Los Banos council updates personnel rules; raises police lateral incentive and adjusts leave and CTO rules

The Los Banos City Council on Nov. 5 approved a comprehensive revision of the city27s personnel rules and adopted a separate summary of compensation for unrepresented employees.

Human Resources Director Lucy Melanie described the rewrite as a first full review since 2012: "The goal of this update is to make sure the rules follow current laws, match how we actually work today, and are easier for employees and supervisors to understand," she said.

Key changes with fiscal or operational impact include: - Lateral police officer hiring incentive increased from $3,000 to $15,000 to improve recruitment in a competitive labor market. - Temporary upgrade pay: employees assigned to perform higher-level duties for 30 days or more will receive the higher classification pay beginning the next pay period. - Sick leave reinstatement: employees who leave and return within two years will have prior unused sick leave reinstated. - Compensatory time off (CTO): overtime-eligible unrepresented employees may earn, carry and cash out up to 80 hours of CTO per year, bringing parity with the public works bargaining group.

Lucy told the council the current budget can absorb the projected costs. The council approved the resolution with minor clerical corrections to planning commission and parks-and-recreation committee descriptions in the personnel rules.