NEWPORT BEACH : Police Pay Claims Being Negotiated

City officials are meeting this week with police supervisors to negotiate payment for hundreds of hours’ back pay for overtime.

About 35 current and former Police Department supervisors, including fired Police Chief Arb Campbell and Capt. Anthony Villa, have filed claims for unpaid overtime dating back decades and totaling more than $1 million. The city has denied all of the claims but now will offer individual settlements to some of the supervisors.

The officers contend that since sergeants and lieutenants are required to spend 15 minutes before and after each shift preparing for briefing, they should be paid a half-hour of overtime for each day worked. Federal law says municipal employees should be paid for any time they must work that is integral to their jobs.

Some of the claims date as far back as 1948 and many concern hours logged in the 1970s and 1980s.

The city attorney’s office on Wednesday began sending memos and meeting with officers individually to negotiate settlements, hoping to avoid a lawsuit.

It is unclear how much the city will pay the officers. City Atty. Robert Burnham said at a City Council meeting Monday that he believes only about $80,000 worth of the claims are valid.

Assistant City Atty. Robin Flory, who is handling the negotiations, said the city will not pay for any hours that go beyond the federal statue of limitations, which is two years, unless it is proved that the city intentionally neglected to pay the officers for the overtime. If intent is proved, the statute of limitations extends back another year.

Sgt. Mike McDonough, one of a handful of officers who met with Flory on Wednesday, said he was unsure whether he would accept the city’s offer or pursue the matter in court. McDonough, a supervisor since 1981, said he requested about $62,000 in back pay, but would not specify what the city offered to reimburse him during his 45-minute negotiation with Flory.

“They’re not admitting culpability--they’re simply expressing a willingness to negotiate,” McDonough said. “I know I’m not going to take what their initial offer is.”