Imagine a state worker not wanting extra money but being forced to take it anyway.
That’s what’s happening with at least a few aides who work for the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities’ Stony Creek residential center. “They are making me take the extra pay,” said Stacy Wright, an aide for six years at the home for people with disabilities. “I’d rather have the time off.”
Aides like Wright frequently are required to work weekends and holidays; typically, workers can choose between getting time-and-a-half pay or extra time off. But when she requested the time off after working July 4, she learned she had no choice but to take the extra money, bringing her pay for that day to about $23 per hour.
“I had been getting (comp) time for two-and-a-half years. After Labor Day, they told me I was getting (extra) pay,” said another aide who didn’t want to be named for fear of being punished. “In July, they went from paper to computer … they said they lost the waivers,” she said…
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