The Town of Southborough Personnel Board spent much of its meeting reviewing proposed edits to the FY2027 SAP that would clarify how overtime is calculated when employees use vacation, sick time or when holidays occur.

Mark, a municipal staffer who walked the board through the draft language, said the provision mirrors federal law and the town’s current practice that overtime is calculated based on ‘‘actual hours worked.’’ Kate, the board’s legal advisor, told members the federal baseline means the board ‘‘has to pay overtime for anyone working in excess of 40 hours, but it's actual hours worked,’’ and that the board can choose to be more generous in local policy if it clearly states that choice.

Several board members pushed back on the baseline approach. Dorianne and John argued that when employees are called in during a holiday or emergency they should be paid overtime regardless of whether the week’s total reaches 40 hours. Jim Hegarty, whose letter the board discussed, recommended text that would exclude vacation, personal and sick time from the hours-worked calculation while explicitly including holiday time so employees are not penalized for preapproved time off.

Members acknowledged trade-offs: Kate and Mark noted that collective bargaining agreements can supersede local policy and that more generous overtime rules have budgetary consequences. The board did not adopt final language for Section 5b; members asked staff and counsel to draft clearer options (for example, explicitly carving out holidays or creating a separate holiday-compensation clause) and to return with redlines and budget impact estimates.

The board’s next step is to have staff and counsel prepare revised wording that reflects the range of policy options discussed and to circulate that language before the next meeting so members can provide focused feedback.