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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 12-07-1999 - 8gOrange County Board of Commissioners Action Agenda Item Abstract Meeting Date: December 7, 1999 1 Action Agenda Item No. Subject: Personnel Ordinance Revision -Shared Leave Department: Personnel Attachment(s): Draft Revision Orange County Personnel Ordinance -Article IV, Shared Leave Public Hearing: Yes No X Budget Amendment Needed: Yes No X Information Contact: Elaine Holmes, Personnel Director Extension 2550 Telephone Number: Hillsborough 732-8181 .Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 227-2031. Purpose: To consider updating the County's Shared Leave policy effective January 1, 2000 to take account of the addition of Personal Leave Days and of feedback from the County's Employee Relations Consortium. Background: The. attached draft Personnel Ordinance revision takes account of the addition of Personal Leave Days and feedback from the County's Employee Relations Consortium. Personal Leave Days Effective July 1, 1999 the Board adopted a policy providing for Personal Leave Days for County employees. In that policy the Board provided that an employee who wishes to donate Personal Leave Days to an employee. requesting Shared Leave may do so under the Shared Leave policy. The attached draft Personnel Ordinance revision updates the Shared Leave policy to take account of the addition of Personal Leave Days. Employee Relations Consortium Feedback During the past year, the County's Employee Relations Consortium has reviewed and discussed the Shared Leave policy to consider any needed changes following the first years of implementation of this program. As a result of this review and discussion, the Employee Relations Consortium has recommended that the use of the policy be extended to cover the instance of an employee who needs time off from work to care for a member of the employee's immediate family (spouse, parent, or child) who has a serious health condition. The attached draft Personnel Ordinance revision makes this change in Item 22.2 "Eligibility." 2 This use of Shared Leave to care for an ill member of the employee's immediate family is a provision commonly found in Shared Leave policies. It was not proposed in the initial Shared Leave policy because of the desire on the part of the employees as expressed through the Consortium to first get some experience with the policy. For information, the County implemented the Shared Leave program in 1996. The current policy provides that an eligible employee requesting Shared Leave may receive up to 80 hours of donated leave for time off required by the employee's own serious health condition. Since the program began, 25 employees have requested Shared Leave. Approximately 140 employees have donated a total of about .1,500 hours of leave through the program. Financial Impact: There is no direct cost associated with the program. There potentially could be additional cost incurred if necessary to provide additional staffing coverage in the employee's absence. because the amount of Shared Leave is limited to 80 .hours, this effect is limited. Recommendation: The Manager recommends the Board adopt the attached Personnel Ordinance revision effective January 4, 2000. 3 Draft Revision to the. Orange County Personnel Ordinance Article N, Section 22, Shared Leave (Changes marked in bold) 22.0 Shared Leave 22.1. General 22.1.1 Shared Leave provides an employee the opportunity to donate a specified number of Vacation Leave hours. and/or Personal Leave hours to help another employee who has exhausted all Sick, Vacation and Personal Leave and is in need of leave to cover periods of missed work time due to a serious ~ health condition or to care for a member of his or her immediate family who has a serious health condition. 22.1.2 An employee donating leave may elect to donate a minimum of four hours of: • Vacation Leave up to the amount that would not drop his or her Vacation Leave balance below 80 hours of leave. • Personal Leave hours up to the total amount of Personal Leave Days available for the calendar year. 22.2 Eli ibg ility 22.2.1 Any permanent employee. with one year of Orange County service as a permanent employee is eligible to donate or request leave. 22.2.2 Following are situations wherein an employee can request to participate in the Shared Leave program upon documentation of the need for leave by a physician:. • An employee who is unable to work due to a serious health a~ condition. °'~ T~'~'° +° . This includes an .employee who is unable to work due to pregnancy related disability. • An employee who needs to be away from work to care for a member of the employee's immediate family (spouse, child, or parent) who has a serious health condition. The following situations are not eligible for Shared Leave: • Elective surgery • An employee receiving Workers' Compensation benefits. 4 22.2.3 An employee requesting leave through the Shared Leave program must first exhaust all earned, unused Sick, a~ Vacation and Personal Leave. 22.2.4 An employee may receive a maximum of 80 hours of donated leave each calendar year through the Shazed Leave program. Shared Leave may not be used to extend an employee's time in leave status beyond one year from the last date worked. 22.3 Process 22.3.1 An employee .who wishes to request leave through the Shared Leave program provides to the Personnel Department a letter requesting participation in the Shared Leave program and a .physician's statement .documenting the need for leave. Personnel reviews l~uests-fey Shared Leave requests for eligibility. .22.3.2 Once a Shared Leave request is approved, the Personnel Department communicates to all County employees a description of the employee's request for Shazed Leave, releasing only the information authorized in writing by the employee. eke Personnel l~~ec~ may elect to release the description first to employees in the requesting employee's department before communicating the request to all County employees. 22.3.3 Any employee's donation of Vacation Leave or Personal Leave to a participant. in the Shazed Leave program is voluntary. Direct solicitation of employees for Shazed Leave donations is not permitted. .22.3.4 An employee who wishes to donate Vacation Leave or Personal Leave to an employee requesting Shared .Leave completes a "Shared Leave Donation" .form and submits this to the Personnel Department within the time period specified for request. (Sick Leave may not be donated.) 22.3.5 Donations of leave must be a minimum of four hours. 22.3.6 Donated ~a~s~ie~-bleave hours up to a total of 80 hours are transferred es to the employee receiving the Shared .Leave. Once leave is donated and transferred to the employee receiving the leave, it may not be returned to the donating employee. 22.3.7 During the period an employee is using Shared Leave, the employee continues to be in a leave earning capacity, be entitled to holidays, receive any salary increase for which otherwise eligible, and be eligible to receive benefits offered under the County's group insurance policies.