It’s said there’s no such thing as a free lunch. For employees of the Deschutes County Adult Parole and Probation Department, there’s no such thing as a paid lunch, either.

The Deschutes County Commission on Wednesday approved a three-year labor agreement that denies parole and probation officers their request for a paid half-hour lunch, according to county documents.

“They give a lot of free time to the county by getting called in or having their lunches interrupted,” said Rhonda Fenrich, the attorney representing the Federation of Oregon Parole and Probation Officers. “Patrol and corrections employees receive paid lunches. Parole and probation wanted to be treated like the other employees.”

Deputy County Administrator Erik Kropp, one of the county bargaining team, said providing paid lunch breaks “really doesn’t meet our operational needs.”

Negotiators representing the bargaining unit negotiated with the county for the minimum 150 days without success.

The issue then went into mediation. When no agreement could be reached, the two parties went into binding arbitration.

During binding arbitration, each party is required to submit their last, best offer. The arbitrator chooses one of the options without making any changes to either offer.

The only difference between the last best offer submitted by the county and the one submitted by the union negotiators was the request for the paid free lunch, Fenrich said.

The arbitrator sided with the county and chose not to give county employees a paid half-hour lunch.

“They wanted it because they gave up a lot,” she said. “They pay a lot more for health care coverage then before and they asked the county to give them something in return.”

Fenrich said that under the county employees’ new health insurance coverage, employees will pay “more than double” what they currently do.

Kropp agreed that changes to county employee health care coverage stalled negotiations between the two groups.

“In the past, it hasn’t taken so long, but in tough economic times it’s difficult to negotiate labor contracts,” he said. “In this round of negotiations we did change the language of health care coverage. It used to be employees paid a dollar amount (in monthly premiums), now they pay a percentage.”

The contract is retroactive to 2012, which means the two sides are getting ready to enter into a new set of negotiations for the next contract.

“We are excited to have this process through and are looking forward to developing a different strategy in the future,” said union bargaining team member Tanner Wark. “Hopefully, we can get a little better communication with the FOPPO members prior to anything like this happening.”

The two sides said they plan on meeting prior to formal negotiations beginning so they can avoid mediation and arbitration.

Contract terms

The labor contract with the Federation of Oregon Parole and Probation Officers approved Wednesday includes:

• A 2.9 percent cost-of-living increase retroactive to July 1, 2012;

• A 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase for fiscal year 2013-14;

• And a 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent increase for fiscal year 2014-2015.

The agreement also includes employee health insurance monthly premiums:

• In fiscal year 2013, up to 7.5 percent, not to exceed $140, of the per-full-time-equivalent cost;

• For fiscal 2014, up to 8.5 percent, not to exceed $155;

• And for fiscal 2015, up to 9.5 percent, not to exceed $170.