AGENDA DATE: 1/16/2019
TITLE:
Title
Personnel Policy Amendments
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Consideration of amending, adding, and reorganizing several personnel policies
ITEM TYPE: Consent Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Kamptner, DeLoria, Gerome, Shigeoka
PRESENTER (S): N/A
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: Beginning next spring, local government and school employees will be using a new, online time and attendance system to manage their timekeeping, attendance, and leave. In addition to improving the accuracy of records and employees having the ability to access their information on a real-time basis, the new system will be compatible with several existing systems, such as payroll, and the scheduling applications used by police, fire and rescue, and the school division for substitute teachers, in addition to other benefits. The company implementing the new system is Kronos, a nationally-recognized expert in this field that has extensive experience with many leading governmental and private sector organizations. Several personnel policies related to leave and pay are being updated and reorganized in order to facilitate this process and to realign or correct current practice.
Personnel policies unrelated to the Kronos project also are being updated and added to conform with the County’s commonality practices between local government and the schools (§ P-08).
STRATEGIC PLAN: Quality Government Operations: Ensure County government’s capacity to provide high quality service that achieves community priorities.
DISCUSSION: The attached proposed personnel policies (Attachment A) include the following changes:
§ P-02 Definition of Employee Status
- Clarifies language, adds new terms
§ P-05 Effect of Criminal Conviction or Arrest
- Updates language for clarity, consistency, and current practice.
§ P-24 Recruitment and Selection of Employees (formerly Recruitment and Selection of Personnel)
- Updates title and language for clarity, consistency, and current practice.
§ P-60 Salary Administration and Position Classification
- Removes section on Shift Differentials (now listed under § P-61 Staff Schedules, Time Tracking, and Compensation Policy)
§ P-61 Staff Schedules, Time Tracking, and Compensation Policy (formerly Overtime/Compensatory Time Policy)
- Changes title for clarity. Updates language for clarity, consistency, and current practice. Incorporates all pay related processes and programs into one comprehensive policy. Clarifies expectations for staff schedules including alternative schedules and flex time. Adds new terms for clarity. Establishes and clarifies rules for time recording, increments, and reductions in pay for exempt and non-exempt employees. Clarifies how compensatory time leave is earned and paid out. Standardizes eligibility and pay rate for on-call compensation and for call-back compensation. Establishes new rules and rates for receiving shift differential pay. Clarifies pay for non-exempt employees during building closures. Moves leave specific information to the new Leave Program policy.
§ P-87 Professional Learning Time and Leave (formerly Professional Leave)
- Changes title for clarity. Clarifies expectations around paid and unpaid professional learning by creating 3 tiers of professional learning.
§ P-89 Workers’ Compensation
- Updates language for clarity and current practice.
New § P-XX Athletic Coaches
- Explicitly clarifies that coaches are volunteers even when receiving certain fees and reimbursements.
New § P-XX Coverage Due to Weather and/or Emergency
- Clarifies impact to staff schedules and leave during weather and/or emergency closures of work site. New terms added for consistency to include liberal leave. Establishes building closure periods to be set by the County Executive/designee, allowing retroactive designation based on conditions and providing paid leave to employees during these emergency periods. Creates a new category for the County Executive/designee to close a single location if needed, such as a power outage only impacting one building. Establishes essential personnel pay during building closures for specified staff.
New § P-XX Leave Program
- Incorporates all leave-related processes and programs into one comprehensive policy. Updates language and structure of policy sections for clarity, consistency, and current practice. Updates terms and sections per legal review to include updates to Family and Medical Leave Act section of policy to officially capture federal amendments to the act. Identifies leave as a potential reasonable accommodation on a case-by-case basis under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Adds new terms. New household member definition expands when bereavement leave may be approved. Clarifies and updates general guidelines and responsibilities for leave usage, reporting, and approval. Clarifies paid leave usage, unpaid leave usage, and application of time worked throughout the policy. Establishes that non-exempt employees will be paid for a holiday when they work the holiday and that exempt employees may bank the holiday after it occurs through the remainder of the fiscal year (use it or lose it). Establishes a personal leave bucket for 10 and 11 month employee(s) to mirror School Division. Establishes a maximum cap for sick leave accrual for VRS Hybrid Plan employees and officially establishes VRS mandated Income Replacement Program for same. Establishes practice of allowing unpaid leave for maternity and employee’s debilitating or life-threating illness or injury regardless of FMLA eligibility. Clarifies use of unpaid leave and leave of absences procedures and approval processes.
§§ P-05 and P-24 will become effective immediately. The section on personal leave in the newly created Leave Policy for 10 and 11 month employees will become effective on July 1, 2019. All other policies will become effective upon the launch of the time and attendance system (Kronos), which is expected to be March 1, 2019.
BUDGET IMPACT: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) anticipates a budgetary impact for General Government of approximately $10,000 related to On-Call policy changes. Other changes are not anticipated to have significant impacts, however OMB will continue to monitor as part of regular budget processes.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Board adopt the attached Resolution (Attachment B) to amend, delete, and add personnel policies as set forth above
ATTACHMENTS:
A - Draft Proposed Personnel Policies
B - Resolution