Pulaski County's 1,200 employees will have slightly expanded leave-time benefits after the Quorum Court passed an ordinance Tuesday night updating the county's personnel policy for the first time since the 1980s.
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The measure passed 9-2, with District 7 Justice of the Peace Teresa Coney, D-Little Rock, and District 8 Justice of the Peace Curtis Keith, D-Mabelvale, voting against it.
District 4 Justice of the Peace Julie Blackwood, D-Little Rock, District 9 Justice of the Peace Wilma Walker, D-College Station, District 10 Justice of the Peace Robert Green, D-McAlmont, and District 11 Justice of the Peace Bob Johnson, D-Jacksonville, were absent from the meeting. Blackwood was the lead sponsor of the measure.
In an effort to make calculations more efficient for the payroll department, the ordinance rounds up the hours of leave time earned by employees to simpler numbers, supporters said. Some also saw the ordinance as a benefit for all of the employees, who have not been granted requested raises in four years.
During last year's budget discussions, the Quorum Court tossed aside a binder full of personnel requests because of budget constraints.
The ordinance was first proposed in February but has gone through changes, readings and multiple tablings since then.
Employees will see from three more days of vacation per year to four and three-quarters more days.
All employees will also earn one more sick day each year, from 12 to 13.
Previously, employees were granted hours and minutes of vacation leave per pay period, such as three hours and 42 minutes for employees working with the county for three to five years. Now those employees will have the benefit rounded up to an even five hours, though even the rounding makes the number of total days earned in a year 16.25, according to the ordinance.
Keith questioned whether the ordinance actually solved the problem that the payroll department was having with the calculations.
"I thought we were solving a rounding problem," he said.
Comptroller Mike Hutchens, who oversees the payroll department, said the figures were much easier to deal with than the old ones, where employees could end up with ".62" to work with to calculate leave time.
"I think our employees can swing that," he said of the new numbers.
District 13 Justice of the Peace Phil Stowers, R-Maumelle, worked on the ordinance and said it was an improvement because it also took away an employee's ability to turn sick days into vacation days at a 2-to-1 rate after earning 240 sick leave hours.
He urged the Quorum Court's approval of the ordinance, calling his work with Blackwood and the county a "bipartisan effort."
District 15 Justice of the Peace Shane Stacks, R-North Little Rock, told employees that he did not support the ordinance for its increase in "optional benefits" that he said the county would pay for in one way or another.
"But I support it as a policy fix," he said.
Metro on 08/28/2014