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STATE OF WASHINGTON
County of Jefferson
In the Matter of: An Amendment }
to Chapter 1 and Chapter 6 of the }
Personnel Administration Manual }
for Jefferson County Employees }
RESOLUTION NO. 82-07
WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Jefferson County believe it is in the
best interest of the County to have personnel rules, regulations, and policies that facilitate
efficient service to the public and provide a personnel management system within the County
that deals with all employees in an equitable and uniform manner; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of County employees to have written
personnel policies to help prevent misunderstandings and problems and to ensure that all
employees know what is expected of them; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of County employees to keep the personnel
policies manual as up to date as possible and to have it reflect changes in practices; and
WHEREAS, a request was received from the members of the County Budget
Committee which includes Elected Officials and Department Heads; and
WHEREAS, the amendments to Chapters 1 and 6 have been prepared and are
attached to the Resolution for adoption by the County Commissioners.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOL VED, by the Board of Jefferson County
Commissioners that the amendments to Chapters 1 and 6 of Jefferson County Personnel
Administration Manual are hereby adopted for use by all Jefferson County Departments.
BE IT FURTHER RESOL VED, that these changes to the PTO System shall be effective
January 1, 2008.
,4ePROVEDANDADOPTED this 4th day of September ,2007.
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Chapter 1 - Subject
Section 2.0 - Terms and Definitions
The intent of this section is to provide explanations of terms used throughout this manual. In
sections where there are differing definitions, they apply only within those sections and are not
meant to supersede the general meanings as defined below. This section is amended to include
the following definitions:
Accrual: The amount of time earned and then added to an employee's sick leave, vacation or
PTO bank based on their length of eligible employment with Jefferson County
Open Enrol/ment Period: The period during the first week of December each year when an
employee may elect to join the PTO System to become effective January of the next year. Only
applies to Exempt, non-represented employees who were eligible, but did not enroll in the PTO
System upon implementation
PTO Bank: The amount of accrued PTO an employee has to a specific maximum (See Maximum
PTO Bank in Chapter 6, Section 3.4)
Standard Paid Leave Accrual System: The system identified in the Jefferson County Personnel
Policy Manual for accrual of vacation, sick leave and floating holiday benefits before the
establishment of the PTO accrual system
PTO Minimum Increment: The smallest amount ofPTO that an employee can take at one time
Chapter 6 - Employee Benefits
The following sections of Chapter 6 are amended to add the following as noted:
Section 2.0 - Vacation
Section 2.1 - Vacation Accrual (After the last paragraph)
Section 2.1.1 -Additional "Non-Accruable"Vacation Days/or Exempt/Non-
represented Employees: In addition to the accrual chart in 2.1 above the following non-
accruable vacation days will be available to Exempt/non-represented employees who were
eligible to join the PTO system when it was implemented but chose not to join at that time or at
any subsequent "open enrollment" as follows:
Months of Months (converted to Non-Accruable PTO Days Per
Emplovment years) Calendar Year (based on FTE)
. 0-36** 0-3 1
37-60 4-5 1
61-120 6-10 2
121-180 11-15 2
181-240 16-20 3
The additional days available pursuant to this section shall be treated as floating holidays and
shall not be carried forward or payable upon termination.
Section 2.2 - Vacation During an Employees' Trial Period
An employee on trial appointment status shall not be entitled to use any form of paid vacation
leave during their 6 (six) month trial period, or any extended trial period. This does not however
preclude a Department Head from allowing a new employee to take a pre-scheduled vacation or
use additional days granted, if this arrangement was negotiated and agreed to by the County
Administrator as part of the terms of their hire and approved prior to their hire date.
Unpaid leave may be taken if approved by the Departmental Director. Employees on trial
appointment status shall accrue vacation or PTO credit, which shall become available upon
appointment to regular employee status. Employees terminated during their trial period are not
eligible for cash out of any accrued vacation or PTO credit.
A Departmental Director, with the approval of the County Administrator, may negotiate with a
candidate for hire, to provide additional vacation days or allow a new hire to take a pre-
scheduled vacation at a time before their trial period expires. The results of all such negotiations
shall be put in writing and require pre-approval by the County Administrator. In no case will a
new hire be granted more than five (5) additional days of vacation.
Section 3.0 - Policy and Procedures for the Personal Time Off (PTO) System
The County has established an alternate system for accrual of vacation and sick leave generally
known as personal time off or PTO. This system was originally adopted by Resolution No. 81-03
for all non-represented, exempt staff hired after January 1, 2004.
