The Minnesota State Bureau of Mediation Services has ruled against Wadena County in an employee grievance brought by Teamsters Local 320, on behalf of two employees of the Wadena County Department of Solid Waste.
The decision was announced at the Aug. 7 county board meeting. The county accepted the arbitrator's opinion and award of back pay at time-and-a-half due the two employees.
The amount of money involved was calculated by Auditor/Treasurer Char West at $646.35 for one employee, and $569.27 for the other employee. This back pay will be delivered to the employees within the month. According to West, the county spent more than $9,000 in attorney's fees and untold hours of county staff time defending against the grievance.
The county had a practice of paying time-and-a-half to solid waste employees who staffed the county transfer station on Saturdays. But two newly hired part-time employees were not paid properly, beginning in June 2011.
The Teamsters Union told the county the employees had to be paid at this rate, but the county refused, so the union filed a grievance that eventually went to arbitration at the Bureau of Mediation Services. The hearing was held May 14.
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The arbitrator in this case was James G. Scoville.
