Government : Benton County Handbook Changes Approved: Sections 4.2-4.5

There was some confusion concerning changes to the Benton County Handbook. It was clarified by a resolutions this week.

The supervisors approved an Amended Resolution #24-73 Handbook revisions to Section 4.2-4.5. It reads as follows:

WHEREAS, the Benton County Employee Handbook sections 4.2-4.5 covering Vacation, Sick, Parental, Donated, and Bereavement Leave are amended and attached hereto as Exhibit A.

NOW, THERERORE, Be It Resolved by the Board of Supervisors of Benton County, Iowa, as follows:

Section 1. The Handbook section attached hereto as Exhibit A is hereby adopted and shall be dated as of the date hereof.

Section 2. All resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.

Passed and approved August 20, 2024. Section 4.2 will go into effect January 1, 2025, upon employee anniversary date. Sections 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5 will go into effect January 1, 2025.

"Exhibit A"

BENTON COUNTY, IOWA

HANDBOOK POLICIES AND PROCEDURES RE: LEAVE SECTIONS 4.2-4.5

VACATION 4.2

A regular full-time employee is eligible to receive vacation as follows:

Anniversary Date: Days Granted:

Upon Hire 5 days

Starting at 6 months of employment 5 additional days

Starting 1st year of employment 10 days

Starting 2nd year of employment 10 days

Starting 3rd year of employment 10 days

Starting 4th year of employment 10 days

Starting 5th year of employment 15 days

Starting 6th year of employment 16 days

Starting 7th year of employment 17 days

Starting 8th year of employment 18 days

Starting 9th year of employment 19 days

Starting 10th year of employment 20 days

Starting 11th year of employment 21 days

Starting 12th year of employment 22 days

Starting 13th year of employment 23 days

Starting 14th year of employment 24 days

Starting 15th year of employment 25 days - maximum vacation

New employees may be granted additional paid vacation days upon hiring (not to exceed 25 days), at the discretion of the department head and with the approval of the Board of Supervisors.

All vacation is based on continuous employment.

The scheduling of vacation time must be approved in advance by the department head. Vacation time earned shall be based on the employee's anniversary date.

All vacations must be taken during the twelve-month period following the anniversary date of qualifying employment unless approved in writing by the official in charge with a written copy to the Auditor's Office with a copy provided to HR prior to the employee's anniversary date. Vacation time carried over must be taken within the time period specified by the department head. No more than ten days may be carried over in this fashion. An employee who has not used his or her vacation time and has not been granted an extension as set out above will lose that time.

Temporary, seasonal and part-time employees are not eligible for paid vacation leave.

Vacation time may only be "cashed in" upon separation from employment or upon written approval of the department head and the Board of Supervisors.

Approved 8.20.24 to go into effect 1.1.25 upon your anniversary date

SICK LEAVE 4.3

Regular full-time employees will accrue sick leave at the rate of 5.5 hours per 75/80-hour pay period. The maximum number of hours that an employee will be able to accrue is 750 hours for those employees whose normal workday is 7½ hours and 800 hours for those employees whose normal workday is 8 hours. Should an employee go below 750/800 hours, they will again accrue at the rate of 5.5 hours per pay period. If in any pay period an employee used more that 37½ or 40 hours of sick leave depending on the employee's normal work week, no sick leave will be earned for that pay period.

Accumulated sick leave may be used for any of the following:

* Illness, injury, medical or dental appointments of employee, partner, parent or child. In such cases, sick leave shall be charged in half-hour increments with a minimum of ½ hour. Absence of more than ½ hour shall be charged at the next highest half-hour.

It is the intent of Benton County to comply with the Federal Family Medical Leave Act and its

amendments. Employees should refer to Benton County's policy "Family Medical Leave".

The department head may, at their discretion, request verification by a healthcare professional that

an illness or injury has occurred.

PARENTAL LEAVE

It is the policy of Benton County to grant parental leave upon the request of the employee for the birth of a child, or placement of a child with the employee for adoption. Employees will be granted three weeks of paid leave time. Anything beyond this would be unpaid unless employee has other leave banks with time available.

SICK LEAVE CONVERSION

At the request of an employee who has reached the maximum accumulation of sick leave (100 days) at the beginning of a month and does not use any sick leave during that month, the hours of sick leave the employee would have accrued during that same month may be converted as follows:

a. into vacation time at the rate of five sick hours to one vacation hour (5:1), OR

b. to pay at the rate of five hours of sick leave to one hour of pay (5:1).

