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Geary County officials review sick-leave payout dispute for former sheriff
Summary
County staff told commissioners that a former sheriff is requesting payout of accumulated sick leave; staff said the policy that the former sheriff elected ties payout to retirement, not mere eligibility. No formal commission action was taken; staff flagged potential wider liability for other employees who had grandfathered benefits.
Geary County commissioners were briefed after an executive session that a former sheriff has asked the commission to reconsider whether he is eligible for a sick-leave payout under a grandfathered county policy.
Crystal, county staff, told commissioners the former sheriff contacted her to ask whether he needed to appear before the commission and to confirm his final pay. "His last paycheck would be January 31 and it would be prorated, and that it would include his annual leave payout as per the grandfather in policy that he chose to stay with," Crystal said. She said the former sheriff then asked whether he also should receive a sick-leave payout.
"The policy that he signed up under stated an employee who retires from county service. It doesn't say if you're eligible to retire. It says if you retire, you get the sick leave," Crystal said, summarizing the county's interpretation. She said the former sheriff believes the county is misinterpreting that language and has asked the commission to review the policy.
County staff showed commissioners two versions of the leave policy: an older policy effective in 2018 that some employees elected to grandfather in under, and a revised 2023 policy that broadens payout eligibility. Crystal said about "24 people or so" chose to grandfather under the old policy and that "15 of those people have left," a count she said might be approximate.
Crystal described differences in how the county treated several individual cases: at Eric's request, the county froze his accumulated leave when he moved from employee to elected official rather than paying it out; Sherry, who became an elected official earlier, had her annual leave paid out under the old policy but had not received a sick-leave payout, which staff later reauthorized so she would be eligible if she retires. "We froze his leave. Instead of paying him out for it ... He asked that it be frozen," Crystal said.
Staff flagged the fiscal and precedent risk if the commission determines the older policy should be interpreted to pay sick leave to employees who are merely eligible to retire rather than who actually retire. Crystal said commissioners need to decide soon because payroll processing for the final January 31 check will be underway and the staff requested guidance about whether to present the matter in open session and accept input from legal counsel.
Commissioners and staff discussed logistics for a decision: Crystal said any additional input could be shared with Betsy, who could present on behalf of an absent commissioner, and that the item would have to be handled in open session. No formal motion or vote occurred during the meeting; Crystal closed by asking whether the commission had anything else.
Next steps noted by staff included scheduling the matter for an open-session agenda, allowing county legal counsel to review the policy language if requested, and getting a clear deadline from the commission so payroll adjustments (including the January 31 pay date) could be processed if the commission instructs staff to change payouts.
