Committee recommends PTO, bereavement and military leave changes; staff to finalize language

The Finance, Utilities and Rules Committee on Jan. 6 recommended a city ordinance changing bereavement, military and paid time-off rules, instructing staff to adjust wording before final council action and approving the measure by voice vote.

City staff member Zach presented the proposed changes, describing them as a set of targeted fixes to the city’s leave policies. On bereavement pay, the draft removes the phrase "days" and replaces it with "shifts," and changes the limit from "per calendar year" to "per death of an immediate family member" so that an employee who suffers multiple losses in the same year would receive bereavement leave for each event. Zach also said the proposed language expands "immediate family" to include others living in the same household.

On military leave, committee members were told current code provides "up to 15 8 hour days of paid leave per calendar year." The ordinance replaces "8 hour days" with "shifts," a change aimed at employees who work 12- or 24-hour schedules (for example, firefighters) so the leave better matches hours missed. Zach described the change as preserving the existing total leave but aligning its measurement to shift lengths rather than an 8-hour day.

The largest set of changes addresses PTO and holiday pay. The draft reduces PTO accrual rates but adds 10 fixed paid holidays and 2 floating paid holidays. Zach illustrated the trade-off with an example: an employee with 0–5 years of service currently accrues 9.5 hours per pay period (about 247 hours per year); under the proposal that rate would drop to 6.5 hours per pay period (169 hours per year) but the addition of fixed and floating holidays would raise that employee’s total paid time off to an equivalent of about 34.5 days per year — roughly 1.6 days more than the current calculation. Committee members asked for written tables in the ordinance to make the math explicit.

Other changes in the draft include: raising the threshold at which PTO hours in excess of a limit move into a sick leave bank (the ordinance clarifies that PTO in excess of 150 hours on the anniversary converts to sick leave and the proposal raises the usable-sick-bank trigger from 75 PTO hours to 100 PTO hours); shortening the waiting period before a new employee may use accrued PTO from three months to two months; and retaining a $15-per-hour premium pay for employees required to work on an observed holiday.

Committee members pressed for clarity on implementation and fiscal impact. Zach said fiscal effects are expected to be minimal overall and likely concentrated in departments that routinely staff holidays (fire, police, streets), because many departments already treat holiday pay and PTO differently. He said the ordinance "memorializes" current practices in writing and that whether there is any incremental fiscal cost depends on whether departments must call in replacement staff when someone takes a holiday. Sergei, the city legal counsel, confirmed the expanded "household" definition will capture nontraditional family arrangements such as foster placements.

Councilors asked several operational questions: how shift-based bereavement and military leave will interact with 24-hour schedules, how premium pay and overtime rules apply if employees work holidays, and whether comp time for exempt employees will be cashed out (counsel said comp time for exempt employees is limited and "is not paid out" under city code; exempt employees may accrue up to 50 hours). Zach said the changes will be accompanied by department-level guidance and a city policy manual separate from the ordinance text.

At the meeting’s close a member moved to send the leave ordinance to the full council "with a positive recommendation" as amended; another member seconded. The motion carried by voice vote; the committee chair said counsel and staff will finalize the ordinance language and return any adjustments as necessary.

Ending: The committee approved a positive recommendation to council for the leave-policy ordinance after substantive discussion and asked staff and counsel to finalize the ordinance language and provide clear implementation guidance for departments.