Michael Dickinson Mayor of Hainesport |
After [the effective date the reform bill], the term “employee” means (i) a full-time appointive or elective officer whose hours of work are fixed at 35 or more per week, a full-time employee of the State, or a full-time employee of an employer other than the State who appears on a regular payroll and receives a salary or wages for an average of the number of hours per week as prescribed by the governing body of the participating employer which number of hours worked shall be considered full-time, determined by resolution, and not less than 25 . . . (Emphasis mine.)So, in order to be eligible for state health benefits, a person employed by the Township must be "a full-time employee" and be "on a regular payroll." The 25 hours per week requirement only describes how many hours a person on the "regular payroll" must work to be considered a "full time employee." It doesn't--at least to me--suggest that a person who claims to work 26 hours per week is a "full time employee" even if he or she isn't on the Township's "regular payroll." The threshold question is whether or not Fitzpatrick et al are "on a regular payroll." If they are not, it seems to me that they're not eligible for state health benefits no matter how many hours they claim to work on township business.