State Manager Wins “Fast Fingers” Stopwatch Award
February 8, 2008
If the Reggie Lewis Track is looking for a nimble-fingered timer for its backup stopwatches, we’ve got the man—if a repetitive motion injury doesn’t get his fingers first.
Using his (we're guessing) Swiss-calibrated wrist watch, a state manager was able to clock an employee arriving two minutes late for work on three separate occasions.
So egregious was the employee’s tardiness that the manager docked the employee’s pay .100 of an hour, or, six minutes. We’re (again) guessing that the manager's disciplinary payroll transaction required more than six minutes to complete.
Outraged by the disrespectful treatment our member received, NAGE contacted Governor Patrick's office to find out if this stopwatch mentality was a statewide governor-approved policy.
Juan Martinez, who is communications director for the Office of Health and Human Services responded to our inquiry.
"This is not our policy at all," said Martinez. "The [Patrick] administration would not support a policy like that."
The employee whose pay was docked was made whole, and, according to Jack Donegan, Unit 1 Local 291 president, managers were instructed to work with the union and to follow procedures for lateness.
"Contacting the governor's office and aggressively pursuing this matter was an appropriate and effective response to our member being treated so shabbily," said Donegan. "I think the administration's prompt response to our inquiry also showed that the administration wants to work with the union and not be an unfriendly employer."