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Source: The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.自存倉Nov. 10--Some Luzerne County officials want to phase out the practice of paying workers for unused vacation and sick days when they leave employment.A few union contracts also allow workers to sell back leftover time once a year.Council's Strategic Initiatives Committee also is proposing caps on the number of days that may be rolled over from year to year."County buy-outs of unused leave time have been a financial drain on the county for several years, with retiring employees banking large sums of unused sick and vacation in lieu of large cash sums upon separation from the county," said Councilman Jim Bobeck, who chairs the committee.The committee came up with the recommendations as part of proposed workforce standards to be implemented by the administration for non-union workers and union workers as their collective bargaining agreements expire. Council approved the committee's suggested 37.5-hour work week standard but has not voted on the other recommendations.The county's 2014 general fund operating budget projects $177,246 will be spent buying back unused sick time and $21,000 for vacation time.The rules governing county buy-backs vary for non-union employees and other workers covered by 10 different collective bargaining agreements.Sick daysMost employees receive at least 15 sick days per year, though some newer employees get 10, 11 or 12. The highest number is 18 for prison workers, detectives hired before 2012 and non-union employees hired before August 2005.The most common provision allows departing workers to be paid for up to 60 unused sick days when they leave, but the per-day payment amounts vary -- $35, $40, $50, $70 and percentages of current pay rates.Up to 70 unused sick days can be cashed in by assistant district attorneys/public defenders when they leave, and the cap is 75 for rank-and-file residual unit workers.Prison union workers have the highest sick-day cashout. They can bank up to 125 sick days and are entitled to 40 percent of their current pay rate for that many days when they leave. The county also must buy back any days above that amount annually at current pay rates.Workers in three human service departments also have the added benefit of selling back unused sick days annually -- Mental Health, Children and Youth and Aging. If these employees already have a cushion of 48 unused sick days, they can sell back up to five days beyond that reserve annually at the prior year's pay rate for a maximum of $1,000.The Children and Youth union contract has an additional special provision allowing employees to sell back up to four unused personal, sick, vacation or compensatory days each December for $110 per day.The prison and three human service contracts are in negotiation because the four pacts expire the end of this year along with the contracts for assistant district attorneys/public defenders and the residual unit.Other leaveVacation leave typically ranges from five to 25 days annually, depending on years of service.Non-union employees and detectives receive 30 vacation days.County employees also receive 12 paid holidays annually and typically five personal days a year. The exceptions are four personal days for assistant district attorneys/public defenders and six for prison union workers.Most employees are permitted to carry unused vacation days into subsequent years, but the number varies from 20 to 55.Employees are then compensated for these unused days when they leave employment.In addition to Children and Youth, three other unions allow employees to cash in unused vacation days each year.Detectives can bank up to 55 holiday, vacation or personal days and have the option to sell them back at the end of e迷你倉ch year at their current hourly pay rate.Workers in the court-appointed professional and court-appointed support unions who have more than 15 unused vacation days can sell back up to 10 days each year at their current pay rate.While changes for union workers must be negotiated, benefits for non-union employees follow a 2005 personnel policy that can be revamped by the administration at any time under home rule.Prior commissioners enacted this policy because non-union workers had no official number of vacation or sick days. Before this policy, non-union employees received a $3,000 severance when they left county employment to cover unused sick and vacation time -- real or not.Argument for changeCouncilman Rick Williams, a committee member who has pushed for more uniformity in workforce benefits, said changes would add "fairness and predictability" to leave time.He wants employees to take their vacation time, not bank it, and said management must plan schedules accordingly."Vacations allow employees to refresh and re-energize and ensures the county is not dependent on any one employee to perform certain services," Williams said. "This provides a mechanism for cross-training and preventing redundancy."The strategic committee did not propose a specific ideal number of sick days that should be allotted.Experts say more counties are reducing sick time and buy-back options because they don't serve any benefit to taxpayers. Workers who are likely to abuse sick leave may use up as many days as they receive, but dedicated workers who only call in sick when they are ill receive an unnecessary benefit of accumulating or cashing in days.Affecting overtimeSick-time reductions can drastically reduce overtime, especially in prisons and other facilities that must meet minimum staffing levels, experts say.Taxpayers have long complained that county workers receive too many sick days, and a 2011 county controller's office analysis concluded roughly 1,500 county employees ended 2010 with 61,700 in unused sick days. Around 190 workers had saved up more than 100 unused days, and two had built up a cushion of more than 400.On the other end of the scale, nearly 300 workers ended 2010 with no remaining sick days, prompting county officials at the time to question if they were really sick or treating the sick days as vacation leave."There might be some reasonable amount of carryover for vacation or sick time, but it must be defined with limitations," Williams said.Bobeck said the hodgepodge of sick and vacation benefits lead to "financial guess work." He'd rather pay workers more if research shows their salaries are out of line and eliminate extra, inconsistent benefits, such as the vacation/sick buyouts and length-of-service bonuses granted to some union workers."We have to stop these hidden incentives that have become part of county employment," Bobeck said.Some employees have argued against a use-it-or-lose-it sick day approach because the county has no short- or long-term disability insurance coverage that would provide workers with partial pay if they must take off an extended period of work for a serious illness.County employees may take extended time off for an illness under the Family & Medical Leave Act, or FMLA. Employees continue to receive health benefits on FMLA leave but are only paid if they have unused sick and vacation days, officials have said.Some county unions have sick-day banks, which are pools of unused sick days donated by union employees to cover fellow workers who are ill but have used up their paid time.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) Visit The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at .timesleader.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage