The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) reviewed the county’s overtime policies during its May 20 regularly scheduled meeting following an advisory memo from the Clerk of Court’s office regarding overtime practices and policy language within the county’s Personnel Policies and Procedures (PPP) Manual.

Following the discussion, the commissioners recognized that no policy violations had occurred in implementing the policies and that the clerk’s office was calling attention to whether the policies should be maintained.  

The BOCC also directed staff to maintain the county’s existing policy for non-exempt (hourly) employee overtime under Section 5.02 of the PPP Manual. The current policy, which counts approved leave types toward the 40-hour workweek for overtime calculations, will remain unchanged. The commissioners recognized the work many of the operational departments perform off-hours, such as road, special event, and facility work, when systems like plumbing or air conditioning break down, as well as the need to ensure services have the least possible interruption. 

The BOCC also listened to examples of when exempt overtime is utilized. The airport was of particular interest, given the massive construction project that occurred over the past several years. The commissioners directed updates to the exempt (salaried) employee overtime compensation policy to more clearly define the limited titles for which this policy can be applied. 

Under the proposed revisions, the county will continue its general policy of not compensating exempt employees for overtime; however, the county administrator may approve compensatory time or overtime pay in limited circumstances involving unusually large amounts of overtime for exempt employees. The commissioners wanted the county administrator to approve it directly rather than it be delegated to an assistant county administrator or a department head.

Examples of approved overtime could include disaster response, peak seasonal workloads, strict operational deadlines, special events requiring extended staffing, staffing shortages, specialized operational coverage such as Aircraft Ramp Control, and prolonged repair or maintenance activities occurring outside normal business hours.

In addition, the commissioners directed staff to work with the clerk to add language requiring employee services to provide overtime reports to the commission every six months. The reports will include both non-exempt and exempt overtime.

Finally, the county will conduct the recommended investigation into the two airport employees named in the clerk’s advisory letter. That investigation will examine whether any overtime was claimed erroneously. The results will be reported when the investigation is complete. 

The proposed policy revisions will next be reviewed by the county’s internal committee before returning to the BOCC for formal consideration and adoption at a future meeting, anticipated in July 2026.