WORKSHOP ITEM - Joe Huss, Finance Director
Title
VACATION AND SICK LEAVE POLICY REVIEW
Background
At the November 8 Workshop, Council reviewed a draft of a revised Vacation and Sick Leave Policy. Per Council recommendation at the November Workshop, the revised draft now includes a capped lump sum of 80 vacation hours that can be awarded at start of employment for a new employee. The policy does not compel the City Manager to award any lump sum of hours of vacation when a new employee begins employment, but clarifies the maximum that could be awarded.
Additionally, the Council felt that a higher beginning rate of vacation accrual would be competitively advantageous to the City in recruitment of employees in coming years. This draft increases that rate such that an employee will accrue 96 hour of vacation per year in year one through four rather than 80 hours per the previous draft. In conjunction with the higher accrual rate and also per Council suggestion, employees may now begin taking vacation as it is accrued rather than being required to wait three months before vacation is available for use.
Other changes that remain from the previous draft reviewed with the Council on November 8 include:
• Increasing the maximum allowed hours of vacation to be accrued from 200 hours to 320 hours.
• For employees who reach the allowed maximum accrual of 960 hours of sick leave, a dollar amount equal to 50% of sick leave hours that would normally be accrued to the employee multiplied by the employee’s regular rate of pay shall be deposited into the employee’s Post-Employment Health Care Savings Plan. This provision is already in place for members of the three police unions.
Both a red-lined draft highlighting changes since the previous Workshop discussion and a clean draft are attached.
Recommendation
Staff is seeking further Council direction regarding bringing the policy forward for formal approval at a future Council Meeting.