Summary
To: Town Commission
From: Stefan Massol, Director of Support Services
Date: 6/15/2021
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Subject:
Title
COVID-19 Leave Accruals
Summary:
Town Commission and staff will discuss options for leave accrual policies stemming from COVID-19.
End
Body
Background/Problem Discussion: Beginning July 2020 Town Commission approved four weeks of annual leave for full-time employees to be used in cases where they are unable to work. Those situations included where mandatory quarantine and/or illness would make it impossible for employees to effectively perform their duties. That policy is set to replenish COVID Wellness Leave banks for the following fiscal year, however given the wide availability of effective vaccines it is staff's recommendation that these leave balances be eliminated as of the end of this month. These balances do not have a cash value, therefore no payout of unused leave would be necessary.
Additionally, early on the Town asked employees to avoid crowds and not to travel to states with a high positivity rate. This was a mitigation strategy to help reduce risk of contracting and spreading the virus to coworkers as many of our departments operate with limited staff whose work cannot be performed remotely. In conjunction with this request, the Town temporarily increased the maximum vacation accrual balance from 240 hours to 360 hours for employees. As we look to bring the maximum accrual rate back to the pre-pandemic level. Currently, the Town allows employees to buy-back sick leaves once each year as long as the balance is not brought below 80 hours. A similar approach could be used for Vacation leaves, where employees are required to buy-back so their balance is below 240 hours and cannot go below 80 hours.
Overall, this issue affects 15 employees, six of which are contractual. Of this group, there are currently seven (7) employees who have an excess of 320 hours, and additio...
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