SAN ANTONIO -- Members of the now disbanded San Antonio city marshal's unit have received back pay following a nine-month investigation by the United States Department of Labor.
The settlement prevents members of the ten-person unit from pursuing the complaint in federal court, and totals a combined five-figures overall, according to multiple city sources.
The employees, many of whom now work for the San Antonio Park Police, received notice of "gross payout wages" from the city's human resources department late last month.
The employees cannot discuss exact terms of the settlement because they signed non-disclosure forms.
"The San Antonio Police Department [doesn't] punch in or out, park police don't punch in or out, airport police don't punch in or out. It's a straight eight-hour day. We were working nine hours and being paid for eight," former Deputy City Marshal Stacey Seba said Monday.
Seba said although he was not part of the group of deputy city marshals who went to the Department of Labor earlier this year, he later told federal investigators municipal court management ignored marshals' concerns about a nine-hour work shift instituted in the summer of 2014.
"They said 'just take your uniform off and have lunch'," added Seba, referring to a request from court management he said included hiding his marked unit during a one-hour lunch break.
"How do you stop being a cop for that amount of time? I just don't understand," said Seba, adding this was the first department he worked for to make that request during his 45-year law enforcement career.
Seba retired in October, shortly after being transferred to park police. The marshal's unit, which enforced city warrants and provided courtroom security, was disbanded as part of the 2016 city budget.
The move to a nine-hour shift was questioned by a marshal's supervisor in early June 2014, according to emails obtained by the KENS 5 I-Team as part of an open records request.
Sgt. Edward Saucedo told municipal court legal administrator Kristie Blust via email it was not a good idea to have deputy marshals "on their own time when operating a city vehicle".
Saucedo also informed Blust, even while at lunch deputy marshals "are in uniform, on duty and expected to handle any calls received or incidents reported to them by a citizen".
The city on Monday declined a request for interview with Blust on her behalf.
City Attorney Martha Sepeda instead released a written statement:
"The City believes the former Marshals had adequate time to take their lunch breaks and that their activities during those breaks were not compensable. The City had a legitimate basis to dispute the claims. In any event, the City considers the matter closed since all of the former Marshals have released their lunchtime pay claims."
A Dallas-based spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed dates of the investigation, but declined to release further details Monday.
Other area law enforcement agencies, including the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, work straight eight-hour shifts.
