On Monday, May 18 at 10:00 a.m., the New Orleans Civil Service Commission will be meeting. The Commission will be considering my request regarding the Emergency Rate of Pay found in Rule 4, Sec. 11.1. You can attend the meeting using Zoom or on the telephone (213-787-0529 meeting 888712). If you want to make a comment on the matter, you can do so by completing a comment form and emailing it to csno@nola.gov. The Emergency Rate of Pay is item 3 on the agenda. It is really the only substantive item on the agenda. This is only for employees under the jurisdiction of the New Orleans Civil Service Commission.

On April 22, I posted about the Emergency Rate of Pay. Click here to download the arguments I provided to the Civil Service Commission. Click here to download Civil Service Rule IV, Sec. 11.1, Emergency Rate of Pay.

I would encourage anyone who thinks police officers, firefighters, and EMS employees should be getting the Emergency Rate of Pay to submit a comment form.

Civil Service Rule IV, Sec. 11.1 states that when the Mayor declares a state of emergency and the Mayor has “requested only essential employees report to work” then those employees are paid at a rate of one and one-half times their regular rate. Review this document for a more in-depth discussion.

The argument against paying the emergency rate of pay is that there have been non-essential employees working during the state of emergency. This is splitting hairs.

One group of employees was told to report to work as usual. The second group of employees was told they could go home. Some of those employees were allowed to work from home and some were carried civil leave. The March 22 CAO Circular Memo on Limited Operations laid out what employees should do effective March 23.

No matter what you call the two groups of employees, one is reporting to work and one is not. Each time the Emergency Rate of Pay has been effective, that has been the case. In my mind, the only question is whether or not the working-at-home group of employees are part of the essential group or the non-essential group. I believe “report to work” entails physically reporting to work. Employees get an Emergency Rate of Pay because they are exposed to the dangers associated with the state of emergency. Finally, we know that police officers were exposed to the risks created by the coronavirus.

Again, review this memo for a more in-depth review of the Emergency Rate of Pay issues. You can also review this post to review the issues. Finally, I encourage everyone to participate in the Civil Service Commission on Monday, May 18 at 10:00 a.m. I also encourage everyone to complete a comment form and submit it via email to CSNO@NOLA.GOV. Call me with any questions.