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Anacortes council adopts updated personnel policies including telecommuting rules and paid leave clarifications
Summary
The council voted unanimously April 28 to adopt Resolution 3181, updating city personnel policies to add telecommuting guidance, reflect changes to Washington paid sick leave, clarify paid family and medical leave interactions, and add other administrative updates.
The Anacortes City Council on April 28 adopted Resolution 3181, updating the city’s personnel policies to reflect recent state law changes, codify telecommuting arrangements, and clarify several administrative practices.
Human Resources Director (presenter) outlined the review process and key changes, saying the policies (also described as an employee manual) were last updated in June 2023 and were subject to an internal HR review, legal review by employment counsel Kristen Anger of Summit Law, two-week employee comment, a one-week union review, and personnel committee review. The director summarized highlights in the council packet and recommended adoption: "I am recommending that the Anacortes City Council adopt resolution 31 81, passing and approving the personnel policies and superseding resolution 31 20," she said.
Major changes included formatting and clarifying language, an adjustment of the floating-holiday timing to align with current payroll practice, edits to the security policy tied to recent state legal changes, additions to comply with Washington paid sick leave amendments effective Jan. 1, 2025, reversion of city sick-leave language to the 2021 version to distinguish it from state paid sick leave, allowance for employees to use accrued leave supplemental to Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) without reducing the PFML weekly benefit, simplification of Affordable Care Act measurement and administrative periods, and a new telecommuting policy (Policy 905) permitting telecommuting for select positions subject to supervisor approval.
Councilmember Hubick asked why the policy set a two-day remote-work standard. The HR director said the limit was agreed among department directors based on existing practice and a small number of currently remote employees: "We found that to work well, so we've decided to move forward with that in the policy," she said, adding that the policy could be extended later depending on outcomes.
Councilmembers praised the update as timely and an improvement over the prior manual; one member asked for further refinement of security-search language to ensure full compliance with state statute. Councilmember Cleland McGrath moved adoption of Resolution 3181; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously in a roll-call vote.
The personnel policy update takes effect upon adoption; staff told council they plan periodic annual review to keep the manual current with state law changes.
