Appointed Committees

February 28, 2023 Ad Hoc Meeting - Employee Benefits and Wage Review Ad Hoc Committee Ad Hoc Meeting – Employee Benefits and Wage Review – February 28, 2023 AT 4:30 P.M. Members Present: Mark Jantzer, Scott Burlingame, Terri Philion, Lisa Jundt, Derek Hackett, Travis Seifert, Harold Stewart, Kevin Ternes, Margie Zietz Members Absent: Laurie Davis, Stephan Podrygula, Dallas Varty Also Present: Mikayla McWilliams (City Clerk) The meeting was called to order by Chairman Mark Jantzer at 4:30 pm. City Manager, Harold Stewart, discussed with the committee the recommendations the management team has been working on. There are some items the management team is still in discussions on but all recommendations will be presented to the committee by the next meeting on March 14, 2023. Alderman Jantzer asked HR Director, Lisa Jundt, to educate the committee on the current policies/leave the city has. Lisa started by discussing holiday pay. The City of Minot allows 10 paid holidays. The last change to holidays was in 2019 when Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was added as a paid holiday. In 2015, the rotating schedule for Christmas was adopted into the policy. If a holiday lands on a weekend, the holiday is then observed on the Friday prior or Monday after. Annual leave is based on the employee’s years of service. In 2019, two days were added to the accruals and the vacation roll over amount went from 240 hours to 300 hours. If an employee is over 300 hours at the end of December, the employee will lose the time earned. All employees accrue sick leave at the same rate of 1 day per month. Sick leave is for employee use and expanded sick leave is for the use of a family member stated in the policy. An employee is allowed 40 hours of expanded sick leave for the calendar year. Bereavement leave is a set designated amount of days employees are allowed to take for certain family members funerals. The time used is taken from the employee’s sick leave bank. Maternity allows for sick leave to be used and paternity is linked to expanded sick leave and allow for two extra days. The personal day is based on years of service. An employee is not given a personal day until January 1st after the employee has completed his/her probationary period. Military leave is based on the state statue. Long-term disability has a 180-day elimination period and is a group policy where all employees are covered. Alderman Jantzer opened it up to the committee to discuss the items on the agenda. Travis Seifert brought up the idea of PTO and how it was discussed at the employee committee but no plan was brought forward. He mentioned a vast majority of the employees he has spoken with do not want to move towards a PTO plan. Kevin Ternes has also been contacted by employees and he felt there was a lot of angst about moving to PTO. Harold Stewart mentioned the management team has discussed the idea of PTO. They are looking into a concept of PTO but no plan is ready to present. The management team has been having conversations about many of the policies. The team will develop a concept for consideration and will bring back to the committee at the next meeting on March 14th. Alderman Jantzer spoke about how the current leaves are vast and have to be tracked and administered. Derek Hackett wanted the committee to be presented with answers to questions pertaining to what happens with current sick leave banks, is it an equal or more accrual rate, and the impact for shift work if the city would change to a PTO plan. Travis also brought to the committee’s attention that the personal day is 8 hours and shift work is more than that. He thought maybe it should be tied to the number of hours in the shift. Harold did state the possibility of changing the Page 1 of 2 language and matching it to a shift. Harold also stated that any changes made will be equal or greater in value than is already available to the employees. Travis also wanted the committee to look into the possibility of the personal day/shift to be given to an employee on the completion of their probationary period. Harold stated the PTO plan that will be presented will have the personal time included into the accrual rate. Margie Zietz wanted to discuss the bereavement leave. She thought maybe the language should be changed because not every family plans a funeral sometimes it is a celebration of life or spreading of ashes. Harold responded by stating this language has not been enforced stating it has to be a funeral. Alderman Burlingame wanted to mention he believes there should be some flexibility built into the policy for other relationships. Harold let the committee know the management team has already discussed adding into the bereavement leave policy the employee can reach out to the City Manager for approval for other circumstances. Terri Philion asked the committee to consider the idea of not tying bereavement to the sick leave bank of the employee. Her employer allows for 3 days bereavement per 12 months. Alderman Burlingame also mentioned the maternity/paternity leave policy might not have enough paternity leave or flexibility for such situations as adoption. Lisa did mention that FMLA covers adoption up to 12 weeks leave but it does not have to be paid leave. Travis opened up the discussion on the possibility of employees donating their sick leave banks at the termination of employment. Lisa reminded the committee that with the recommendation of the short-term disability plan there would be no need for sick leave banks to be donated. Margie asked more about the sick leave bank and committee. She wanted to know when an employee can request time from the sick leave bank and who is part of the committee that decides it if is an appropriate catastrophic illness or injury. Lisa thought the link to the full sick leave bank policy could be added to the brief summary in the personnel policy. The employees can opt into the sick leave bank at the time of open enrollment if they have more than 88 hours of sick leave and the use of the sick leave bank is not requested often. Harold reminded everyone that short-term disability is for 6 months and then long-term disability would kick in. You are covered under the policies if you have an injury or illness at the time of employment even if you are unable to keep working for the City of Minot. These policies should provide a safety net for all employees. Alderman Jantzer also discussed jury duty leave and how it is an obligation as a citizen and any employee involved in court proceedings where the City of Minot is involved their pay would be subject to the pay and overtime rules. Margie asked about the FMLA process and when the 12 weeks starts for an employee. Lisa mentioned FLMA requires a 30-day notice unless it is not able to be prevented such as sudden illness or injury. Certification is required from a doctor and that is when the 12-week period begins or when the sudden illness/injury occurs. The city can designate the date if the paperwork is not filled out by the employee. The next meeting will be Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 12:00 pm. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:19 pm. Page 2 of 2