Federal jury rules in favor of Fayette sheriff’s office in overtime suit

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office paid all overtime wages owed to four ex-deputies, a U.S. District Court jury said in a verdict returned last week.

Ex-deputies Van Berry, Joshua Bedson, Aaron Wilson and James Dunn had claimed in an amended suit that the sheriff’s office broke state and federal laws by failing to pay compensation for overtime hours.

The ex-deputies had claimed they were required to attend unpaid roll calls that lasted for 15 to 30 minutes per day.

“The office of the sheriff is pleased with the unanimous verdict of the jury,” said Luke Morgan, who represented the sheriff’s office. “The office of the sheriff has always been confident that its employment practices are correct.”

The verdict of the seven jurors was returned Friday after 4 1/2 hours of deliberations, according to court records. The trial began on March 8 with Judge Danny Reeves presiding.

State and federal law requires an employer to pay an employee at 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate for time worked over 40 hours in a work week.

The initial suit was filed in 2014 by Berry and Bedson, who also claimed at the time that they weren’t paid overtime for working as escorts of funeral processions and providing security at University of Kentucky football games.

Those claims were later withdrawn, so that left the jury todecide only overtime claims for roll calls. Wilson and Dunn later “opted in” to join the suit filed by Berry and Bedson.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Federal jury rules in favor of Fayette sheriff’s office in overtime suit."