By C1 Staff
JACKSON, Miss. — A new bill could see Mississippi corrections officers get paid for overtime if it makes it into law.
The Clarion-Ledger reports that House Bill 435 would require the Mississippi Department of Corrections to reimburse previously unpaid employees and prevents the agency from withholding overtime pay in the future.
The current, and legal, policies allow the DOC to compensate overtime with days off or to put overtime pay into accounts that are only available to employees upon retirement or resignation.
A 2013 investigation found that officers had been forced to work more than 135,000 hours of uncompensated overtime.
Interim Corrections Commissioner Rick McCarty said the agency supports the bill and wants to reimburse uncompensated employees, pending available funds. The currently accumulated hours are worth several million dollars.