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Owasso council approves personnel-manual updates including three-week paid parental leave and expanded sick-leave benefits
Summary
Council approved a package of personnel-manual changes that establishes up to three weeks of paid parental leave for city employees, extends a 15% sick-leave retirement payout to civilian staff, and raises the sick-leave incentive cap, with staff estimating modest annual budget impacts.
The Owasso City Council approved updates to the city's personnel manual that include a new paid parental-leave policy, an expanded sick-leave payout option for civilian employees at retirement, and an increase to the sick-leave incentive cap.
Michelle Dempster, who presented the package, said staff proposes "up to 3 consecutive weeks of paid parental leave for bonding with a new child" to overlap with the first three weeks of FMLA. She said the city's estimate for the annual cost impact of that benefit is approximately $24,000 based on a three-year average and current overtime rates in public safety.
The second change would extend a 15% payout of unused sick leave at retirement to civilian employees (an option previously available to police and fire). Staff said about $20,000 was included in the current budget to accommodate the change based on average balances and retirement patterns. The third change increases the sick-leave incentive maximum from $175 to $350, which staff estimated would add roughly $6,600 to annual costs and has been included in the fiscal-year budget.
One councilor said he preferred the council debate each proposal separately and suggested tabling the package to return as three items, but the council majority voted to approve the resolution on the package as presented. Staff said the intent of combining the items was administrative consistency: "we thought it would be just more appropriate to bring them all at one time," a staff member told the council.
The resolution sets an effective date for the changes; staff said the updates would take effect Nov. 5, 2025, and recommended council adoption to support retention and equity across departments.
