Schroyer, County Still in Dispute
Veronica Schroyer read a prepared statement at the regular meeting of the Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court May 8.
In the statement, Schroyer said she had met with the commissioners’ court in March and suggested the county have Martin County answer Glasscock County’s 911 calls because they have 24-hour trained personnel. But, she said the commissioners wanted to place blame, instead of find solutions. She said having Martin County answer the 911 calls would have allowed her the time to continue 911 mapping, addressing and data base updating.
Although the court voted April 10 to immediately terminate her employment as 911 coordinator, she said in her statement that she received no notification of her termination until April 14, when she received a letter to that effect. She said she had continued to work as usual in her 911 position until she received the letter, and would not accept her final paycheck as issued by the county until five more days salary for the period of April 10 through April 15 was paid. (The court later agreed to pay her the five days salary.)
Referring to the voucher she had previously presented to the county for uncompensated overtime [in the amount of $78,599], Schroyer said, based on the 122 and one-half hours weekly she was expected to work in the 911 coordinator’s job, her salary amounted to $1.99 per hour. She said since the minimum wage is $5.15 per hour, the county is in violation of federal minimum wage laws. Schroyer said she has researched the Fair Labor Standards Act and has found no applicable exemptions by which the county could pay her less than minimum wage.
Having stated that she was fired with no explanation, Schroyer told the court she wanted to know the reasons for her termination. Commissioner Mark Halfmann answered by saying there had been three or four times recently when the 911 phone was not answered, causing serious liability for the county.
Schroyer replied that there were only two unanswered calls and one came during the noon hour, and she had never been told that she was to work during that time.
Schroyer said she would take inaction by the court as a refusal to pay and she would hire a lawyer. Schroyer asked, “Will we have to fight it out in federal court?” County Judge Wilburn Bednar refused comment.
At a commissioners’ court meeting May 15, the court met in closed session with its attorney, James Kosub, to discuss the situation regarding Schroyer, and afterward, Bednar said any further discussions in the matter will be handled by Kosub.