Some out-of-scope city employees have carried 40 days of vacation time and earned days off from one year to the next, but a new policy aims to reduce that number to five.
City administration encourages out-of-scope staff to use their holidays and earned days off — or scheduled days off (SDOs) — in the year they are earned, but the needs and expectations of the community, city council, city manager and employees themselves sometimes dictate that these employees work regardless of circumstances, a council report explained.
The pandemic is a good example since most out-of-scope (OOS) staff took off no time for months due to various demands, the report continued. Other reasons for not taking time off include vacancies, service demands, large projects, proper coverage and staff shortages.
“Those employees (who) forgo holidays and time off to ensure that services continue should not be penalized,” the report added, “and there needs to be a provision to carry forward holidays.”
To address the carryover, the human resources department — with input from the personnel committee — submitted several recommendations during the Sept. 21 regular council meeting, including that:
- council approve a revised OOS vacation leave, SDO, and carryover provisions policy, which provides a four-year strategy to reduce how many days can be carried into a new year;
- OOS employees be notified immediately that the policy of SDO carryover from year to year will be discontinued effected Jan. 1, 2022 and the principle of “use it or lose it” would apply from that date onward, while SDOs be included in the entitlement carryover limit until that date; and
- newly hired permanent and non-permanent full-time OOS employees be immediately provided with a maximum carryover limit of five vacation days.
Council voted 6-1 to adopt the motions; Coun. Brian Swanson was opposed.
Council discussion
Besides personnel committee, council has also discussed this issue during budget deliberations, said Mayor Fraser Tolmie. The concern council has is it wants to ensure employees have balance, but that they also use their entitled vacation time when appropriate.
A work-day for out-of-scope employees is roughly seven hours and 15 minutes, while they sometimes work an additional 33 minutes a day, which entitles them to 17 SDOs, claimed Swanson. That number of SDOs was reduced to 12 in 1991 before rising again to 17 in 1995. The policy then was “use it or lose it” since OOS employees could not carry those days forward.
However, the former city manager changed that policy without council input in 2014 and allowed OOS employees to bank those days, which quickly led to some staff carrying forward more than 40 days, the councillor continued. As some employees worked longer with the municipality, they accumulated 54 vacation/SDO days, giving them a four-day work week.
The build-up of carryover days has created a financial liability of $307,000 for which taxpayers are responsible, Swanson added. Moose Jaw has had a generous policy for too long, and it needs to change.
City manager Jim Puffalt refuted Swanson’s claim of how long OOS employees — such as himself — work, noting most work all day to ensure a job gets done.
Background
The current carryover entitlement policy was enacted in January 2014 and was capped at 40 days, including combined vacation and SDOs, explained Al Bromley, director of human resources. OOS employees who exceed the maximum number receive a mandatory payout in the first quarter of the new fiscal year. Full payouts occur when employees either resign or retire.
“This policy had some success in reducing the numbers of employees with carryover exceeding 40 days,” he said.
The new policy states that employees hired after Oct. 1, 2020 would have a maximum carryover of five vacation days, while SDOs would have to be used in the year they are earned.
Meanwhile, employees hired before Oct. 1 are permitted to carry over a maximum of 40 days of combined SDOs and vacation leave. They would be given until Dec. 31, 2024, to reduce their banked carryover time to a maximum of five days.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Oct. 5.
