Governing Magazine/April 2002 MANAGEMENT BRIEFING IOWA'S OVERTIME ERROR By declining to hear an Iowa appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the way for state and local employees to sue for overtime pay. The action could have a devastating fiscal impact on Iowa, but it won't necessarily affect other states. The case started eight years ago. Iowa had classified state troopers as supervisors and therefore ineligible for overtime pay. The troopers decided to sue, arguing that they were subject to disciplinary policies and therefore had a right to overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Last year, the Iowa Supreme Court agreed with the troopers and allowed their lawsuits to proceed. The state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, even though that court had already ruled in the 1980s that the FLSA applies to states. "In the last 10 years, the Supreme Court has gone a long way toward reestablishing states' rights," says Iowa Solicitor General Dennis Johnson of the decision to take the case to the highest court. "We thought they might reconsider." Once the court declined to do that, the way was cleared for the 140 Iowa troopers and other state employees to sue for a total of $30 million in overtime pay. Although the Supreme Court ruling pertains to all states in terms of the FLSA, it will not cause the same fiscal repercussions in other states. Iowa has a problem because the state Supreme Court ruled that the legislature had waived the state's immunity to damages by referring to the FLSA in legislation. "Based on the Supreme Court's ruling, state employees cannot sue unless there's been a waiver," says Pamela Walker, the attorney for the Iowa troopers. "It depends on each state's law as to whether or not there's been a waiver." --Anya Sostek EVANSTON CUTS OFF ITS BAD CUSTOMERS The idea of treating citizens like customers is a managerial touchstone in municipal governance. The city of Evanston, Illinois, is taking that idea literally, expecting its citizen-customers to pay their bills. Under a recently implemented ordinance, the city withholds services from individuals or companies that owe it money. When people apply to get building or parking permits, animal licenses or beach passes, their names and addresses are run through a computer that checks whether they're on the citywide debtor list. "Anything other than life-safety issues," such as police and fire, "we are not going to provide to those people who are basically not living up to their obligations to the city," says Wayne Moran, director of Evanston's administrative adjudication division. Moran says that the program was responsible for some $11,000 worth of collection receipts during its first month. A lot of that money came from people paying off old parking tickets, but Moran expects some bigger-ticket property debts to be paid as well. That will not only make the city money--which it doesn't have to share with private collection agencies--but be used to improve living conditions in poorer sections of the city. The idea that people should pay the city what they owe seems fair enough, says Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce. "The private sector has called on municipalities to run their operations in a more businesslike manner," he says. "This initiative emulates the practices of many businesses who don't provide services when their clients are in arrears." --Alan Greenblatt ETHICS WATCH States that have set up independent commissions to regulate conduct of state legislators or personal financial disclosure laws and/or campaign finance laws. CONDUCT COMMISSIONS Alabama Arkansas California Connecticut Florida Hawaii Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Massachusetts Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Nevada Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island Texas West Virginia Wisconsin FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE OR CAMPAIGN FINANCE COMMISSIONS Alaska Delaware Georgia Iowa Maryland Montana New Jersey Tennessee Washington NO INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONS Arizona Colorado Idaho Illinois Indiana Michigan New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio South Carolina South Dakota Utah Vermont Virginia Wyoming Source: The Center for Public Integrity ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002, Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Governing, City & State and Governing.com are registered trademarks of Congressional Quarterly, Inc. http://governing.com