Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board reviews personnel-policy updates focused on PTO, unpaid leave and gratuities
Summary
Human Resources proposed edits for 2026 including limiting PTO payout at termination to accrued amounts, adding a capped unpaid leave option (up to six months pending edits tied to FMLA), and a prohibition on employees accepting tips from customers; board asked staff and legal to refine unpaid-leave language and return Monday.
Jessica Pankey, the district HR lead, summarized proposed personnel-policy revisions the board will consider for 2026, describing committee membership and a condensed "cheat sheet" of major changes.
On PTO, Pankey said the district gives PTO up front for the year but will pay out only what an employee had accrued through the month of termination. She said the accrual/payout change aims to discourage employees from using accrued PTO immediately before resigning.
Pankey proposed a new unpaid-time-off provision (section 7.11) that would allow department director, HR and the district manager to approve unpaid leave for up to six months in cases where employees exhaust other benefits. That proposal triggered sustained debate. Directors raised concerns that a broadly worded unpaid-leave policy could be abused (travel, non‑medical leave) and could create operational and staffing liabilities, especially for mission-critical positions such as firefighters.
Fire leadership said a capped limit would help. Fire Chief Brian Caserta noted past instances where an employee was off nearly a year on medical leave and said a defined endpoint "places a burden on the other firefighters and our staff because we have to replace that position every rotation of their shift." Several directors suggested tying any extension to FMLA-qualified medical reasons or otherwise specifying caps and rotation procedures; staff agreed to revise the language and return with proposed edits on Monday.
Pankey also proposed clarifying language on gratuities and gifts: staff should not accept tips or personal gifts while on duty; district-level or seasonal vendor gifts intended for the organization were to remain acceptable.
Next steps: staff will draft revised unpaid-leave language (recommendation: tie extensions to FMLA qualifying events or add year/annual caps), confirm legal constraints on repayment clauses, and return the updated draft to the board for Monday's packet.
