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Council asks staff to explore pay rules for employees who leave work early during severe weather
Summary
During a Jan. 9 workshop discussion about inclement-weather staffing, council members asked staff to evaluate whether employees who report for duty and must leave early because of hazardous conditions should be paid rather than forced to use personal or vacation time.
Council discussed inclement-weather staffing and leave policies at the Jan. 9 workshop as the city prepared for a forecast winter storm.
Staff said the plan for the immediate event is to keep City Hall and Parks and Recreation facilities open; employees who are not required for emergency response may request personal time off with supervisor approval. Staff said employees who come in and later must leave for safety reasons would be required under current practice to use personal or vacation time for the remainder of the shift. The city noted that truly essential 24/7 operations (water treatment, police, fire, public works) are required to report and would not have the option to take personal time.
A councilmember asked staff to examine options for paying employees who report and then must leave early due to hazardous conditions while recognizing the need to be equitable with essential staff who must work through the storm. Staff said they would return with guidelines and options, noting that if the city provides paid leave for one group it would likely need to offer comparable compensatory arrangements (floating comp time or other) to essential staff who work the event.
