CARROLLTON - The Carroll County School District is asking employees who might have grounds to sue the district for unpaid overtime wages to instead come and speak with Superintendent Susan N. Murphy about their concerns.
About 35 copies of the letter went out last week to supervisors of individuals who currently work by the hour, Murphy said Thursday. The supervisors were to distribute the letters.
They were prepared in the wake of publicity about lawsuits being filed against several school districts across the state. The lawsuits, including one that was settled in March against Oktibbeha County for $500,000, refer to failure by certain districts to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 by not providing overtime pay.
Percy Applewhite of Black Hawk said he was one of about five by-the-hour employees of the Carroll school district who "filled out claims" to get their due overtime pay after meeting with Jackson-based attorney Sam Brand several weeks ago in Vaiden.
Applewhite said his supervisor, bus manager Dewitt Carpenter, approached him and other drivers to try and get his signature on some papers recently, and Carpenter tried to give him a copy of the letter prepared by the district.
"Some I think signed, but I didn't," Applewhite said. "The Carroll County system is trying to negotiate with its employees, but the lawyer says do not negotiate.
"If the district says a claim is worth $1,000, for example, it's worth $3,000. Some of us will hold out in this, some won't. They're afraid they'll lose their jobs."
Murphy said Thursday so far that all she knows about Carroll County actually being involved in overtime litigation is what she reads in the newspapers.
"We've not received any legal papers here," Murphy said. "Three years is the limit to how far they could go back to claim overtime pay."
Applewhite says he works 2½ hours school mornings driving his bus and 2½ hours on the afternoon run but is paid for only four hours daily.
He also gets a base rate of "a little better than $100 per month"to use his car during the interim part of the day instead of driving his bus back and forth. Hourly workers receive different pay rates, and he says it isn't reflected in his monthly checks how much per hour he gets.
The letter Murphy sent to reassure employees about the goodwill of the district has the superintendent saying, "It is my desire for each and every employee affected by overtime to know that he/she can speak with me without feeling threatened or intimidated. Please know that the district has not intentionally failed to pay overtime."
Applewhite, who will be 65 on Oct. 25, said the district has trouble finding bus drivers. Some double up, holding down other jobs at the schools as well.
While Murphy promises no intimidation, Applewhite said he hears the concerns expressed by those who might have unpaid overtime hours to claim.
The word is, he said, the way the money will get into the district's budget to pay the money certain employees are due, is there will be staffing cutbacks.
