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Senate committee advances bill to buy out excess annual leave for critical-need state employees
Summary
SB 380 would allow buyouts for critical-need state employees who accumulate more than 45 annual leave hours at year-end, direct excess hours into a catastrophic leave bank unless opted out, and require two weeks' notice if an agency forces an employee to take leave; the committee advanced the bill.
A Senate committee voted to advance SB 380, which would allow state agencies to buy out annual leave hours in excess of a 45-hour threshold at the end of the calendar year for designated critical-need employees and automatically transfer unused excess into a catastrophic leave bank unless the employee opts out.
Senator Ham, who sponsored the bill, said he has worked on the proposal for about a year and described the measure as a remedy for workers who cannot take scheduled leave because their positions are hard to fill. ‘‘If they have greater than 45 hours, this will buy them out,’’ he said, adding the state is currently tracking about $8,000 in potential cost under the bill as written.
Senator Hester asked for examples of critical-need positions; Ham named the Arkansas Health Service Center in Haskell, nurses, certified nursing assistants, DHS caseworkers and meat inspectors as examples of staff who frequently cannot take leave and therefore lose hours at year-end. The bill would also allow agencies to require an employee to take off—but only with two weeks’ notice—so employees are not surprised and have time to plan.
No members of the public signed up to oppose the bill. Senator Bledsoe moved to pass SB 380 and Senator Ballenger seconded; the committee voted to advance the bill and the chair adjourned the meeting.
The transcript records sponsor examples and a voice vote; it does not include a fiscal note beyond the sponsor’s cited tracking figure.