Employee requests for conversion must be filed with the Auditor's Office at a minimum of two times a year. Requests for conversion on hours earned prior to June 1st must be filed by June 1st of that year and requests for conversion on hours earned between June 1st and December 1st of each must be filed by December 1st of that year. Employees not requesting conversion in accordance with the stated dates will not be eligible to convert the sick leave hours earned in accordance with this section. This does not prohibit employees from requesting conversion on a more frequent basis.

Sick leave conversion to vacation time will be subject to all of the provisions of this handbook pertaining to vacation time.

Sick leave shall expire on the date of separation from the County and no employee shall be reimbursed for sick leave outstanding at the time of such separation. Exception: At retirement (retirement for this purpose is defined as eligible to draw IPERS), that employee may convert the accrued sick hours into a Retirement Health Savings Account (RHS Plan) to be used for post-retiree health care expenses and/or premiums. There shall be no payout of any sick leave balance for employees who involuntarily terminate or resign in lieu of termination, or if you fail to provide 30 days-notice of your retirement.

DONATED LEAVE 4.4

Benton County offers employees the ability to receive and donate leave due to a personal or immediate family member's catastrophic illness or injury.

Definitions

"Employee" means a full-time or regular part-time employee as defined in the County Employee Handbook.

"Recipient" means an employee who is receiving donated leave, "Donor" means an employee

who is donating leave to a recipient.

"Immediate family member" means the employee's child, parent, or spouse, as defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act section of the County Employee Handbook.

"Catastrophic illness" means a physical or mental illness or injury, as certified by a licensed physician, or an employee or an immediate family member that will result in the inability of the employee to report to work on their normal schedule for more than 30 work days due to the need to attend to themselves or the immediate family member on a consecutive or intermittent basis. "Donated leave" means a donor's personal day, vacation or sick leave donated to a recipient. Program Eligibility

In order to receive donated leave, a recipient must:

1. Have a catastrophic illness or have an immediate family member with a catastrophic illness, and whom the employee is providing care, which may include transportation or other necessary services.

2. Have exhausted, or will exhaust within 2 weeks, all paid leave for which they are eligible.

3. Not be receiving Federal or State disability benefits for the catastrophic event that you are

requesting the donated leave for.

4. Be approved for and using or have exhausted Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave.

5. Submit a completed Donated Leave Request form to their Department Head. All employees, exempt or non-exempt, are eligible to request donated leave.

Program Requirements

A. Vacation hours, personal day hours and sick hours will be donated on an hour for hour

basis.

B. Recipients will not be eligible to receive paid holidays, accrue vacation, accrue sick leave,

or accrue longevity based on donated leave hours.

C. A donor may donate as much of their accrued vacation, sick, and personal time as they

wish.

D. A recipient may receive up to 120 days calculated using the recipient's normal work day hours of donated leave. A recipient may receive more than 120 days if department head agrees. The recipient may work intermittently to extend their period of donated leave if approved by their department head.

E. Donated leave shall not be returned to the donor once donated. All unused leave is

forfeited.

Procedure

Donated Leave Request from Human Resources. Upon the submission of a completed Donated Leave Request, the Human Resources Office will distribute a notice to all departments indicating that an employee is eligible to receive donated leave. Donors may will then submit Donated Leave Contribution forms to their department head for signature. Once signed, department heads will forward to Human Resources for signature. The Human Resources office will then send completed forms to Auditor's Office so the time can be added to the recipient's leave bank.

Confidentiality of donors and recipients will be maintained to the extent possible.

The recipient shall only use the donated leave for the specific leave requested on the Donated Leave Request form.

Union employees may donate leave to non-union employees under the provisions of their negotiated contract. Non-union employees may donate leave under the provisions of this Employee Handbook.

FUNERAL/BEREAVEMENT LEAVE 4.5

Employees may be granted up to (5) days of paid time off in the event of the death of a family

member subject to department approval. A family member is defined as, and limited; to the

employee's spouse or domestic partner, children, grandchildren, step children, legal wards,

parents, grandparents, stepparents, brothers, stepbrothers, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law,

sisters, stepsisters, daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, first

cousins, corresponding relatives of the employee's spouse or domestic partner, and other

persons who are members of the employee's household. This also includes loss of pregnancy.

The department head may, at their discretion, request verification of the loss of life.

One day shall be granted to those who officially participate, (eg. pall bearer or color guard) in the services of a non-family member.

Sections 4.3 4.4 and 4.5 Approved 8.20.24 to go into effect 1.1.25