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Board continues debate on employee hardship policy, asks legal and HR to refine grandfathering language
Summary
The board reviewed a draft hardship policy to standardize payouts for accrued leave in hardship cases, debated whether to grandfather two out‑of‑state employees, heard legal concerns about possible disparate treatment, and voted to continue the item to the next regular meeting on Jan. 20.
La Paz County staff presented a draft hardship policy intended to create a consistent countywide process for hardship leave payouts. HR said departments had been handling requests inconsistently and proposed excluding employees who work out of state because of differing state laws and compliance burdens.
County legal advisors warned that removing previously available hardship processes for current out‑of‑state employees could raise equity concerns and potential claims, and several supervisors debated whether to grandfather two existing out‑of‑state employees into the new policy. Supervisor Holly Irwin stated she opposed grandfathering, citing fairness and benefit-cost concerns for in‑state staff, while other board members leaned toward grandfathering based on legal advice to reduce potential liability.
The board gave direction to HR, legal and administration to meet and bring back revised language clarifying whether out‑of‑state employees would be grandfathered and to address related budget and EEOC considerations. With outstanding legal questions, the board voted to continue the hardship-policy item to its next regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 10 a.m.; the motion carried with one abstention recorded.
