Attorney for Idaho’s Raúl Labrador was ‘improperly’ paid $16K in overtime payout
A former high-ranking member of Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office this year received a nearly $16,000 overtime payout in violation of Idaho law.
Former Associate Attorney General Mitch Toryanski accrued about 200 hours of overtime in less than four months working for Labrador’s office during this year’s legislative session. In April, at the end of Toryanski’s temporary appointment, he received a payout for the overtime hours at 1.5 times his regular hourly wage, totaling $15,685.
Idaho law establishing pay classifications of state employees bars attorneys from receiving overtime pay, unless it’s approved by the Idaho Board of Examiners. A recent investigation by the State Controller’s Office concluded that Toryanski’s overtime accrual was a mistake and “not the result of any fraud, waste or abuse.”
State Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home, who asked the state controller’s office to investigate the payout, has called for the funds to be recouped. It’s unclear whether that will happen.
“I am concerned that this mistake was not recognized at the time by either the paying agency or the recipient, particularly given the very large amount involved and again, that it was made by an agency charged with advising the rest of our state government on the legality of their expenditures,” Schroeder said in an email to the controller’s office.
A human resources specialist in Labrador’s office “improperly” classified Toryanski, allowing him to accrue overtime, and the state’s payroll system automatically paid out the overtime at the end of his appointment, according to the investigation report.
In an emailed statement to the Idaho Statesman, Labrador’s Chief of Staff Phil Skinner said attorney general officials were unaware of the improper classification until the controller’s office began investigating, and the human resources specialist responsible for the mistake received “incorrect” advice from the Idaho Division of Human Resources.
“The situation has already been corrected and it will not happen again,” Skinner said.
Overtime pay ‘a mistake,’ investigation finds
Last month, Schroeder sent an email to state officials in the controller’s office noting an “odd overtime payout” that he discovered in the state’s salary database.
Not only was Toryanski’s payout sizable — it dwarfed overtime pay for other employees in the attorney general’s office — but also appeared to violate state law, Schroeder said.
State law conforms to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) employee designations, which exempts professional employees, including attorneys, from “time-and-a-half” compensation for hours worked beyond full-time. Instead, professional employees are eligible for compensatory time, or time off to make up for overtime hours.
“I would like this payment, which I believe is contrary to statute, to be investigated and recouped if necessary,” Schroeder said in the Oct. 6 email. “Overtime pay belongs to the hardworking support staff in our state.”
Toryanski was hired in January to manage lawmakers’ requests for legal opinions, and he often worked on weekends during the legislative session, Skinner said. He was hired as a “temporary non-benefited employee,” to avoid “adversely” affecting his retirement benefits, according to the investigation by the controller’s office.
Toryanksi earned benefits through previous roles as a deputy attorney general and as an attorney for the Idaho Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing. He also served one term as a state senator.
The human resources specialist in the attorney general’s office, who was not named in the report and was “relatively new to the position,” did not “have a complete understanding of the FLSA classifications,” according to the report.
Shortly after Toryanski was hired, the specialist sought advice on his classification from the controller’s office and the Human Resources Division. During a phone call, a human resources manager, who also wasn’t named in the report, said the attorney general’s office could classify Toryanski in a way that would make him eligible for overtime pay if the specialist was unsure of the appropriate classification, according to the specialist’s account.
“Misclassifying an employee as exempt when they should be covered could potentially violate the FLSA, resulting in owing the employee overtime pay,” the report said.
The report concluded that the misclassification “appears to have been a mistake” caused by “confusion” over the proper classification for a temporary appointment.
How often are state employees incorrectly classified?
Incorrect employee classifications under FLSA are rare, and there are several safeguards to ensure employees are properly classified, according to Janelle White, interim administrator for the Idaho Division of Human Resources.
In February, the division conducted an audit reviewing the classifications of 435 employees within state agencies that report to the governor. Seven employees were miscoded as qualifying for overtime pay, but none received time-and-a-half compensation.
In an email, White listed seven safeguards meant to ensure employees are properly classified. For example, positions are classified as eligible or ineligible for overtime when they are created, and any deviation from that classification triggers a warning.
If the agency proceeds with a different classification than what was assigned to the position, the State Controller’s Office generates a report notifying the agency of the mismatched classification.
If the other safeguards fail, the employee’s supervisor approves time sheets, which show accrued overtime or compensatory time, every two weeks.
Skinner said the attorney general’s office “already exercises good practices in reviewing time sheets,” and every time sheet is reviewed by a supervisor.
“The standard process of reviewing and approving time sheets showed that (Toryanski) was working overtime but provided no indication that he was accruing (compensatory) time at an accelerated rate because of an incorrect classification,” Skinner said.
Skinner also noted that the overtime payout was roughly equivalent to the value of compensatory time and other benefits that Toryanksi would have received had he been properly classified.
The investigation report concluded that Toryanski “actually worked” the hours that he was compensated for, which “makes the equities of seeking the return of the payment difficult.”
The report recommended that the attorney general’s and controller’s offices “continue to work together to decide a path forward for a solution, and if necessary, a remedy that balances the equities of what happened.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 10:42 AM.
