CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Some local police officers are celebrating after winning a lawsuit settlement with Clayton County.
The county will shell out $1.5 million to compensate officers for work they did over a period of years for which the officers were never paid.
Chairman Jeff Turner said the county commission approved the settlement without argument.
Attorney Greg Hecht told Channel 2 Action News roughly 345 current or former Clayton County police officers and sheriff's deputies share the settlement from the county as compensation for attending mandatory roll calls for which they were not originally paid.
Hecht said the roll calls lasted about 15 minutes. The settlement covers three years even though the practice went on for decades.
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"I was like finally, finally this is going to get straightened out," retired Clayton County police Sgt. Ken Waits said.
Waits attended roll call before hitting the streets for most of his 33-year career. He says he never got paid for any of that time.
"We're winning something for us to be compensated and then passed on," he said.
Waits says he loved the job enough that a quarter hour of free work for all but those years was okay if that was part of the price he had to pay to serve the public. But he's glad that officers now won't have to.
Hecht said part of the settlement is lost wages and part is damages. Hecht and co-counsel Danny Ragland negotiated with the county for months, but the county was amenable in resolving the problem was notified.
Waits said he appreciates the respect the commissioners showed him in approving the settlement.