Crawford County ‘leave time’ donation policy off the table

The proposed ordinance that would have given Crawford County employees the option to donate vacation time to co-workers in need has officially been taken off the table. But all hope is not lost for proponents of the idea.

In a meeting Tuesday night, the personnel committee of the Crawford County Quorum Court voted down the proposed ordinance, which was referred to the committee following a contentious Quorum Court meeting on May 23.

Even though the original ordinance was scrapped, the committee did decide to hold further meetings to craft a policy that would address concerns of both workers and Court members who felt uncomfortable with an ordinance that committee chairman James Lane said came out of nowhere.

But according to County Judge John Hall, the ordinance was a result of the Court asking that he get the number of accrued vacation days among county workers down to a reasonable amount.

"This was a good idea because you (the Quorum Court) have told us to get these vacation days down," he said. "If you want to get these times down, let employees use it or let employees in need use it."

Hall said some county workers who have been on the payroll for decades could receive up to four weeks of accrued vacation in addition to previously-banked vacation from years past. He added that in many cases, those workers are unable to use all of the vacation days they have before losing some at the end of the calendar year.

Instead of having those employees lose the time, Hall said they should be able to donate the time to an employee who may have a catastrophic illness or may be using the Family Medical Leave Act to care for a loved one suffering from a catastrophic illness. He said employees were once able to donate sick time before the Quorum Court excluded that benefit from an updated employee handbook a year and a half ago.

Lane raised a concern about the possibility of abuse should the court approve an updated policy allowing donation of vacation pay. In response, County Clerk Teresa Armer said in the last five years, only 12 individuals had used the old policy.

"Twelve people used it back to 2008," she said. "Two people were given it twice. One was for surgery. One had cancer and she passed away. Another was for a person whose family member was dying and we had another who took it and has since died."

She said of the 12 to have used the old system, she believes it was only possibly abused once, according to her records.

Additionally, she made the point to committee members that while the county abides by the federal government's FMLA policies, that does not cover lost wages, it only guarantees a position when the individual returns to work.

"This is something that is not being abused and I feel like it needs to continue," she said.

Committee member Elaina Damante, who has not been a champion of the ordinance previously, did seem to soften her opposition to the ordinance during the meeting, saying that the "human factor" needs to be taken into account.

"You have to look at the human factor. Even in business, you have to have the human factor," she told Lane, who previously told The City Wire that re-establishing a leave time donation policy would put an undue burden on the county's budget and would require the court to raise taxes.

Hall made clear last night that while Lane may still view the donation of accrued vacation hours from county employees to another employee in need as costing the county, he believes it will save the county money in the long run.

"The thing about it is, he does get paid for that year but he has two weeks of bank out there. The next year, he gets three weeks, so he gets that banked. Now he's got five weeks banked. Then he gets ten or fifteen years, then he gets four weeks banked. So he actually working his job, getting his salary and banking this savings account out here on his vacation time," Hall said. "If he decides to retire or leave or whatever reason, says he's going to retire or get out of here, then we have to pay him for that time or keep him in that slot until such time as that is all completed. I paid one, when I was first in here, six months. Couldn't even have a person in that slot. She had accrued that much vacation time."

During that time, benefits including retirement and health insurance are still being paid out, Hall said, which is why he says it is actually cheaper for the county to have the donation system established.

The personnel committee decided to continue meeting on the issue of how to form a policy that can be both please both county workers and the Quorum Court. The first scheduled meeting will take place Tuesday (June 18) following the regularly-scheduled Quorum Court meeting.

As a part of those meetings, committee member Stanley Clark presented policies from other governments that have donated leave time programs. The policies closely followed FMLA guidelines in determining who is allowed to apply for the donated leave time, he said.

Other elected officials, including Circuit Clerk Sharon Blount-Baker, said they would like any resulting ordinance to include language allowing department heads, such as herself, to have input in the determination of which employees receive donated leave time, something that was missing from the original ordinance.

"I don't like it now as it is. We don't have input," she said.

Another possibility Clark said should be considered was a bank where hours may be donated but anyone taking donation would have to pay back the bank with accrued time. He said it was a program he had discovered was offered in other out-of-state municipalities.

Either way, he and the rest of the county's elected officials agreed on one thing.

"It's for catastrophic illness, not for being sick and saying, 'I feel bad,'" Clark said.