Agenda Packets - 2003/03/03 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Item No: 8C Meeting Date: February 10, 2003 Type of Business: CB City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Mike Sommer, Chief of Police Item Title/Subject: Use of Sick Leave per LELS Collective Bargaining Agreement Date of Report: February 10, 2003 Background: In December 2002 a Mounds View Police Officer was injured while off duty. The injury required surgery to the officer’s arm. The surgery was completed in January and will necessitate a recovery time in excess of the officer’s available sick leave, vacation and comp time balances. The officer has now exhausted his available leave. Article 21 of the Law Enforcement Labor Services labor agreement for the City of Mounds View states: “An employee may borrow up to thirty days of sick leave with the approval of and under conditions set out by the EMPLOYER.” Fellow officers on the Police Department would like to donate their sick leave to the injured officer’s balance to ensure the injured officer will continue to receive wages while he is recovering from surgery and unable to return to work. Discussion: This issue was discussed at the January 3, 2003 City Council work session. Currently, the city does not have a policy to regulate the administration of this procedure. Other cities and counties surveyed were found to have procedures in place allowing fellow employees to donate sick leave to fellow employees under specific circumstances. Some of these arrangements allow for the donation of sick leave to employees cross departmentally, with the rate of pay transfer adjusted accordingly. The Mounds View police officer in question has been on the department about two years, and consequently has not accumulated much leave time. The officer estimates he will require approximately 30 more days of recovery time prior to returning to duty. The City’s benefit package does not include short or long-term disability insurance for employees. A policy allowing the donation and transfer of sick leave would accomplish some degree of short and long-term disability protection for employees. Since Mounds View is a small city with relatively few employees, a policy allowing transfer of sick leave may be best suited to include all city employees rather than only the police department. Based on past history and experience, the need to utilize this policy will be rare. If used, sick leave would be transferred to the recipient at the donor’s rate of pay. The benefit for the program would be considerable for an employee suffering an illness or injury, or with an immediate family member suffering from a qualifying injury or illness, and when all leave time the affected employee had available has been depleted.