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Livingston County adopts paid sick-time changes to match Michigan law
Summary
The Board approved amendments to the county personnel policy to implement the Michigan Earned Sick Time Act for nonunion employees, increasing accrual and eliminating an annual sick-time buyout; commissioners noted limited fiscal impact but flagged due-process language for later review.
The Livingston County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 27 approved an amendment to the county Personnel Manual to implement the Michigan Earned Sick Time Act for nonunion county employees.
The resolution, moved by Commissioner Domas and seconded by Commissioner Sample, passed by voice vote without recorded opposition. County staff said the change will increase sick-time accrual while ending the county's annual buyout of unused sick time.
County human-resources staff member Jennifer told the board the new state law expands who earns paid sick time and will increase earned time "about 21 hours per year" for affected employees. She said the law requires accrual for very part-time workers at a rate of one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Jennifer also said the change eliminates an annual buyout of unused sick time, which the county had paid out, and that elimination will reduce annual expenditures by roughly $20,000.
Jennifer described continued provisions for end-of-employment payouts that remain: a retiring employee would be eligible for a 50% payout of accumulated sick time under the county policy, and an employee with 10 years of service faces a $400 cap on that payout. She said employees covered by collective-bargaining agreements are not affected until those contracts are renegotiated.
During discussion, Commissioner Helzerman asked whether the change would have a meaningful fiscal effect; Jennifer said most nonunion positions do not require backfilling and that only certain departments (facilities and some public-safety-related shifts) might experience increased backfill costs. Commissioner Ponovich raised a concern about a provision in the third paragraph of the draft policy that, in his view, could be "violative of people's due process rights" because it allows designation of someone as a health risk without testing; he said he planned to confer further with counsel and staff about possible revisions prior to the Feb. 21 effective date.
The board approved the resolution in a single voice vote. The vote was recorded as passing in favor by the chair (voice) with no recorded no votes.
