Orange County Board of Supervisors Approves Employee Leave Policy Revisions
By: Orange County Communications Department
At the Board of Supervisors ’ meeting on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, adjustments to personnel policies related to paid leave were approved. The requested revisions were first brought before the Board by the Orange County Human Resources Department at the Board ’ s February 8, 2022 Worksession. They were adjusted over subsequent meetings following discussion and recommendations from the Board. The final amended policies (5.1, 5.2, 5.5, and 5.10 in Orange County ’ s Personnel Policies) will bring about several changes intended to align Orange County ’ s benefits with those of other localities, to make Orange County more competitive as an employer, and to retain current employees. The revisions will take effect in late April or early May. Below are highlights from the changes, but please review the appropriate policy or contact Human Resources for additional details.
Changes to Policy 5.1 - Annual Leave
• Paid Time Off (PTO) has been eliminated in favor of annual and sick leave for all full - time employees. Those previously earning PTO hours will have that time converted to annual and sick leave. • An additional “ Years of Service ” tier has been added for employees who have served at least fifteen (15), but less than twenty (20), years. Full - time employees entering this tier will receive an increase in paid annual leave accrual.
• Full - time employees will now receive one (1) paid personal day annually, which expires at year ’ s end.
• Orange County employees who leave, or are terminated, within their first year of service will not receive a payout of their accumulated annual leave.
Changes to Policy 5.2 - Sick Leave
• Permanent part - time employees whose standard schedule is at least twenty (20) hours per week will now receive 1.85 hours of paid sick leave per pay period.
• The six (6) week limitation on paid sick leave use for the birth of a child has been removed.
• Orange County employees who leave, or are terminated, within their first year of service will not receive a payout of their accrued sick leave.
Changes to Policy 5.5 - Bereavement Leave
• To better accommodate those not categorized as forty (40) hour employees, such as Fire & EMS or Sheriff ’ s Office employees, the amount of bereavement leave has been revised from twenty - four (24) hours to three (3) days. • It is no longer required that employees utilize bereavement leave in consecutive days, but it must be used within two (2) weeks of the family member ’ s passing.
Changes to Policy 5.10 - Donation of Sick Leave
• Permanent part - time employees are now eligible to request donated sick leave.
• Donated sick leave requests may not exceed twenty - one (21) days or 168 hours per illness/injury.
These explanations do not replace the official language in the Personnel Policy Manual. Employees with questions about these changes should contact Orange County Human Resources for clarification.
Page 2 | April, 2022
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter