SOA Contract Includes Sick Pay Cap

Bridgewater Township and the Bridgewater Senior Officer Association approved a three-year agreement that includes sick pay caps and salary increases of 2 percent per year for three years.

The Senior Officer Association represents the captains, lieutenants and sergeants of the police department, according to township administrator James Naples.

The agreement, approved at Monday’s council meeting, will last from Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2015.

Naples said the most notable change in the agreement over previous years is the negotiation of a cap on sick time accrual.

Similar to an agreement with the Bridgewater Public Works Association, the contract creates a bank of sick time and establishes a set dollar limit to be paid to workers upon their retirement. Anything past that established accrual will not be paid for upon retirement.

Currently, according to a letter from Mayor Dan Hayes, the township obligation for sick time payouts is about $718,000.

The contract also includes a 2 percent raise for those represented every year through 2015.

Total salaries paid out for those 17 in 2012 was $2,150,162.88—the total in salaries by 2015, when the contract expires, will be $2,281,620.29.

The contract covers 17 of the 74 members of the police department.