That’s the night the lights went out in Georgia
That’s the night that they hung an innocent man
Don’t trust your soul to no back woods Southern lawyer
Cause the judge in the towns got bloodstains on his hand
Last night I printed the email I sent to the Board of Supervisors regarding the fact that San Bernardino County Human Resources Director Andrew Lamberto had perjured himself on the witness stand in the Rex Gutierrez preliminary hearing where he insisted that Exempt (Salaried) employees must work 80 hours a pay period. He did so again at the first trial and even more forcefully and blatantly at the current trial. We will be providing those transcripts as soon as they are made available to us.
The Board of Supervisors was made aware of Lamberto’s testimony at the time of the preliminary hearing because it contradicted what he had told them. Because of Rex Gutierrez’ arrest, inquiries had been made regarding Exempt employee work requirements. According to the County of San Bernardino Exempt Compensation Plan, employees classified as “exempt” have to work the number of hours necessary to carry out their duties.
When this language originally came into being, it had to do with the fact that Exempt employees often worked more hours than regular employees, thus the higher compensation package. However, over the years, it has become more common for Exempt employees to work fewer hours, depending on where they work. This language is also meant to take into account the fact that certain positions require a lot of after-hours and weekend meetings and events as well as the ability to work from home.
As we said, Rex’s arrest sent Exempt employees scrambling because, if he could be arrested for time card fraud for not working a traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule or a full 40 hours a week, so could they. An inquiry was made to Lamberto by the Third Supervisorial District. Here is the exchange:
