Some Lakeland Electric, city employees see wages slashed after pay study
LAKELAND ― Lakeland's employees in supervisor positions have been left unfairly and negatively impacted by the city's implementation of its recent wage study, according to a Lakeland Electric employee. Roughly two years ago, Jeff Saenz and his wife sold their home in California and moved cross country to work for Lakeland Electric. Saenz took on LE's position as chief electric system operator.
Last October, his job title changed to electric system operator supervisor when Lakeland implemented a series of job and wage compensation changes due to its pay study. These changes turned Saenz's non-exempt position with mandatory 12-hour work shifts to an "exempt" employee under the federal Fair Labor Standard Acts. His hours were changed to four 10-hour shifts with no overtime pay.
This reduced Saenz's annual wages by $18,000 a year before taxes, or about $1,500 a month.
"To some, it's not a lot of money. But to me, it’s a lot of money," he told commissioners Monday morning. "It was called a pay study, market-based adjustment."
Saenz said he has spoken with other Lakeland Electric and city employees in supervisory roles to find they too had been "unjustly affected by this monumental pay study."
Lakeland officials hired an outside consultant, Bolton, to perform an extensive wage study covering more than 1,266 full-time employees across 539 job classifications. Based on this study, City Manager Shawn Sherrouse suggested several changes to wages and compensation for the city's general employees.
Sherrouse said those employees identified as being paid less than a competitive market rate would receive a pay adjustment with the average individual adjustment being no greater than 5%. There would appear to be some outliers, Sherrouse warned, where particular individuals may receive up to a 20% adjustment, but he said the average adjustment will be less than 5%.
Documents from Bolton's wage study obtained by The Ledger show about 193 job titles were changed across city, 119 job titles among exempt employees and 74 non-exempt. The city's implementation of the wage study resulted in 37 positions changing from non-exempt to exempt from overtime — including Saenz.
"Under this new pay scale, many of your supervisors at Lakeland Electric and the City of Lakeland as well come in the actual true market of what should have been in this study," he said.
Saenz said one colleague who was promoted to be his counterpart, in the same job title, wound up taking a pay cut. In frequent contact with others in similar positions to his, Saenz said other utilities in the Florida Municipal Power Pool pay a higher salary to their employees in an equivalent job position.
City commissioners approved a 3% across-the-board pay raise and a 2.5% to 3% merit-based increase to general union employees for fiscal year 2024. Saenz said this has resulted in situations where those in supervisory roles are being paid less than those they oversee.
"Who is going to want to fill that position if it means taking a pay cut when it’s supposed to be a promotion," he said.
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Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley approached Saenz in City Hall after the meeting to tell him she is aware there are issues and has discussed them in one-on-one conversations with city staff, asking for additional documentation and details. Commissioner Guy LaLonde also invited Saenz to contact him to discuss the matter.
"To make it right would be just a grain of sand, and it would not hinder the city financially one bit," Saenz said.
The commission also voted Monday to retroactively increase the yearly salaries of Sherrouse and City Attorney Palmer Davis, back to Oct. 1. Sherrouse's annual wage increased from around $219,000 to $232,743, and for Davis from roughly $204,000 to about $216,000.
Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow at X @SaraWalshFl.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland supervisors say wages unfairly slashed after city pay study
