Macon-Bibb deputies sue Sheriff’s Office for owed on-call hours

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Macon-Bibb deputies filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office for owed money. The lawsuits date back from 2016 claiming their “on-call hours” didn’t reflect on their checks.

41NBC obtained three separate lawsuits filed at the federal courthouse. The lawsuits state that the Macon-Bibb Sheriff’s Office didn’t pay the 18 deputies for being on-call. In the documents, it states that deputies should be paid  “regardless if he or she is required to respond to a call.”

Sheriff David Davis says in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Acts for law enforcement, on-call payments are more broad.

He says the current on-call procedures are not restrictive enough to pay deputies to be on-call. However, they are paid when they get the call and head to a scene.

“They can go about their business and be where they need to be as long as they answer their phone and respond in a reasonable about of time,” Sheriff Davis said.

He says maybe if deputies salaries were higher, they wouldn’t have to go to these lengths for income.

“If we can get our salaries up, get our deputies paid on a level that is more comparable to agencies on our size, then maybe some of these on-call and other issues with rectify themselves,” he said.

According to Sheriff Davis, 17 of the 18 deputies who filed the lawsuit, still work there. One of them resigned.

The complaints add up to more than 30,000 hours of on-call not accounted for.

Deputies suing the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for hours not accounted for:

• Shaun Bridger (1,927)
• Kenneth Hester (1,012)
• Robbie Joiner (620)
• Jean LeBeuf (1,038)
• Dallas Malone (1,468)
• Brian Powell (2,293)
• Daniel Putnam (1,000)
• Carey Vann (1,000)
• Joseph Vamper (1,248)
• Jesse Thompson (3,340)
• Jeremy Robinson (250)
• Marcus Baker (2,500)
• Justin Krage (2,646)
• Aiden Renfroe (761)