A lawsuit filed in federal court Friday alleges Dallas County has failed to properly compensate thousands of employees within the sheriff’s office for working overtime.
Issues with pay in the sheriff’s office have been previously reported, as miscommunications about how to classify overtime pay resulted in employees losing pay from several pay checks last year. A rollout of a new software system in 2023 also resulted in hundreds of employees getting paychecks with money missing. Both instances resulted in a Department of Labor investigation, and the 2023 issue resulted in the county paying more than 800 employees about $460,000 in owed wages.
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Now, the lawsuit, filed by several current and retired employees of the sheriff’s office, alleges Dallas County has not taken proper steps to remedy these issues. According to the lawsuits, record keeping for employee’s compensatory time is unreliable and has resulted in employees not being properly compensated for their work over the past three years.
“The County’s payroll and compensation system is broken,“ the lawsuit said. ”It has been broken for many years.”
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According to the suit, the previous issues resulted in hours of earned compensatory time being lost and alleges the county erased already-earned hours by limiting the total amount of compensatory time that could be accrued. The suit also alleges retired and terminated employees were not paid for their accrued hours.
The suit also alleges that employees have been retaliated against for filing complaints about the missing pay.
The lawsuit asks for damages in the form of payment for the unpaid hours and lost wages, as well as pre- and post-judgment interest and incurred legal fees. The suit also includes a class action allegation, allowing any past, current or future employees who worked overtime and were not properly paid to join the suit.
In addition to the county, the lawsuit names each member of the Dallas County Commissioner’s Court as defendants. A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office did not respond to an email requesting comment Saturday.
The president of the sheriff’s office labor union, Christopher Dyer, who is a plaintiff in the suit, did not return phone messages seeking comment Saturday. A spokesperson for County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said he does not comment on pending litigation.