The Alger County Commission approved a controversial notice regarding courthouse staff working hours after the county’s labor attorney teleconferenced in about potential risks.

For the second meeting in a row, the county commission had “approve notice of discontinuation of working through lunch period” as an agenda item. At last week’s meeting on Monday, Feb. 13, the commission voted 4-1 in favor of tabling the item until additional information could be gathered. Both County Administrator Steve Webber and attorney Bonnie Toskey, a partner at the Lansing-based Cohl, Stoker and Toskey, provided that information on Tuesday.

According to the Toskey, a long-standing practice to keep the courthouse open from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. violates the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“If you’re audited, which you could be if an employee were to call up the Department of Labor in Grand Rapids, this kind of arrangement is not allowed under the law by state or federal level,” Toskey said. “You have to sit down and notate it. You’re a sitting duck without it.”

Last week’s county commission meeting saw this issue presented as a concern over keeping the courthouse open during the lunch hour for citizens to use the government departments. However, the issue this week focused on flexible scheduling, or flex time, as a way to accumulate hours over a worker’s employment history. Toskey said that the employees have some flexibility, but any time must be used during one business week.

Members of the two courthouse unions spoke at public comment in the hopes of tabling the discussion until a labor relations subcommittee meeting could be held, citing scheduling conflicts by both the county and union leadership as the reason why the subcommittee did not meet before the second commission meeting of the month on Tuesday. The vote by the commission will impact numerous departments and their ability to staff during lunch hours.

“We’re just stating that you would like them to take the lunch hour and not use it bank flex time down the road,” Webber told the commission. “If your office could be open, have it open. If you don’t, you don’t have to stay open.”

The commission voted unanimously in support of the measure, clarifying that it was the accumulation of flex time as the problem. Commissioners Kelly Livermore and Rick Capogrossa both expressed concerns about what the county could do to help the departments operate with the changes in discussion before the vote, while commissioners Mick Rondeau and Dean Seaberg both said they supported workers being paid accurately for their time in a different agenda item.

The county commission was also warned and corrected of other restrictions placed by department heads and state operating bodies, like the Michigan Supreme Court. According to Toskey, the county commission can set the operating hours for the building, but cannot make any ruling about how the individual departments are run. She also said that the decision to make the flex time change could be handled through a memorandum of understanding and attached to the union and non-union contracts without opening them up for negotiations.

As of Thursday at 3 p.m., no formal notice was received by courthouse employees.