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MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Carol J. Huchingson, County Administrative Officer
DATE: March 26, 2019
SUBJECT: Consideration of Amendment to Paid Emergency Leave Policy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In response to the River and Ranch wildfire disasters of 2018, your Board approved an amendment to our Paid Emergency Leave (PEL) policy making it possible for County employees who were unable to work during the disaster and the extended workplace evacuation to be paid for up to 40 hours of PEL. Staff is grateful to your Board for your leadership in this regard, and particularly for your support of staff during this extraordinary time.
Unfortunately, an unforeseen consequence of that policy amendment created a situation in which employees who responded to Disaster Service Worker (DSW) duty and worked straight-time were compensated the same as those who received PEL.
The contribution of our employees who served as DSW’s was invaluable, and as your Board is well aware, Lake County employees have stood up again and again, during the repeated disasters. There were also many good reasons why other employees could not report to duty as, for example, they may have been evacuated out of County or caring for dependents during the disaster. In addition, there were some employees who were simply not in communication during the disaster or refused DSW duty.
In my discussions with your Department Heads, it has become apparent that an additional amendment is needed to the policy to address the unforeseen consequence. I am grateful, in particular, to the committee (Sheriff Brian Martin, DSS Director Crystal Markytan, Auditor-Controller Cathy Saderlund, CSS Director Gail Woodworth and HR Director Pamela Nichols) that worked with me directly to develop new language for your consideration.
Pursuant to the proposed amendment, should your Board approve it, in order to be eligible for PEL, an employee must be continuously available for DSW and responding to his/her department. An employee who is not available for duty for good cause would not be eligible for PEL but would be approved to use applicable paid leave accruals or unpaid leave during the emergency incident. An employee who is not in communication at all or refuses DSW duty would be considered absent without leave since all employees have a basic duty to report as DSW’s.
In addition, there are a few other minor edits to the policy to eliminate duplicative language and to clarify that employees already pre-approved for time off prior to an incident and not required or available for DSW duty will not be eligible for PEL.
Staff has already met and conferred on this policy draft with employee Units 3, 4, 5 and 10.
FISCAL IMPACT: _X_ None __Budgeted __Non-Budgeted
Estimated Cost:
Amount Budgeted:
Additional Requested:
Annual Cost (if planned for future years):
FISCAL IMPACT (Narrative): None
STAFFING IMPACT (if applicable): None
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Approve amendment to Paid Emergency Leave (PEL) policy in concept and direct HR to meet and confer with the remaining employee units.