Revisions coming to county employee handbook

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has started the process of making revisions to its employee handbook.
At the regular Montgomery County Board of Supervisors meeting May 2, the supervisors reviewed some noted corrections to the handbook, including those submitted from county engineer Karen Albert. Ozuna said department heads had been notified but input was limited.
“I sent a notice to all the department heads telling them if they saw something in the handbook that needed changed to let me know. So far, Karen Albert is the only one that has submitted any changes,” Ozuna said.
One question raised about the handbook was whether or not employees of other boards followed the stipulations of the employee handbook. Montgomery County Public Health coordinator Samantha Beeson, who serves with the Montgomery County Public Health Board said they had policies that were in line with the county.
“Our policies can not be any more lenient than what the county has, we can only have a more strict policy. Most of our policies line up with the county, and we try to keep it as similar as we can, there are just a few things that are slightly different,” Beeson said.
Ozuna confirmed that the other boards with separate policy had the same stipulations and could not be any more lenient in policy than what was put in place by the handbook.
Also under discussion was whether overtime should be changed from employee discretion to department head discretion. The supervisors were in agreement with making the change.
The supervisors also discussed vacation carry over days and the length of employee lunch breaks. Further details will be discussed at a future board of supervisors meeting.
One issue raised was whether to allow for the transfer of sick leave between employees. Robinson said the transfer initially came about when an employee from a department was seriously injured, and other employees from that department transferred some of their own sick leave to help out. Olson felt it was very important.
“It’s a big deal. It’s been done at least two times in the secondary roads department since Karen Albert has been with us,” Olson said. “I feel like we should leave it alone. When you talk to employees, that’s huge. It’s an insurance policy to them if they have a major issue and use all of their vacation or sick time. I’d hate to take that away from them.”
Olson was of the opinion that it be left alone entirely. It was suggested that the hours donations be limited to vacation time only.
Ozuna wanted to add stipulations that donated sick time could not be used in conjunction with workman’s compensation, a 100 hour cap of donated sick time, per person, over a three-year period, and no new sick time accrual if the employee was using accumulated sick time.
“Those are the three things I’d like added if we keep this in place. It will also help eliminate abuse of the donation of sick time, and keep things fair for everyone,” said Ozuna.
The supservisors were in agreement with the changes. Future handbook updates will be discussed at a future board of supervisors meeting.

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