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6.
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| City Council Regular Meeting |
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| BACKGROUND |
The proposed policies for Council to consider and/or approve include a Permanent Sick Leave Pool policy and a revised Holiday Pay policy. Staff completed the preliminary policy work, and sought input/feedback from staff at the Policy Team Meetings on 5/15/19 and 7/17/19.
SICK LEAVE POOL
The City developed a temporary Sick Leave Pool policy in 2015 for employees who face long-term injury or illness. This applies to those who have approved FMLA claims, but who have exhausted their accrued sick leave. The attached draft seeks to formalize this policy, and would become effective January 1, 2020 (with Council approval).
The main policy points are highlighted below for quick reference:
Maximum # of hours:
Current: No cap on the number of hours that an employee may receive, except that is specifically spells out that there is a cap of 4 weeks (160 hours) for maternity/paternity leave.
Proposed: Regular employees - 320 hours in a rolling 12-month period and 640 hours as a lifetime max; Fire/EMS employees - 480 hours in a rolling 12-month period and 960 hours as a lifetime max.
Exhaustion of Leave:
Current: Employees are only required to exhaust all of their sick leave before they can begin receiving hours from the sick leave pool.
Proposed: To be eligible to receive hours from the sick leave pool, employees must first exhaust all of their available leave time, to include compensatory time, awarded time off, sick leave and vacation leave (in that order).
Other Changes
Current: Employees may use hours from the sick leave pool for both continuous and intermittent FMLA claims.
Proposed: Employees will only be able to use hours from the sick leave pool for continuous claims.
Current: Hours from the sick leave pool are assigned retroactively (if applicable).
Proposed: FMLA claims must be approved prior to receipt of hours from Sick Leave Pool. Hours from the Sick Leave Pool will not be assigned retroactively.
HOLIDAY PAY
The City’s current holiday pay policy has been interpreted and applied inconsistently across City departments, in particular with Police, Fire and EMS. Local Government Code Chapter 142, Section 0013 states that a fire fighter and police officer shall be granted the same number of vacation days and holidays, or days in lieu of vacation days or holidays, granted to other municipal employees. The attached draft seeks to streamline practice and provide equitable benefit across departments in accordance with Chapter 142.0013 above. It would be effective immediately (with Council approval).
The main policy points are highlighted below for quick reference:
Fire
Current: Employees who work the holiday (observed only) receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked. Employees not scheduled, and who do not work, receive 8 hours of comp time (up to a maximum of 36 hours). The purpose of this practice was to ensure that Fire employees are receiving the same level of benefit as other City employees.
Proposed: Employees who work the actual or observed holiday receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked. Employees not scheduled on the observed holiday, and who do not work, receive 8 hours of holiday pay.
EMS
Current: Employees who work the actual or observed holiday receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked. Employees not scheduled, and who do not work, do not receive holiday pay. This is in accordance with our current policy.
Proposed: Employees who work the actual or observed holiday receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked. Employees not scheduled on the observed holiday, and who do not work, receive 8 hours of holiday pay.
Police
Current: Employees who work the holiday (observed only) receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked. Employees not scheduled, and who do not work, receive 8 hours of comp time (or a combination of comp time and holiday pay – employee’s choice).
Proposed: Employees who work the actual or observed holiday receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked. Employees not scheduled on the observed holiday, and who do not work, receive 8 hours of holiday pay.
40-Hour Employees
Current: Employees, regardless of schedule or actual time worked, receive 8 hours of holiday pay.
Proposed: Non-exempt employees who work the actual holiday receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked. Non-exempt employees who work the observed holiday receive holiday pay for the number of hours actually worked, but a minimum of 4 hours (part-time) or 8 hours (full-time). Regardless of schedule or time actually worked on an observed City holiday, exempt employees receive holiday pay equal to the number of hours they would normally work. |
| GOAL |
| Provide equitable benefit to all employees and to define consistent policy parameters. |
| COMMUNITY BENEFIT |
| A robust and comprehensive benefit package allows the City to competitively recruit and retain top workforce talent. Consistent and equitable administration of policy helps with employee morale and engagement. |
| SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION |
| Staff recommends approving Resolution 19-R-109 |
| FISCAL IMPACT |
Sick Leave Pool Policy
The Sick Leave Pool is funded by the voluntary donation of sick leave hours by employees who are separating from the City. Sick leave is not paid out upon separation. The potential costs of the Sick Leave Pool program includes a loss of productivity (if an employee must be out for approved medical reasons), or the cost of overtime or temporary staff to cover for the employee during their absence (if backfilling the position is necessary). These costs are difficult to quantify; however, this program does not require actual allocation of dollars in the City’s budget.
Holiday Pay Policy
The two biggest policy changes that are driving the cost of this program are:
1. paying employees who work on the actual holiday (when the actual holiday falls on a weekend - i.e. Christmas Day falls on a Sunday), and
2. paying employees 8 hours holiday pay, who are not scheduled to and do not work on the holiday because they may have already worked 40 hours for the week prior to the holiday or will start their work week after the holiday and do not work on the holiday
There are only four times per year that a holiday may fall on a Saturday or Sunday, and staff has estimated that the additional cost of when this happens will be approximately $16,000 annually.
Rather than compensating Fire and Police employees with time off (comp time) when they do not work the holiday, Staff proposes paying 8 hours of holiday pay. Comp time can be banked and used at a later time to cover an employee absence. However, comp time is considered time worked, encumbers a fiscal cost to the City, and is paid out upon separation. This change will realize an up-front cost to the City versus delaying the cost as incurred with compensatory time. In 2018, the City budgeted (and spent) a total of $621,791 on holiday pay. With the proposed changes, Staff has estimated that the additional annual cost may be as little as $106,000 total ($60,000 general fund) or a large as $138,000 total ($80,000 general fund). |
| RECOMMENDATION |
| Approve Resolution 19-R-109 |
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