Let brand inspectors get to work

It has all the earmarks of a classic scandal -- 43 state workers paid $170,000 for more than 10,000 hours of work they never performed.

It's the kind of revelation that can help make political points for a state official with ambitions for higher office -- and those who aren't are a rare bird, indeed.

It's also a result of the involvement of eastern bureaucratic bean counters who wouldn't know a heifer from a horsefly and another example of an issue our vaunted Unicameral Legislature has let slip through the cracks.

Attorney General Jon Bruning said he won't pursue charges against the Nebraska Brand Committee, because there was no criminal intent when brand inspectors were paid for 40 hours of work during weeks in which they didn't actually work 40 hours.

The discrepancy was discovered by state Auditor Mike Foley in June after the brand inspectors' time sheets were audited. The audit also showed that inspectors took more than 4,000 hours of paid vacation, 1,000 hours of paid sick leave and 4,000 hours of paid holidays.

The truth is, however, cattle inspection isn't a job that will fit neatly on a spreadsheet. The inspectors are paid to be there when the livestock arrives, and we're sure most of them fulfill those duties admirably -- putting in far more than 40 hours during peak seasons.

In practical terms, the time sheets probably were an afterthought, a reluctant tip of the Stetson to unworkable federal wage and hour laws.

The Legislature apparently agreed in 1969, intending to exempt inspectors from the 40-hour requirement, but succeeding only in exempting them from a law prohibiting state employees from working paid holidays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Lost somewhere in the argument is the fact that the Nebraska Brand Committee is a self-supporting cash fund agency, paying inspectors from fees collected for brand recordings, brand inspections and registered feedlots and dairies.

"The Brand Committee has two choices here, they can either ensure these inspectors work a full 40-hour week as required by state law or they can go to the Legislature and ask that these inspectors be exempted," Attorney General Jon Bruning said. "But those are really the only two options."

The state, of course, should be as tight-fisted as possible with all the money is spends, whether it comes from fees or the general budget. And, staffing levels should be adjusted to meet the real needs of the job.

But the Legislature, if that's what it takes, should change the law so brand inspectors can get back to work.