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<br /> <br /> STAFF REPORT <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />TO: Mayor Fischer and Members of the City Council <br /> <br />FROM: Heidi Heller, City Clerk/HR Manager <br /> <br />DATE: November 29, 2023 <br /> <br />RE: Personnel Policy Updates <br /> <br /> <br />ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED <br />Approve the recommended Personnel Policy Amendments. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br />There was a full review and update of the Personnel Policy done in December 2021, but it is a <br />working document and amended as needed. Due to the Minnesota Legislature passing the Earned <br />Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law that will go into effect on January 1, 2024, there is a need to amend <br />the policy prior to the end of this year. <br /> <br />Council discussed the proposed amendments at the November 8, 2023 Workshop and there was <br />consensus for staff to bring forward all of the changes as proposed for approval. <br /> <br />Amendments to comply with new Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law (Section 14) <br />The new law requires employers to provide paid leave (Earned Safe and Sick Time – ESST) to <br />employees that work in the state. The law requires this paid leave for most types of employees so <br />many of the policy amendments are to address this. The law requires 1 hour of ESST for every 30 <br />hours of work and has specific qualifying reasons for the ESST use. The current Personnel Policy <br />provides Paid Time Off (PTO) to all regular employees that work at least 20 or more hours per <br />week, and employees can use PTO for any reason. The current accrual rate of PTO exceeds the <br />minimum required amount of ESST that must be provided, so the only change for those employees <br />that already accrue PTO is to rename the PTO plan to PTO/ESST. <br /> <br />Employees that work less than 20 hours per week, or are temporary, interns or seasonal employees <br />must also be provided with ESST. The revised Personnel Policy now includes ESST language for <br />those employees that previously did not earn any type of PTO leave. <br /> <br />In additional to these technical changes, the reference to PTO was changed to PTO/ESST in several <br />sections of the policy, along with adding ESST where applicable. <br /> <br />Amending PTO accrual rates (Section 14) <br />The PTO accrual schedule had four accrual rate levels based on years of service. The first level was <br />a five-year span and the second level was a 10-year span before an employee would move up to the <br />next accrual rate. Staff recommends splitting the first 15 years of service into four accrual rate <br />levels instead of two in order to be more attractive for new employees. This split would not change <br />the total accrual, as it just adds two levels in between these years as an incentive for employees.