Missouri firefighters, police plead for minimum wage fix

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Firefighters and police pleaded with House leaders Tuesday to fix a glitch in the minimum wage increase that's affecting their overtime budgets. But time is running short; the Legislature adjourns Friday.

The police and firefighters groups say public safety could be threatened if nothing happens. They warn that departments could be forced to reduce staffing or close stations, increasing time for law enforcement to respond to an emergency and potentially raising insurance premiums for people and businesses.

"Failure to act will result in increased overtime costs for local governments," said Russ Mason, president of the Missouri Association of Fire Chiefs.

Mason joined with dozens of others at a news conference calling on the House to move forward with legislation fixing the glitch. He said his district, Central County Fire and Rescue in St. Peters, faces a cost of $600,000 a year, and the statewide impact could be millions of dollars.

Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in November that raised the state's minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour as of Jan. 1, with an annual inflationary adjustment in following years.

But the measure also inadvertently lacked a reference to federal overtime rules that had allowed some people to work more than 40 hours a week without triggering overtime pay. Many police and firefighters have schedules where they work 24-hour or 12-hour shifts, thus accumulating more than 40 hours in a week while nonetheless have several days off.

The Senate passed a bill in February to restore that exemption, allowing for such schedules without overtime kicking in.

But a House committee amended the bill to also repeal the annual inflation adjustment and to bring tipped workers' base pay from $3.25 an hour back down to the federal rate of $2.13 an hour.

Gov. Matt Blunt's administration has interpreted the law as requiring tipped workers to be paid at least $3.25 an hour, plus tips.

Rep. Shannon Cooper, R-Clinton, has said he only supports the expanded version and would fight passing the narrow fix on its own.

Blunt has said he wants to limit the changes to the overtime problem.

House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, said if nothing gets done, the governor should consider calling a special session to resolve the issue.

The minimum wage bill is SB255.