Council accepts personnel manual updates, adds pregnancy accommodations and revises nepotism rule

The Vermillion City Council accepted a committee report April 20 that updates the city’s personnel manual to add language aligning with the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, expands the smoking policy to cover electronic cigarettes, clarifies where certain personnel records will be stored, and revises the nepotism clause.

Catherine, reading the Labor & Finance Committee report, said the changes add reasonable accommodations for employees affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, bringing city policy into line with the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. “The pregnancy accommodations were updated to be more in line with the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to add reasonable accommodations,” Catherine said.

The report also expands the city’s smoking policy to explicitly include electronic cigarettes and clarifies recordkeeping so that sensitive documents are stored separately for audit purposes. Committee members spent substantial time discussing the nepotism policy; the revised language allows immediate family members to work in the same department but prohibits supervisory relationships and requires departments to request exceptions through the city manager, with the candidate required to be the most qualified in the hiring pool.

Council moved to accept the report as presented and amended; the motion carried on a voice vote. Staff and committee members will return any final redline documents and implement the updated manual as directed.