3.g Discussion on Personnel policy for paid time off
Staff Report
Date of Meeting:
To: City Council
From: Neil Soltis, Administrator
Re: Policy on Paid Time Off (PTO)
Background: The City’s Personnel Policy provides that an employee shall not have more than 480
hours of PTO accrued at any time unless a written request has been submitted to and approved
by the City Administrator and the City Council. Earlier this year Brenda Eklund reached the
point where her PTO balance accumulated to the 480 hours and continues to accumulate at
8.31 hours per 2-week pay cycle. This leaves Brenda in the position of either taking the bi-
weekly accumulation off each pay period or losing the time.
Further, in the interim period between Administrators, the opportunities to take time off each
pay period will be diminished.
Issue: Should Brenda be approved to accumulate PTO hours in excess of the 480 hour maximum?
Proposal Details: With the diminished opportunities for time-off during the interim which is
anticipated to last into August ample time should be provided to Brenda to utilize the PTO hours
that she has earned. I would recommend that Brenda be provided 1-year from the start date of the
new Administrator in order to utilize any PTO accumulation above the 480 hours.
While the need is not immediate I would also recommend that the Council look at modifying the
policy on PTO to have a maximum carryover at the last pay of the year of 480 hours. In cases such
as Brenda’s this would eliminate the need to make frequent payroll adjustments in order to cap the
maximum PTO accumulation at 480 hours.
Fiscal Impact: None
Options:
1. Approve the accumulation of paid time off over 480 hours until the 1-year anniversary date
of the new Administrator
2. Approve the accumulation with a different timeframe
3. Take no action to allow accumulation over 480 PTO hours
Recommendation: Option 1