I know which of the three councilors and mayor that I am not voting for this year!

I don’t get overtime pay. If I work an extra hour I get an hour off.

Business is good. Capitalism is good. Predatory business or capitalism is as bad as socialism, Marxism, Communisum, etc.

Bonuses should be tied to some specific act (heroic or economic in Dave’s world). But, because the Legislature is so niggardly about compensation, bonuses are about the only tool agency directors have with which they can attempt to retain employees who keep falling further behind.

The concern isnt when a deputy is in a life or death position, its when he/she is doing his daily duties. What if he pulls over (for example) a county commisioner for DUI? Does he write them, or does he give them a pass. Is he more likely to give them a pass if he knows they can fire him with out due process?

Or the commissioners Daughter, Or someone who contributes to their campaign, or the CEO of Micron or HP? The list goes on and on of prominent or otherwise “sensitive” personalities/situations that deputies (and Paramedics, and Firefighters) interact with, sometimes in a volatile situation)…the due process formerly provided helped ensure that a deputy, or other public employee was only terminated after due process and only for reasons having to due to with performance. That is gone, and the only other method to ensure protection for the empoloyees is to unionize.

Unionization of public employees will have far more negative aspects than positive (I know the IAFF members on here will disagree) , but the county commissioners are rapidly removing any reasons for employees (especially the Sheriffs and Paramedics) not to attempt it.

Much as the commishes might like to, they cannot deprive County employees of their federal and state employment rights, even with the adoption of the at-will policy. If this was the situation they were trying to correct, they failed. Well, they failed anyway, but that’s another story….

It is certainly within the power of the legislature to change it but Idaho has traditionally been very employer friendly. See for example the so called “right to work” statutes. With Republicans in power it’s not likely to change anytime soon.

I’m aware of a circumstance that received some publicity a while back where a county employee angered the Commissioners because he or she refused to work nights and weekends without compensation in order to prepare for upcoming hearings. I understood from the reports that the employee was consequently fired and I believe the employee pursued legal remedies but I don’t know how or if the dispute was ever concluded.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this or a similar circumstance caused the Commissioners to re-evaluate the personnel policies within County government to give them an upper hand in the event of future employment disputes. I agree it doesn’t lead to a positive working environment. This heavy handed decision is how unions get formed and laws get changed.

Cyclops, your analysis is a little misleading. “If you screw up” is firing for cause which is the the opposite side of the “at will” coin. The at will doctrine permits an employer to dismiss you without any reason at all. This allows the employer to make arbitrary decisions on personnel matters without worry that the employee has legal recourse for compensation for that arbitrary decision.

Lastly in fairness to the Guardian his focus tends to be on how public money is spent and I don’t interpret his comments to be against public employees, per se. I do note that the only factors he chose to bonus public employees are for exposing corruption and inefficiency. I’m not sure how practical that is because I don’t think its likely that a manager will take too well to a subordinate pointing these types of problems that occur under that manager’s watch. I prefer that managers have wide discretion in making bonus decisions. That’s why they are managers and if they don’t properly motivate their employees then they shouldn’t get a bonus.

EDITOR NOTE–The employe who was fired and sought remedy did indeed win with the state labor authorities and received some back overtime compensation. No doubt that action caused the change in the ordinance.

So if you are fired for anything other than something that falls in those three, you’re fired. I still contend that government employees are entitled to due process of law in matters where they are deprived of a property right (termination, demotion, suspension without pay). That’s because government can’t strip anyone of a property right without due process.

That means a hearing before somebody who will listen to both sides of the story and make a decision. Right away in goverment no matter how “at will” you want to be…you’d better have a good reason for terminating someone and have all your documentation in order.

Why should the public sector be treated any different? City/County staffers that won’t respond, Planning department employees that ignore the public’s input, health department inspectors that are unrealistic, public employees that are rude to the public, welfare case workers that show no real interest in their jobs, have frustrated ALL of us at one point or another. I really doubt if a police officer thinks about being fired if he/she screws up. I would bet they think ” if I screw this up, someone will get hurt or die!”

An “at will” status simply allows us to weed out those examples of public sector employees previously mentioned.

The county move to at-will is so chicken. I imagine most of the middle to upper management idiots convinced a commisioner this was a good idea. It is not a good idea. Just gives the boss a chance to exercise a little bit of hate and discrimination .

EDITOR NOTE–You people are tough! If someone works extra they should be paid extra and the law says anything over 40 hours a week is worth overtime rate.