Does State Government Own Its Employees Lunch Hour and Breaks?

Boy, have times changed.

The State Journal-Register ran a story last Wednesday about a computerized ethics test that state employees must take. (There's a vibrant comment section underneath.)

But what is meant by "state work time?"

State work time is any time worked by or credited to a state employee that counts toward any minimum work time requirement imposed as a condition of employment by a state agency, but does not include any designated state holidays; any period when the employee is on a leave of absence; or vacation, personal, or compensatory time off.

That’s straight from the training material, according to reporter Bernie Schoenburg.

Here’s what I found out when I called to clarify that with the governor’s inspector general’s office.

When I was an executive branch employee of the Department of Central Management Services during the mid-1980’s, I think the work day was 7½ hours. I arrived at 8:30 and think I left at 5. I remember a half hour lunch hour, but, maybe it was an hour. There were two 15-minute coffee breaks.

So, I asked Scott Fornoff, who answers employees’ questions for the Executive Ethics Commission, whether the lunch hour and the breaks were considered state time.

Well, that’s the crux of the whole issue,

he answered.

What the statute says is that you are not to engage in prohibited political activity during compensated time. That’s a real question of what constitutes compensated time.

When I pressed him, Fornoff revealed,

The Commission hasn’t made any determination about what constitutes compensated time.

When I asked specifically about coffee break time, he replied,

And, again the Commission hasn’t determined what is compensated and what is not.

I asked him if he got questions like mine from state employees:

All the time.

When I asked if the lowly paid purchasing agents in the Department of Central Management Services, whose offices used to be close to mine, could be taken to lunch by those wishing state business, Fornoff said that individual agencies might have different (more restrictive rules), but that the state law allowed

$75 per day for meals and entertainment for state employees.

Neither of us could think of any place in Springfield where a meal would cost that much.

Fornof also talked about university professors:

We have run in the same situation for university professors.

What if they were to do some political work on tbeir spare time. It’s not really clear.

And, it won’t be until some Inspector General wants to ask for a decision about the issue.

Which brings me to the reason for asking the questions…

One day I was driving to work in my little red Honda and heard the most incredible story on the radio.

Governor Jim Thompson was reported to have proposed a one-half percent income tax increase.

Now, I know that a lot of flaks (press agents for public officials) are not very good at math, but try dividing point 5/10 of one percentage point by the then-income tax rate of 2½ percentage points.

Guess what?

It’s not one-half percent.

It’s 20%.

In a white-hot froth, I went to my friend State Rep. Bernie Pedersen’s office before the workday began. I wrote a first draft of a press release for him.

When break time came, I went down, discussed it with him and made revisions.

I guess under today’s “ethics” rules, I would be in violation.

Or, maybe not, since I was advising on politics, not electoral politics.
In any event, the media figured it out by the next news cycle and starting accurately reporting that Governor Thompson was proposing a 20% income tax hike, not a “half percent” increase.