Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Employee Benefits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Personnel committee approves series of employee-benefit changes, forwards retiree-health request to council
Summary
The Franklin Personnel Committee approved multiple changes to employee leave and holiday policies and voted to forward a nonrepresented employees' request to lower retiree health eligibility from 20 to 15 years to the Common Council for consideration.
The Franklin Personnel Committee on an aye vote approved several changes to employee benefits and leave policies, and it voted to forward a request to the Common Council to align nonrepresented employees' retiree health eligibility with recent police-and-fire contract changes.
Shirley, the department employee nonvoting representative, asked the committee to change the retiree health insurance eligibility for nonrepresented employees from 20 years of service to 15 years, matching police and fire. "Right now, retiree health insurance, you have to have 20 years of service, and you have to be at least 62 years of age. Police and fire, in their contracts had it changed to 15 years," she said. The committee voted to forward Shirley's recommendation to the Common Council for action.
The committee also approved removing Good Friday as a mandated holiday for certain union groups (DPW, sewer and water, custodians and dispatchers represented by AFSCME), and instead granting those employees a fifth personal day to use at their discretion. Administrators said eliminating the holiday reduces scheduling burdens for essential services such as snow removal and building maintenance.
On sick-leave policy, the committee approved several related items: letting nonrepresented employees begin accruing sick leave immediately (rather than waiting six months), clarifying that sick leave may be used for immediate household family members (with handbook language to be drafted), and standardizing accrual caps so nonmanagement nonrepresented employees are limited to 180 days while management staff may retain unlimited accrual. The committee required administration to draft precise handbook language and return it to the committee for review before sending it to the Common Council. As explained by staff, accrual runs on each pay period (approximately 4 hours per pay check for a full-time employee), so new hires accrue time immediately but would have only small amounts available in the first month.
The committee also approved a technical change affecting how sick time converts for employees moving between 24-hour shift schedules and 40-hour assignments; that conversion method (dividing line-hours by 2,912 then multiplying by 2,080) will be reflected in the letter of understanding supporting a firefighter community-paramedic assignment.
What this means in practice: nonrepresented employees will begin earning sick time from their first day; departments will receive consistent handbook language about family-use rules and accrual caps; the Good Friday holiday will be optional for affected groups and replaced by an extra personal day; and the retiree-health eligibility parity request will move to the Common Council for its decision.
Speakers who participated in the benefits and leave discussions included Shirley (department employee nonvoting representative); Dana (municipal staff, Clerk/Administration); Kaylee Ireland (Alderman); Michelle (committee member); Kathy (committee member); and other department staff who provided technical and drafting guidance. The motions on these items carried with unanimous committee voice votes where recorded.
Committee members asked staff to ensure the proposed handbook language is precise and enforceable and to return the drafted language for committee review before Common Council consideration.
