County commissioners voted to compensate ambulance service employees eight hours pay for holidays last week.

Second District Commissioner Joe Johnson brought the matter up, saying that the county’s personnel policy has been violated for years by the lack of holiday pay for EMS employees. The county’s personnel policy, adopted in May 2012, states that "Holidays for employees are recognized. Holiday leave will be equivalent to a normal schedule workday consisting of the time normally worked, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. for full-time employees." There are twelve approved holidays.

"It says we should pay all our employees holiday pay, which can be dollars or comp time. If you work for the ambulance service, and that holiday comes and you're not scheduled to work, you don't get anything," Johnson said.

Johnson said that after several attempts to get the interim EMS director to rectify the situation he decided to bring the matter before to the entire commission. Johnson said the interim director claimed he was following the policies of the former director.

"I'm going to make the motion tonight that we direct our temporary ambulance director to pay the employees their holiday pay whether they work or not, whether it be comp time or not, and that it become retroactive to January 1, 2015 which will be for two holidays, and that we direct him to continue paying each employee their holiday pay whether they work or not the way the handbook says," Johnson told the commission.

Seventh District Commissioner Larry Summers suggested that the matter be reviewed by the proper committees, and a vote be put off until the May meeting.

"We have a process of working with committees. Shouldn't we direct the county executive to call meetings of the ambulance or finance committees and call anybody from the ambulance service or a spokesman that would like to address us, and let us hear their feelings up front? We could bring it back at the next court meeting. That's just four weeks," Summers said.

"We're violating our own policy," Johnson replied. "We've got a policy that says they should be paid and we're not doing it. I'm wanting the policy to just be enforced."

Johnson's motion was approved 8-6 by the commissioners, with Anita Puckett, Kevin Robinson, Joe Johnson, Betty Atnip, Bradley Hendrix, Elmer Ellis, Jr., Jimmy Midgett, and Mason Carter voting in favor. Jonathan Norris, Wayne Cantrell, Larry Summers, Jerry Adcock, Jeff Barnes, and Jack Barton voted against the measure, preferring a committee review before making a decision.