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Council hears proposal for voluntary employee leave bank to assist workers with medical needs
Summary
Deputy HR Director Kimberly Foster presented Resolution 2626 to create a voluntary leave bank: employees would donate PTO to a city‑managed pool that HR would award to eligible staff who exhaust leave due to serious medical conditions or family care needs.
Kimberly Foster, deputy human resources director, presented Resolution 2626 on March 10, explaining the voluntary leave bank concept: employees can donate paid‑time‑off hours to a pooled fund that HR will administer and distribute to employees who qualify (those facing serious medical conditions or caring for a family member and who have exhausted their PTO).
Foster said eligibility will be limited to qualifying medical circumstances and that HR will review requests; she described examples including a new parent who needs a few weeks beyond accrued leave, an employee undergoing cancer treatment, or an employee injured early in employment. Donated hours will be tracked; HR will not reserve donations for a specific recipient and distribution will generally operate on a need‑and‑urgency basis.
Council members discussed program design options. One council member recommended requiring donors to have contributed within the prior 12 months to be eligible to receive funds, a rule used by some employer programs; Foster said staff omitted that restriction to ensure newly hired employees would be eligible in emergency situations. Foster also described a process to solicit donations if the leave bank is temporarily empty.
The study meeting discussion was informational; any final policy would return for council action.
