I worked as a court clerk for several years in a city with a large caseload. We had a lot of transitions during the Covid-19 pandemic and our staff was placed on a skeleton crew, with half the team at the office and half the team at home – then the teams would switch.
During Covid-19, I was told several times by management to not report my overtime hours because if I’m working from home then I most certainly wasn’t working my full 40 hours. Bullshit. I had an increased workload during Covid-19 and they didn’t want to compensate me for it.
There was a fast turnover among lower staff at the courts and the shortage of people made you feel like you could never be sick.
I would sit-in on all the court proceedings of that day, which could be a calendar of over 150 criminal defendants. I would often not get a lunch break, nor the two small breaks I was required to by law. The rule is you can’t leave your desk unintended because then you might miss important information- information that would need to be documented or it could hurt someone in their case if you miss it. But with the fast turnover rate and shortage of staff, I didn’t have someone to cover me to go to the bathroom. So I dehydrated myself. I remember getting my period once during a busy calendar and I sat there bleeding on myself until my coworker was available to cover me.
Judges are very type-A people and they are used to the go-go-go without thinking about eating or using the restroom, but they get paid a judge’s salary. A court clerk, depending on where they live, could be making less than $20 an hour in a high col area.
Yeah.