11-08-2023 Workshop Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Fischer and Members of the City Council FROM: Heidi Heller, City Clerk/HR Manager DATE: November 8, 2023 RE: Personnel Policy Updates BACKGROUND There was a full review and update of the Personnel Policy done in December 2021, but it is a working document and amended as needed. Due to the Minnesota Legislature passing the Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law that will go into effect on January 1, 2024, there was a need to amend the policy prior to the end of this year. Amendments to comply with new Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law (Section 14) The new law requires employers to provide paid leave (Earned Safe and Sick Time – ESST) to employees that work in the state. The law requires this paid leave for most types of employees so many of the policy amendments are to address this. The law requires 1 hour of ESST for every 30 hours of work and has specific qualifying reasons for the ESST use. The current Personnel Policy provides Paid Time Off (PTO) to all regular employees that work at least 20 or more hours per week. The current accrual rate of PTO exceeds the minimum required amount of ESST that must be provided, and the policy states that PTO can be used for any purpose, so the only change for those employees that already accrue PTO is to rename the PTO plan to PTO/ESST. The employees that work less than 20 hours per week, are temporary, interns or seasonals, and elected officials must also be provided with ESST. There is now language adding ESST for those employees that previously did not earn any type of paid leave. The name change from PTO to PTO/ESST was made in several sections of the policy, along with adding ESST where applicable. Amending PTO accrual rates (Section 14) The PTO accrual schedule had four accrual rate levels based on years of service. The first level was a five year span and the second level was a 10 year span before an employee would move up to the next accrual rate. Staff recommends splitting the first 15 years of service into four accrual rate levels instead of two in order to be more attractive for new employees. This split would not change current accrual rates, it just adds two more levels in between. Maximum accumulation of PTO and ESST Language is added for the maximum accumulation and carryover limit of ESST as required by state law.