http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659 Here's another molehill in the city vs. police drama: a lawsuit over standby pay. &nbsp; How this will play into current negotiation ugliness is anyone's guess. &nbsp; Add the budget drama on top, and this little suit has the potential to be the proverbial straw, or match, or...you fill in the blanks. &nbsp; -- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Here's another molehill in the city vs. police drama: a lawsuit over standby pay. &nbsp; How this will play into current negotiation ugliness is anyone's guess. &nbsp; Add the budget drama on top, and this little suit has the potential to be the proverbial straw, or match, or...you fill in the blanks. &nbsp; -- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; en-us Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:40:59 PDT <p>Pay the money you owe Tandy now&nbsp;or later with additional fees and penalties. It's your choice but you will pay.....</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408272 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408272 <p>Pay the money you owe Tandy now&nbsp;or later with additional fees and penalties. It's your choice but you will pay.....</p> <p>pay up sucker!</p> <br /> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408302 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408302 <p>pay up sucker!</p> <br /> <p>What is wrong with the city? They made a mistake. Don't waste our taxpayer money fighting this when we support our officers and would like them paid fairly.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408312 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408312 <p>What is wrong with the city? They made a mistake. Don't waste our taxpayer money fighting this when we support our officers and would like them paid fairly.</p> <p>Gee, I wonder how Tandy is going to &quot;punish&quot; the police now?&nbsp; What will be taken away now?&nbsp; I guess only time will tell.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408337 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408337 <p>Gee, I wonder how Tandy is going to &quot;punish&quot; the police now?&nbsp; What will be taken away now?&nbsp; I guess only time will tell.</p> <p><span style="font-size: larger; ">It can not be a clear cut as the article would seem to indicate ... or is it? &nbsp;I just can not see a responsible official choosing to fight a clear cut loser of a case &nbsp;.. there has to be more to the story? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Were established procedures followed by these officers to obtain standby status? Were&nbsp;these officers officially put on standby by BPD management? &nbsp; or maybe the officers believe they were in some sort of unofficlal kind of standby status ?? &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408503 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408503 <p><span style="font-size: larger; ">It can not be a clear cut as the article would seem to indicate ... or is it? &nbsp;I just can not see a responsible official choosing to fight a clear cut loser of a case &nbsp;.. there has to be more to the story? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Were established procedures followed by these officers to obtain standby status? Were&nbsp;these officers officially put on standby by BPD management? &nbsp; or maybe the officers believe they were in some sort of unofficlal kind of standby status ?? &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> <p><font size="2">Were&nbsp;these officers officially put on standby by BPD management?&nbsp;&nbsp; </font></p> <p><font size="2">Yes</font></p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408602 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408602 <p><font size="2">Were&nbsp;these officers officially put on standby by BPD management?&nbsp;&nbsp; </font></p> <p><font size="2">Yes</font></p> <p>McQueen-</p> <p>Yes, they were officially on standby.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>At least, from what I've read in the filing that doesn't seem to be an item of dispute. And BPD&nbsp;began making the payments, as noted.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The issue now seems to be (and again, we're in lawsuit mode so mouths zip up and we have to wait for legal filings)&nbsp;<br /> WHEN the retroactive pay will begin.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The contract was put in place in April 2004. Payments started in November 2008. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>So that's roughly three and a half years we're looking at.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Thanks for comments and questions!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>-- Gretchen</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408604 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408604 <p>McQueen-</p> <p>Yes, they were officially on standby.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>At least, from what I've read in the filing that doesn't seem to be an item of dispute. And BPD&nbsp;began making the payments, as noted.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The issue now seems to be (and again, we're in lawsuit mode so mouths zip up and we have to wait for legal filings)&nbsp;<br /> WHEN the retroactive pay will begin.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The contract was put in place in April 2004. Payments started in November 2008. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>So that's roughly three and a half years we're looking at.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Thanks for comments and questions!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>-- Gretchen</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Gretchen; I was answering the question from &quot;Insidegal&quot;&nbsp;above mine as &quot;Yes&quot;.&nbsp; I was employed at the police department during the time of the disputed payments....</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408651 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408651 <p>Gretchen; I was answering the question from &quot;Insidegal&quot;&nbsp;above mine as &quot;Yes&quot;.&nbsp; I was employed at the police department during the time of the disputed payments....</p> <p>Sounds like the City might be taking the position that the affected officers &quot;sat on their rights&quot; and by not filing timely claims for standby compensation, basically forfeited their entitlement to some of the retroactive pay? &nbsp; Probably not a position that is fair to the officers, &nbsp;but maybe a legally defensible one. &nbsp;Seems like this could/should have been resolved by City officials without forcing a lawsuit.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408781 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408781 <p>Sounds like the City might be taking the position that the affected officers &quot;sat on their rights&quot; and by not filing timely claims for standby compensation, basically forfeited their entitlement to some of the retroactive pay? &nbsp; Probably not a position that is fair to the officers, &nbsp;but maybe a legally defensible one. &nbsp;Seems like this could/should have been resolved by City officials without forcing a lawsuit.</p> <p>Steve-</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Whoops, my bad!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Didn't see your reply there at the bottom.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Inside- good observation. I suppose we'll all find out soon enough.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>- Gretchen</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408807 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408807 <p>Steve-</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Whoops, my bad!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Didn't see your reply there at the bottom.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Inside- good observation. I suppose we'll all find out soon enough.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>- Gretchen</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>This is ridiculous. The City should pay the money owed to the officers and move on. Geez. This is a no-brainer for many reasons ...&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408967 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_408967 <p>This is ridiculous. The City should pay the money owed to the officers and move on. Geez. This is a no-brainer for many reasons ...&nbsp;</p> <p>the city also sits idlly by while its employees surf porn all day on the internet...in the new city building to boot too</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409029 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409029 <p>the city also sits idlly by while its employees surf porn all day on the internet...in the new city building to boot too</p> <p>Statue of limitations?&nbsp; Does it come with pigeons?</p> <p>(sorry, I couldn't resist.&nbsp; ;-)))</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409085 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409085 <p>Statue of limitations?&nbsp; Does it come with pigeons?</p> <p>(sorry, I couldn't resist.&nbsp; ;-)))</p> <p>The Venus de Milo is a statue of limitations.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409095 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409095 <p>The Venus de Milo is a statue of limitations.</p> <p>I'd bet my left arm on that one.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409100 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409100 <p>I'd bet my left arm on that one.</p> <p>It's an 'armless joke.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409102 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/citybeat/45659/#c_409102 <p>It's an 'armless joke.</p>