While for most municipal and state workers this summer’s record setting heat meant working hard under the scorching sun, for some it meant a day at the beach at the expense of taxpayers. The city of Providence paid out more than $130,000 in wages for hours that employees didn’t work because of a “90 degree rule,” a clause found in some labor contracts that allows for the discharge of employees working outdoors on days reaching or exceeding 90 degrees. City records indicate that 13 dismissals, affecting 203 city employees, were made this year because of the heat.
“It seems like a lot,” said Doreen Picozzi, of Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr.’s office. “This had to be one of the highest number of dismissals, if not the highest in the past five years.”
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James Celenza, director of the Rhode Island Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (RICOSH) said Providence is one of the very few municipalities in which the 90 degree rule applies to all employees. Celenza said similar rules are found in United States Navy contracts, and in some area construction union contracts.
“This is usually used as a basic rule for heat related hazards,” he said. “The general idea is to use it as a trigger so that people in a hot environment are protected. Sometimes it’s used in situations when the air conditioner breaks down, and I believe that happened a couple of times this summer in Providence.”
But Providence was not alone. Steve Cuomo, director of administration for the city of Cranston, said workers were sent home with pay four times this summer because of the heat. Cuomo said it’s not the dollars and cents loss that is concerning, but the loss of productivity.
“It’s not an additional cost to the city to send workers home,” he said. “In terms of the payroll we would be paying it anyway. But it’s the work that doesn’t get done, that costs the town. It would cost the city more to pay the overtime necessary to complete the work that wasn’t done.”
Cuomo said workers are only dismissed when the temperature is verified by the weather bureau, and there is no additional inside work that can be done.
“Sometimes we keep them in the buildings and let them mill around,” he said. “But usually by the late morning or early afternoon when we know that it’s going to be that temperature all day we send them home.”
Though the state does have a 90 degree rule in some of its workers’ contracts, Anthony A. Bucci, personnel administrator said the rule doesn’t allow workers to go home.
“It’s been a part of the union contract since 1979,” he said, “that when the temperature reaches 90 degrees or above, we pull workers off the interstate highways and place them on secondary roads or on garage work. We don’t send them home.”
Barrington Town Manager Dennis Phelan said his town used to send workers home, but did away with the policy a number of years ago.
“We decided that it wasn’t in the best interest of the town,” he said. “There are certain things that need to be done. I don’t think that it was used that much before we decided to do away with it.”
Some cities like Newport, which don’t have such a 90 degree rule built in to the contracts of its workers, instead opt to provide other alternatives.
“It’s not that often that we get 90 degree weather,” said Michael D. Mallinoff, Newport city manager. “And we don’t have (the 90 degree rule) in our union contract. When it does get that hot we bring in lots of fans and we have a dress down policy that lets our workers wear tasteful, yet comfortable clothing to let them beat the heat.”
Michael Annarummo, director of public works for Woonsocket said the city has a similar policy, that was enacted about three times this summer.
“We don’t discharge people, but we voluntarily reduce the work load,” he said. “We switch from labor intensive work such as asphalt work to something a little lighter like litter pick-up or painting. We have neither a contract nor a policy which dictates what we have to do; we just try and do what’s best for our workers.”
For most municipalities where there is no specific 90 degree rule, decisions are often based on “common sense.”
“We use the rule of common sense,” said Paul E. Lemont, East Providence city manager. “When the temperature and humidity are high we do make some changes in the scheduling where changes can be made. We don’t start workers on projects that might take all day, and we try and get them in an area of some shade. You don’t have to tax people when the temperature is oppressive, you can let them work at their own pace.”
Lemont said though this summer’s heat was “three times worse” than past summers, there is still work to be done.
“A number of times this summer the temperature exceeded 90 degrees; I can’t just send everybody home,” he said. “I allow the decision to be made by the department heads as to what is best for the crews, but even if the heat is totally oppressive, there is still work that can be done at the garage, or other things like that.”
Frank Crawley, director of administration for the city of Pawtucket said his city has no policies in that area, and similar to East Providence, it’s up to the individual department heads to change the workloads of employees depending on the weather.
“We are governed collectively through bargaining units,” he said. “We have no such 90 degree rule, but I would like to believe that common sense would prevail.”
South Kingstown Town Manager Stephen A. Alfred said workers in South Kingstown follow a similar set of guidelines.
“Program supervisors have the responsibility of ensuring a safe and productive workplace,” he said. “That would include doing other types of duties if the weather conditions warranted it. But if the work needs to be done because of scheduling the supervisor must ensure that the workers are protected including allotting appropriate break time.”
The difference in policy among towns and cities is common said Chuck Schwartz, of the Institute of Labor Studies and Research.
Unions can negotiate wages, hours and working conditions,” he said. “Heat and weather are definitely a part of working conditions. But it’s up to individual unions.”
Celenza said though some health and union organizations have tried to create a universal policy similar to a 90 degree rule, its unlikely to happen in the future.
It’s been proposed as a regulation, but nothing ever happens,” he said. “It’s a contractual issue and I think it will stay that way.”
The city of Providence recently voted to amend its policy so that workers will no longer be allowed to go home, but instead will be called inside before the temperature reaches 90 degrees.
