Judge bars mandatory overtime for Las Vegas police officers

A Clark County district judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday that prohibits the Metropolitan Police Department from forcing officers to work overtime.

The Las Vegas Police Protective Association sought the restraining order in a lawsuit filed Oct. 31 against the department. The complaint made no mention of the more than 50,000 overtime hours logged by the agency in the aftermath of the Oct. 1 massacre.

Steve Grammas, the union’s president, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday that the dispute had “absolutely nothing to do” with the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting.

“We recognize there are going to be those large-scale events, and we will support our officers having to come in and work extra hours,” Grammas said. “Never do we want to make our citizens feel any less safe, because we’re not trying to short the community of police service.”

The complaint instead highlighted an ongoing issue of forced overtime by the Police Department, including an August decision requiring correctional officers to work overtime due to reduced staffing. The union also claims Metro forced mandatory overtime on Halloween.

Metro released the following statement Friday:

“The LVMPD is aware that the District Court granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Department from issuing mandatory overtime for Metro officers. We can assure the public that this decision will not impact public safety or the upcoming New Year’s Eve event on the Strip.”

In a July 2016 collective bargaining agreement, the department and the union laid out overtime policies. The parties negotiated a 40-hour workweek and a set tour of duty for employees.

According to the complaint, forcing employees to work extra hours places officers and the general public at significant risk “if the employees who are supposed to be protecting them are unable to properly perform their job functions due to physical or mental exhaustion.”

Grammas said he hopes Metro will agree to meet with the union to find middle ground.

“Our position here is that the department can’t force overtime work for non-emergency events when we believe that is preventable,” he said. “It’s going to take us sitting down with our officers and trying to see what we think is a fair compromise.”

Metro and the police union are due back in court Tuesday to schedule an evidentiary hearing. District Judge Timothy Williams, who issued the restraining order, will hear evidence before deciding whether to issue a preliminary injunction.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.