of overtime and pandemic pay expenses found one staff nurse at Westmoreland Manor, whose annual standard pay is listed as about $39.20 an hour, earned an additional $35,000 in overtime and another nearly $36,000 in pandemic pay.

Two 911 emergency dispatchers also earned more than $42,000 in overtime, figures which nearly doubled their annual salaries, according to the analysis.

The county’s 911 department led the way in 2020, paying out more than $822,000 in overtime expenses. Manor nurses received $764,000 in overtime, and guards at Westmore­land County Prison were paid more than $430,000 in overtime. All three employee categories received the most overtime pay during each of the past three years.

Commissioner Gina Cerilli said those departments, along with others including juvenile detention center staffers and the sheriff’s department, required around-the-clock staffing, and, as a result, overtime was needed to ensure each shift was adequately covered.

“Obviously, I would like to see overtime limited as much as possible,” Cerilli said.

Counting costs

In all, overtime paid in 2020 was about $300,000 less that from the previous year. The county had nearly $3.7 million in overtime costs in 2020, $4 million in 2019 and $3.9 million in 2018.

New to the list of departments that topped the county overtime list last year was the Elections Bureau, which struggled last fall in preparing for the presidential election as it dealt with a new system of mail-in voting that stressed the staff in the weeks before and after the election.

Staffers worked late into the night and on weekends to process mail-in voting applications and man drop box locations leading up to the election. A coronavirus outbreak among elections bureau staff left the department shorthanded and required employees from other departments to work overtime hours to ensure the election results were counted.

The county paid more than $117,000 in overtime wages to staff who worked in the elections bureau last fall.

“I don’t believe we will have the same amount of overtime this year,” said Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani, noting that fewer mail-in ballots are expected to be used in a municipal election year that traditionally sees far lower turnout among voters.

Overtime, though, still will be needed in 2021 to ensure that departments such as the Manor and 911 dispatching are adequately staffed.

Kertes said a nursing shortage means some Manor nurses work additional hours to ensure the residents receive proper care. Two private nursing companies were hired to provide additional staff as needed.

Overtime was required to meet minimum staffing requirements at Westmoreland County Prison after a coronavirus outbreak last fall shortened the guard roster for several months, officials said.

‘Staffing crisis’

While both the Manor and jail had backup staff and part-time employees to fill some of the personnel gaps, the county’s 911 center had no such alternative.

Scott Stepanovich, the deputy director of the county’s Public Safety department, said personnel shortages and the nature of the 911 dispatching job makes part-time help impossible. As a result, dispatchers work 12-hour shifts plus mandatory overtime to ensure the call desk is staffed adequately 24 hours a day.

The department is operating with 45 dispatchers and 11 people in different stages of training. Even with a full roster of 60 dispatchers, overtime would be needed to cover sick days and vacations, Scott Stepanovich said.

Five of the county’s top overtime earners last year are 911 dispatchers, with two who earned more than $42,000 in overtime and three others who topped $30,000 in additional salary. Most dispatchers receive salaries between $43,000 and $49,000 before overtime.

“It’s a staffing crisis, and it’s really hard to fill these slots,” Stepanovich said.

At least once a day, a dispatcher is required to work four extra hours. Additional overtime shifts are gobbled up by dispatchers looking to add to their paychecks, he said.

“Some overtime shifts are voluntary. Some people make it a priority and want the overtime,” Stepanovich said.

In addition to overtime, pandemic wages were paid to essential employees who put their health at risk to work during the pandemic. The hazard pay was issued to more than 1,300 employees in 2020. Some of them made thousands of additional dollars, and a few earned just a couple of extra dollars.

A limited amount of pandemic pay is still being earned in early 2021.

At $83.9 million, the county spent just less than $1 million more on wages last year than it did in 2018 and 2019, according to totals reported by the Westmoreland County Controller’s Office.

Commissioners allocated about $9 million of $31.5 million in CARES Act funds it received last year to cover overtime and pandemic pay expenses. Officials said $2 million in wages was saved through last year’s furloughs.

The county’s $339.7 million 2021 budget includes money set aside for overtime.

“We don’t want want offices to not use overtime if it is needed, but we are very conscious of it and make sure the offices under the commissioners only use it when we need it,” Kertes said.