Labor Department probing Erie police weekend work rules

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Erie’s police chief says the U.S. Department of Labor is investigating possible “wage and hours” violations over a policy that gave detectives the option of taking weekdays off in exchange for working weekends.

Federal rules require detectives working weekends to receive time-and-a-half overtime pay if they worked more than 40 hours that week, but Chief Steve Franklin tells the Erie Times-News that didn’t happen. Franklin and Mayor Joe Sennett say nobody intentionally broke the law, and that the detectives had agreed to the long-standing policy which let them switch days off at their own request.

Franklin says one detective complained about the policy, however, setting off the investigation which a Labor Department spokeswoman confirmed was ongoing.

The chief says the city may wind up having to pay detectives for past overtime.