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A federal lawsuit accusing Sheriff Terry Johnson of failing to pay officers for all of the hours they work and paying for some time at the wrong pay rate should be granted class-action status, a U.S. magistrate judge has recommended.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2023 Andrew S. Beers, who has worked at the Alamance County Detention Center since October 2019, and was joined in October by Katherine White, a corporal at the detention center since February 2019.
Magistrate Judge Joe L. Webster wrote in a recent court filing that the attorney for Beers and White had met the requirements for showing that the lawsuit deserved class-action status and that the attorney for Johnson had not opposed the request for that status.
Attorneys for both sides met for mandatory mediation on May 31 but did not reach an agreement, according to a mediator’s report.
The lawsuit alleges violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and says the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office has not acknowledged any problems or made any changes in how it pays officers despite complaints by employees.
Detention officers are paid for only 173.33 hours of work a month but work shifts that can total over 200 hours, and they also are not fully paid for accrued vacation leave, holiday pay, sick leave and personal leave, the lawsuit says.
Also, in early 2022 the sheriff’s office implemented a pay increase for detention officers of $333.33 a month, but that has not been included when calculating officers’ compensatory time off for working extra hours, the lawsuit says.
The response to the lawsuit filed by Johnson’s attorney in late October denied wrongdoing.
The lawsuit asks for back pay, attorney fees and unspecified other damages.
