BY IRIS B. HOLTON

Sentinel City Editor

A Tampa attorney has filed a lawsuit against the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on behalf of former employees. The lawsuit alleges that the employees were not paid overtime compensation.

According to the court documents filed by Attorney Tanya P. O’Connor, the action is for recovery of unpaid overtime compensation. She is reportedly attempting to collect the back wages on behalf of 28 individuals who served as Child Protective Investigators for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Attorney O’Connor stated in the documents that the Child Protective Investigators were paid an hourly wage and are entitled to overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.

However, she stated that during a three-year period, her clients worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Their duties as Investigators of child abuse, neglect, and endangerment crimes required that they act within certain time frames.

One of those requirements in some instances is that the Investigators make contact within 3 hours of receiving a complaint. They were also required to document their risk assessment and close or resolve the case within 45 days. Those deadlines resulted in the Investigators working more than 40 hours a week because of the extremely high volume of cases.

Despite the timeline requirements, the Investigators were reportedly told that there is no overtime to complete the work, but it must be completed, the lawsuit stated.

Attorney O’Connor alleges that the Sheriff’s Office “knowingly and willfully failed to pay overtime compensation.”

She is seeking compensation for the hours the former employees worked before and after their shifts ended, time they worked from home on a county-owned laptop or cell phones, etc.

When contacted by the Sentinel, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office stated in a written release, “HCSO is aware of the ongoing litigation and have been defending it in the past. Furthermore, we believe the allegations to be unfounded.”