11-08-2023 Workshop Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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The maximum amount of PTO hours that may be carried over each year is 240 hours (unless the City Administrator approves additional carryover, which is expected to be used within the first quarter). With the small staff at the City, it can be difficult for employees to take time off, especially longer periods of time, and then during the last couple of months of the year, the long- term employees are taking multiple days off simply to bring their PTO balance down in order to not to lose it. This creates many days of very low staff levels, and is especially problematic in Public Works and Parks. Staff has considered other options for the overage PTO hours instead of “use it or lose it” and reviewed other cities policies, but the cities that do offer some sort of payout or hour conversion for the PTO overage, seem to have customized their options to their city and employees, so there is no one solution. Staff estimates that approximately 50% of metro cities have some sort of other options for dealing with the overage PTO rather than just losing it. Staff is recommending consideration of converting the overage PTO hours into “sick hours.” One of the mindsets of PTO versus separate sick and vacation time is that employees are more hesitant to stay home when they are ill because they don’t want to use up their PTO since they perceive PTO more as free or vacation time. Staff feels that by converting the overage PTO hours into sick time rather than taking it away, it would lessen the burning up of PTO time at the end of the year, and encourage people to stay home more often when they are sick. Staff recommends that 50% of the sick hours be paid out when the employees leaves employment up to a maximum of 500 hours. The option to request approval from the City Administrator for PTO/ESST overage carryover has been kept in the policy. New state holiday added in 2023 (Section 15) The Minnesota Legislature adopted Juneteenth as an official state holiday in 2023, which means that cities must also recognize this holiday. Juneteenth is added to the observed holiday list. Severance Pay (Section 21) Added severance pay information for the new sick time, and language about no payout for ESST hours. Smoking Policy (Section 24) The City has prohibited smoking and tobacco use for many years in city buildings and vehicles, but now that cannabis is legal, language has been added to also prohibit use of that in any form. Other amendments include: • Section 10: Added the new Community Relations Manager Position to the list of exempt employees. • Section 14: Slight language changes to the paragraph on exempt employees additional PTO/ESST time that can be earned • Section 16: Added that sick or deferred sick leave can be used to extend parenting leave. Only the policy sections that are being amended are included in this staff report. New language is blue and deleted language is red. November 6 Update The MN Department of Labor and Industry provided clarification today that the state does not consider elected officials as employees under the ESST law. Therefore Section 14 has been updated to remove references to elected officials receiving ESST.