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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 2786-2014Sponsored by: Council Member Boyle CITY OF KENAI ORDINANCE NO. 2786 -2014 AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, ENACTING KMC 23.40.035 - BONA FIDE EMPLOYER - SPONSORED MEDICAL LEAVE SHARING ARRANGEMENT. WHEREAS, allowing employees to share accrued annual leave with other employees suffering medical emergencies provides a benefit to employees in times of hardship and opportunity for co- employees to provide assistance as desired; and, WHEREAS, in order for employees to donate leave without tax consequences to the donating employees, a Bona Fide Employer- Sponsored Medical Leave Sharing Arrangement must be established with certain minimum requirements met; and, WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the City to establish a Bona Fide Employer - Sponsored Medical Leave Sharing Arrangement for its employees which will benefit employees at little cost to the City. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, that Section 1. Form: That this is a code ordinance. Section 2. Enactment of Section 23.40.035 of the Kenai Municipal Code: That Kenai Municipal Code, Section 23.40.035 - Bona Fide Employer- Sponsored Medical Leave Sharing Arrangement, is hereby enacted as follows: 23.40.035 - Bona Fide Employer - Sponsored Medical Leave Sharing Arrangement ..i ca.ua.ico a� 1yuVW.l': (1) i. the requesting employee has made a request for leave under this section of code: ii. the amount of leave requested; generic procedural information; and Ordinance No. 2786 -2014 Page 2 of 3 iv. no protected health information or specific factual information may be disclosed. (2) donated leave. (3) (4) Leave donations will be used in order of receipt by the City's Human Resource office. Leave will be transferred as needed into the employee leave bank. Employees receiving donated leave may not cash out any donated leave. (5) Only employees who have exhausted all annual leave are eligible to receive donated leave. Donated leave can only be used for a medical emergency defined as a condition of the employee or employee's spouse Parent, or child, including bereavement for a spouse parent or child to the employee because the employee will have exhausted all annual leave. (6) Donated leave will not count towards the minimum hours of leave each employee must use each calendar year. (7) The City Manager shall create anv necessary complimentary policies and forms to implement this section of code Section 3. Severability: That if any part or provision of this ordinance or application thereof to any person or circumstances is adjudged invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall be confined in its operation to the part, provision, or application directly involved in all controversy in which this judgment shall have been rendered, and shall not affect or impair the validity of the remainder of this title or application thereof to other persons or circumstances. The City Council hereby declares that it would have enacted the remainder of this ordinance even without such part, provision, or application. Section 4. Effective Date: That pursuant to KMC 1.15.0700, this ordinance shall take effect 30 days after adoption. New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED] Ordinance No. 2786 -2014 Page 3 of 3 PASSED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, this 20th day of August, 2014. �— 6):i��fo4J PAT PORTER, MAYOR ATTEST, Sand •a o igh, dily Clerk Introduced: August 6, 2014 Adopted: August 20, 2014 Effective: September 19, 2014 New Test Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED] M "'Village with a Past, City with a Future" MEMO: 210 Fidalgo Avenue, Kenai, Alaska 99611 -7794 hMAhmd Telephone: 907 - 283 -7535 / FAX: 907 - 283 -3014 1 1111 r 1997 TO: City Council FROM: Rick Koch, City Manager DATE: August 13, 2014 SUBJECT: Ordinance 2786 -2014 The purpose of this correspondence is to provide comments for Council consideration regarding the above referenced ordinance. Administration is supportive of a policy that provides the opportunity for city employees to be able to donate accrued annual leave to fellow employees which may be experiencing hardship due to medical emergencies. Administration recognizes that annual leave is an earned asset which belongs to each city employee. There are two items that I would respectfully ask the Council to consider amending in this ordinance: "(2) .......Employees donating leave must have and maintain a minimum of 40 hours of accrued annual leave in their leave accounts." Under current code the City requires that employees maintain a minimum of eighty (80) hours of annual leave when "cashing out' annual leave. This ordinance would allow employees to donate annual leave but only require that a minimum of forty (40) hours of annual leave be maintained in their leave accounts. Administration recommends that the forty (40) hour provision in this ordinance be amended to eighty (80) hours. This will minimize the risk of someone donating leave and then find themselves in a similar position of hardship. "(3) All leave will be donated into an employee leave bank and received on an hour for hour basis without consideration of individual City wages." If leave is donated on an hour for hour basis, unless the employee donating the leave and the employee receiving the leave are at the same grade and step in the City's salary schedule, the City will either be required to provide a monetary supplement, or receive a monetary donation of the excess value of donated leave. This is easier to explain by example: Example No. 1 An employee that is a range 20 (F) donates an hour of leave to a fellow employee that is a range 9(C). The value of the leave for the employee making the donation is $45.06 per hour. The value of the leave for the employee receiving the donation is $24.59 per hour. The City would be the recipient of the excess value of donated leave, in this example, of $ 20.47 per hour. Example No. 2 An employee that is a range 9(C) donates an hour of leave to a fellow employee that is a range 20(F). The value of the leave for the employee making the donation is $24.59 per hour. The value of the leave for the employee receiving the donation is $45.06 per hour. The City would subsidize the insufficiency in the donation of leave by $20.47 per hour. If the donation of leave was based on the monetary value of the leave, donated and received, the following examples would apply: Example No. 1 An employee that is a range 20 (F) donates an hour of leave to a fellow employee that is a range 9(C). The value of the leave for the employee making the donation is $45.06 per hour. The value of the leave for the employee receiving the donation is $24.59 per hour. The employee receiving the donated leave would receive 1.832 hours of leave. Example No. 2 An employee that is a range 9(C) donates an hour of leave to a fellow employee that is a range 20(F). The value of the leave for the employee making the donation is $24.59 per hour. The value of the leave for the employee receiving the donation is $45.06 per hour. The employee receiving the donated leave would receive 0.545 hours of leave . I have asked the Finance Director if there are any budgetary issues with either an hour for hour system, or a monetary value system, and was told that neither system results in budgetary issues, since the value of all employee leave is provided for in the financial reports. Administration recommends that this provision be amended to read, "All leave will be donated into an employee leave bank and be received and distributed on a monetary basis." While this is my recommendation, I remain in support of the ordinance regardless of the method of calculation. KMC 23.40.030(j) currently provides for employees to borrow up to six months accrual of annual leave in the event of significant illness or injury. While this has minimized the need for a leave donation policy there have been instances in which employees have utilized all of their leave including borrowed leave, and a leave donation policy could be of significant benefit. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.