Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel Handbook topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Quorum Court adopts new county handbook after hours of debate over drug screening and leave rules
Summary
The court approved a new Washington County Handbook after a series of amendments and votes; debate focused on post‑offer drug testing language and whether employees must exhaust vacation or sick time before unpaid leave or FMLA.
Washington County justices voted to repeal the existing handbook ordinance and adopt a new Washington County Handbook after debate and multiple amendments.
The county counselor and Human Resources Director (Director Bennett) told the court the packet before members incorporated committee changes and that the handbook had been circulated and discussed with staff. Justice Lyons and others proposed amendments to add post‑offer, preemployment drug‑screening language; Justice Lemming successfully moved to change phrasing from "will" to "shall" to make testing mandatory for the categories listed. Director Bennett described the handbook drafting process, said staff had solicited employee feedback and clarified that employees continue to accrue vacation and sick leave while on FMLA under the proposed language.
Justice Koger proposed several amendments meant to preserve employees’ control over vacation use during family or medical leave — specifically to prevent automatic substitution of vacation for unpaid leave and to allow employees to choose whether to use vacation during FMLA. Those amendments failed for lack of a second and on subsequent votes. Several justices emphasized the handbook’s goal of balancing employee protections with county administrative needs; Director Bennett said the language aims to avoid creating gaps in pay for employees who would otherwise have no accrued leave.
Procedure and votes: the court suspended the rules to move the handbook to second and then third reading; on the third reading the court passed the ordinance adopting the Washington County Handbook. The final passage followed roll‑call voting. The judge’s office instructed staff to supply any additional requested clarifications in advance of the handbook’s effective adoption.
What’s next: The new handbook is adopted as the county’s governing personnel policy; staff are to implement the changes and communicate them to county employees, and several justices asked HR to continue outreach to employees about the new provisions.
