May 29, 2015
County OKs employment policy changes
The Cortland County Legislature Thursday approved changing the county’s employment policy to allow management employees to accumulate a week’s worth of compensatory time.
The vote was 15-2. Legislators Susan Briggs (R-Cortlandville) and Linda Jones (R-Homer) were opposed.
The new policy would allow department heads and management employees to accumulate one week of compensatory time, which is accrued when working beyond normal business hours.
For example, it would apply to employees who attend community meetings in the evenings and on weekends, attend Legislative sessions and committee meetings, or work after hours or on weekends when the work cannot wait until the work day or hours.
Employees could log these hours as they would their normal work week hours, taking time off during the regular work day to allow them to attend to these other obligations.
The time would be earned hour for hour based on a 35- or 40-hour-per-week position.
Legislator Kevin Whitney (R-Cortlandville) said this morning the policy is coming forward because legislators have been wanting to give department heads compensatory time. However, Whitney said that previous Legislature Chair Briggs did not want to bring the policy forward when she was in that seat.
Whitney added that department heads have been asking for the compensatory time policy because they lose many of their vacation days and he feels they deserve that extra paid time.
“They are so busy, they don’t take the time off,” Whitney said.
The other scenario would be to pay overtime to the employees, which Whitney said would be an “astronomical” cost for the county.
Briggs said during legislative session Thursday night that she thinks offering compensatory time for employees will cause an unnecessary financial burden on the county budget.
“I would have to disagree that there’s no financial impact with this,” Briggs said.
Annette Barber, personnel director, said the policy gives the opportunity for employees to use their compensation time but it does not mean they are required to use it. All earned and used time will be reported to the Personnel Department, according to the policy.
Barber said there are about 75 department heads who would be impacted by this compensatory time policy, adding she thinks the compensatory time is long overdue for department heads who work so hard.
Briggs stressed that when county employees signed the employment policy agreement, they knew they were not getting any compensatory time and agreed to that policy.
Whitney said during legislative session that the department heads deserve compensatory time and it would not have a financial impact because employees are unable to cash out their compensatory time when they leave a position.
In the policy, it states “unused compensatory time will not be paid at time of separation from service.”
“There’s no pay out,” Whitney said. “There’s nothing in terms of cash in hand going to that employee.”
Whitney added that department heads need to be recognized for their work, adding that compensatory time is a small way to say “thank you” for all the extra time they put into their jobs.
Newly appointed Director of Budget and Finance Peggy Mousaw said after session Thursday evening that she has not had a chance to review the policy and did not want to comment on Cortland County’s specific policy.
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