Section 3.1 - Personal Time Off (PTO)
The personal leave benefit system is an alternative leave accrual system for exempt, non-
represented employees to 'use for vacation, illness or injury, and personal business. It combines
the standard paid leave accrual system (i.e. vacation, sick leave and floating holidays) into one
flexible, personal time-off system. Employees will be eligible to earn and use PTO as described
in this policy.
Section 3.2 - Purpose
The PTO system is established to provide greater flexibility to employees in managing their time
off benefits, to allow greater accumulation of paid time off, and to reduce employer exposure to
ultimate benefit utilization.
Section 3.3 - Affected Parties
All regular full time and part time County employees who are eligible to accrue paid leave
because they have voluntarily, though their own action if offered, or through the action of their
bargaining representative if negotiated, agreed to enroll in this alternative personal time off
benefit (PTO) system.
Section 3.4 - Accrual
The amount ofPTO an employee receives each year increases with the length of their
employment as shown in the following schedule (PTO calculation equals an employee's annual
vacation accruals plus: one (1) floating holiday, two (2) additional days, and six (6) sick leave
days):
Months of Months * PTO Yearly Maximum hours earned per PTO Bank
Employmen (converted to Accrual Maximum straight time hour of Maximum
t years) Hours /(days) employment. (PTO is earned Hours/(days)
hourlv and Dosted monthlv.)
0-36** 0-3 152/(9) 0.0731 2401(30)
37-60 4-5 1681(21) 0.0808 2801 (35)
61-120 6-10 192/(24) 0.0923 320/(40)
121-180 11-15 208/(26) 0.1000 3601(45)
181-240 16-20 232/(29) 0.1115 4001(50)
241-300 21-25 Same Same 4401(55)
301+ 26+ Same Same 4801(60)
* Calculated based on a standard scheduled work week of 40 hours, maximum 2,080 hours
yearly.
** No PTO may be used until successful completion of the probationary period, except for a
documented medical condition.
Section 3.5 - Procedures
The following procedures will be used in implementing the system for those employees who
enroll in the PTO system.
3.5.1 - PTO Use and Minimum Increment
PTO shall be used for all authorized leave provisions pursuant to Chapter 6 Sections
2.0 and 5.0 of this Manual. The minimum increment ofPTO use is four (4) hours for
all FLSA exempt personnel.
3.5.2 - PTO Use During an Employee's Trial Period and Scheduling Use of PTO
No PTO may be used until successful completion of the trial period, except for a
documented medical condition. PTO shall be scheduled pursuant to the sick/vacation
leave provisions of this Policy.
3.5.3 - PTO Banking and Cash Out
The employee may bank and carry forward any accrued PTO up to the Maximum
PTO Bank (see the schedule in Section 6.1.) Upon separation of employment for any
reason, the employee will be cashed out for unused PTO. Scheduled time off
approved by the Department Head prior to submission of the required notice of
resignation or retirement (See Chapter 10, Section 12.4 and 12.5) will be honored.
Requests to use PTO that are made after a notice of resignation or retirement has been
submitted are not allowed.
3.5.4 - Maximum PTO Bank
Accrued PTO shall be credited to the employee's PTO bank up to the maximum
allowed. Any accrued PTO which exceeds this authorized bank limit will be credited
to the employee's Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank (see also Section 3.5.5) When the
employee uses accrued PTO and brings the available amount below the cap, accrual
to the PTO bank will begin again.
3.5.5 - Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank
An employee's Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank shall only be accessible to the
employee accruing the bank, and access shall only be allowed when all other paid
leave, compensatory time or other Employer provided financial benefits are
exhausted.
A) Maximum Accrual - The maximum accrual in the catastrophic sick leave bank
is 960 hours (120 days.)
B) County Sick Leave Bank - Days accrued in the catastrophic sick leave bank
may be donated to the County sick leave bank per Resolution 79-94.
C) Separation from Employment: Upon separation from employment any accrual
left in the employee's catastrophic sick leave bank is forfeited.
3.5.6 - PTO Cash Out
PTO is paid at the employee's base pay rate (computed as an hourly rate) at the time
of use or cash out.
3.5.7- PTO Use During Illness or Injury or Workplace Injury
The use ofPTO due to illness, injury or workplace injury shall follow the sick leave
provisions of Chapter 6, Section 5.0.
3.5.8 - Conversion from Standard Paid Leave Accrual System to PTO
When an employee elects to enroll in the PTO System their paid leave balances will
be handled as follows:
A) Unused Sick Leave: Any sick leave an employee accrued under the standard
sick leave system before enrolling in the PTO system will be banked in a
separate account for the employee's benefit and may be used and/or cashed
out under the sick leave provisions of Chapter 6, Section5.0. The employee
will use the SIL designation on their time sheet if the time is to be taken from
their SIck leave bank.
B) Unused Vacation Leave: Any vacation leave an employee accrued under the
standard system will be converted to PTO when the employee chooses to
enter the PTO system.
C) Unused Floating Holidays: Any unused floating holiday for an employee will
be credited to their pro bank.
3.5.9 - PTO Choicefor Current Employees
PTO is being offered as an alternate to the standard paid leave accrual system. Once
an employee chooses to enter into the PTO system the employee will not be
authorized to return to the standard paid leave accrual/use system unless the PTO
system is no longer offered.
3.5.10 - Open Enrollment Period
Exempt, non represented employees who are eligible but chose not to enroll in the
PTO System upon implementation will have an opportunity to make that choice
during an open enrollment period the first week of December each year for
implementation the following January.
3.5.11 - Leave Accrualsfrom the Standard Paid Leave Accrual System
Once an employee enrolls in PTO any accrued leave over the limits established in the
standard paid leave accrual system will be included in the amount rolled into their
PTO bank.
3.5.12 - PTO for New Employees
The PTO system shall be applied to all non-represented employees hired.
Section 3.6 - Responsibilities
Employees under the PTO System will be responsible for managing the use of their PTO accrual
to ensure that they have paid leave time available for all appropriate time offuses. Employees
will need to be mindful of their PTO balance to assure that they have a balance available to
cover traditional sick leave uses including their own illness/injury, medical or dental care, as
well as the same uses for their dependents and certain family members (see Section 5.0 for
eligible family members.)
Section 3.7 - Provisions of Chapter 6, Section 5.0 and 6.5 Apply
All of the provisions ofthe currently adopt~d Chapter 6, Section 5.0 and Section 6.5 or any
future version ofthese sections that is adopted by the County regarding the use of accrued sick
leave and Family Medical Leave, shall apply to the use ofPTO when it is used for illness, injury
or medical reasons.
3.7.1 - PTO Designated as Family Medical Leave (FMLA): Employees and their Supervisors
must identify and report in a timely manner the nature of the use of any PTO hours to be
designated as FMLA for a qualified illness, injury, maternity leave, or other qualified use.
3.7.2 - Time Sheets: The designation of"P" will be used for time to be used from a PTO Bank
and "FMLA" for time that is eligible to be Family Medical Leave on County time sheets.
Section 3.8 - Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank Balances
When all employee's accrued PTO hours reach the maximum allowed, further accrual will be
credited to the employee'~Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank at the end of the month. The Payroll
Services Manager in the Auditor's Office will be responsible for oversight of the accrual, use,
and tracking all individual employee Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank balances.
Section 3.9 -- Additional- "Non-Accruable" PTO Days
In addition to B above the accrual chart in Section 3.4 the following non-accruable PTO days
will be available to employees on the PTO System as follows:
Months of Months (converted to Non-Accruable PTO Days Per
Emnlovment years) Calendar Year (based on FTE)
0-36** 0-3 1
37-60 4-5 1
61-120 6-10 2
121-180 11-15 2
181-240 16-20 3
The additional days available pursuant to this section shall be treated as floating holidays and
shall not be carried forward or payable upon termination.
"
Commissioners Office
JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
TO:
Board of County Commissioners
John Fischbach, County Administrator
DATE:
September 4, 2007
SUBJECT:
RESOLUTION NO. re: An Amendment to Chapter 1 and Chapter 6 of the
Personnel Administration Manual for Jefferson County Employees
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
A request was received from the members of the County Budget Committee which includes Elected Officials
and Department Heads that exempt employees receive the same number of non-accrued vacation days that
union employees receive per their contract. The benefit is 1 to 3 days per year depending on length of
servIce.
ANALYSIS:
The Board met with Elected Officials to discuss the request during the County Administrator's Briefing
Session on August 27,2007. The Commissioners took action to direct staff to prepare a resolution amending
Chapters 1 and 6 of the Personnel Administration Manual to add this benefit for exempt employees.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the resolution as presented.
REVIEWED BY:
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John Fi ach, County Administrator
Date
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