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Hardeeville staff present updated employee handbook, proposing PTO, bereavement and travel changes
Summary
City staff presented a revised employee handbook after a 12‑month review, proposing a new open‑door dispute process instead of a formal grievance committee, expanded bereavement leave, prepaid per‑diem travel reimbursements, and a PTO accrual schedule aimed at retention. Staff recommended placing the handbook on the council agenda for public awareness.
Neil Parsons, assistant city manager, told the City of Hardeeville council at a Feb. 24 workshop that staff carried out a 12‑month, page‑by‑page revision of the municipal employee handbook and consulted labor counsel and neighboring municipalities to align practices.
"We went page by page line by line and went through that review process for 12 months," Neil Parsons said, summarizing the committee’s work and noting the team included the deputy city manager, city clerk, human resources director, fire chief, assistant police chief and accounting manager. "We utilized a template from MASC and labor counsel reviewed it." (Committee membership and outside counsel are described in the staff presentation.)
Pam, the staff presenter on policy changes, described four substantive updates staff brought to the council: an open‑door dispute resolution process, a travel policy that pre‑authorizes per‑diem checks based on General Services Administration (GSA) metropolitan rates, an increase in bereavement leave from three to five days with shift‑proportional hours for public safety staff, and a revision to the PTO accrual schedule to improve retention and parity for 8/12/24‑hour employees.
On dispute resolution, staff recommended an open‑door policy instead of forming a formal grievance committee. Pam explained the labor counsel advised that the city’s council‑manager form places final responsibility for personnel decisions with the city manager, so the proposed process keeps appeals internal and directed to the manager when earlier steps do not resolve a complaint. Staff emphasized this is a procedural policy, not a contractual change.
On travel reimbursements, Pam said staff propose pre‑authorizing travel and issuing an upfront check based on GSA per‑diem rates for the destination to remove the burden of collecting and reconciling receipts. She stressed the change applies to employees only and not to elected officials: "This is purely for employees. Council is treated separately." Staff said links to the GSA schedule will be embedded in the electronic handbook (PowerDMS) so employees can lookup per‑diem rates easily.
Bereavement changes would expand paid time off from three to five days and match paid time to employees’ scheduled workday (eight, 12 or 24 hours) so public safety personnel receive proportionate leave. Pam presented an inclusive definition of "immediate family" that covers spouses, parents, children, grandparents, siblings, in‑laws and step‑relations.
The PTO proposal shortens the accrual band (zero–five years rather than zero–10) to increase earned leave early in employees’ careers and to correct proportional accrual differences for public safety staff. Pam and finance staff reviewed legacy accrual caps: employees hired before Jan. 1, 2018 may accrue up to 720 hours; those hired after that date have a 480‑hour cap; certain public safety schedules have higher statutory caps (described by staff). A PTO donation bank and a leave buyback program (reported at roughly $0.80–$0.85 on the dollar) remain available under the draft policy.
John Bole, presenting finance implications, said the change in accrual policy increases the book liability by about $300,000 (the value of additional accrued leave), but emphasized that accrued liability is not the same as recurring annual cash expense: "$300,000 is the value of that time. That's not expense that the city is going to see every year." He noted the liability is paid upon termination or buyback and that the city budgets for buybacks annually.
Staff told the council they will post the handbook on the city website and in PowerDMS, and they recommended adding the handbook update as a council agenda item so the public is informed and staff demonstrate council support for policies.
The council asked clarifying questions on AI/social media policy placement (staff said a separate SOP or appendix would carry fuller detail), family definitions for bereavement, PTO caps and donation mechanics. No formal adoption occurred at the workshop; staff proposed bringing the handbook forward on the next council agenda for consideration.
