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August 2, 2012

County employees getting more time off

Salesha Wilken Claremore Progress

CLAREMORE — Rogers County Commissioners Mike Helm and Kirt Thacker voted this week to support a measure to revise sick and vacation time for employees.

Commissioner Dan DeLozier voted against the policies he said were “wrong.”
“I feel this is wrong and, in my opinion, we don’t need to give this kind of time,” DeLozier said.
Rogers County employees will now receive three weeks of personal leave, formally noted as sick time each year. 
Employees will receive a minimum of three weeks vacation time with the possibility to earn up to five weeks according to years of service. 
“I personally believe three weeks of personal leave is excessive,” DeLozier said.
 “The reason we looked to change this is because they are not paid at the top of the pay ranges,”  said Rogers County Human Resource Director Jenny Bentley.  “We don’t have the option to pay more, so you give more time off,”
County records reflect that the average employee with Rogers County earns $2,978 monthly or $35,736 annually.
Elected officials earn $5,000 per month or $60,000 per year.
Professional jobs pay at various rates. Recent positions for the E911 director and Human Resources director were hired in at the rate of approximately $4,750 per month or $57,000 per year. 
County employees also receive paid health insurance and are eligible for state government retirement benefits.
The previous policy awarded six days of sick leave during the first year of service and 12 days each year thereafter.
Previously, the employees would only receive two weeks vacation up to 10 years of service and at that time employees would earn an additional week.
The new policy increases sick time by three days and increases the accumulation rate from 960 hours to 1,040.
Vacation time accrual was changed as employees were not allowed to carryover vacation but can now accrue up to 400 hours depending on years of service.
The “bank” of vacation time however is not paid out to employees unless they officially retire.
The policy changes an employee’s ability to receive vacation pay upon retirement unless they are officially retiring through the state system.
Vacation leave will not be given to employees that resign or are terminated for cause. 
Essentially, employees will have to use or lose vacation time unless they are officially retiring from their position.
“The bottom line is that vacation time is not earned, it is a benefit,”  Thacker said. “I just don’t believe we should pay vacation time (when an employee leaves).”
“I went through 18 different counties’ policies in the past week,” DeLozier said.  “Nobody takes away people’s vacation when they quit and they are not allowed to bank 400 hours of time.”  
Bentley met with employees during the prior week and they were generally supportive of the change, she said.
“How do you enforce this when all they have to do is say that they are taking a personal day off.” DeLozier said. 
It does not require documents to back up they were at a meeting with an attorney for example, DeLozier explained.
“It is better for the employee. It is employee friendly,” Bentley said.  It is for taking care of things that cannot be taken care of after working hours, one example she provided including business at a child’s school, she explained.
 “I am for employees, don’t get me wrong, I am for the employees here, but in good conscience I can not give five weeks vacation time with tax payer dollars,” DeLozier said. “I don’t feel good about it in any way.”
DeLozier said he has employees that have been here more than 21 years and they work hard.
People in the private sector work hard everyday also and they don’t get five weeks vacation, he explained.
“I feel this is wrong and in my opinion we don’t need to give this kind of time,” DeLozier said.
“This is not the private sector, this is county tax payer dollars,” DeLozier said. “There are a lot of people that pay their taxes everyday to run the government, and here we are going to give four and five weeks of vacation, three weeks from the day they come in to start work. I don’t feel comfortable with that.” 
“I agree for me it’s a bottom line thing,” Thacker said. “I am in agreement with that.”
Thacker then proceeded to vote in favor of the policy.
The policy became effective Wednesday. Vacation and sick time will accrue on a monthly basis.
“This is a great thing for Rogers County current and future employees. It shows appreciation to our current employees. By giving employees more time off to take care of personal business or take that long awaited vacation, you show your employees how much you appreciate them and they reciprocate by producing more great work. It’s also a great recruitment tool. When you combine fantastic benefits with a positive culture, it will get noticed,” Bentley said.

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