HR Conference 2006 Tallahassee Florida November 14 15

HR Conference 2006 Tallahassee, Florida November 14 &15 Attendance and Leave HR Conference 2006 Programs ~ Processes ~ Partnerships ~ Programs ~ Processes ~ Partnerships

HR Conference 2006 Tallahassee, Florida November 14 &15 Recent Rule Interpretations • Family Sick Leave • Sick Leave Donation • Administrative Leave – Death • Annual Leave – DROP Programs ~ Processes ~ Partnerships ~ Programs ~ Processes ~ Partnerships

Rule Interpretation – Family Sick Leave • Question 1: For purposes of using family sick leave, must the children of the employee be minors? • Question 2: If the family member of the employee is a parent, must the parent live with the employee or have any sort of dependent status? Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation Family Sick Leave • Answer: No to both questions. • The intent of the family sick leave rule was to allow employees to attend to the medical needs of the specified family members or of other people for whom the employee may have caretaker responsibility (as defined by the agency). • The rule is very specific as to how the family member must be related to the employee (or the employee’s spouse), but is broad in that it does not address the age, residency, or dependent status of such family members. • Agencies do not have the authority to create internal policies that are more restrictive than the rule language implies. Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation - Family Sick Leave – Rule Citation • 60 L-34. 0042 Sick Leave. • (3) (c) Illness, injury, or well-care check-ups of the employee’s spouse, the children or parents of the employee or the spouse, or a person for whom the employee or the spouse has a caretaker responsibility, when the employee’s presence is necessary. Each agency shall establish an agency-wide definition of “caretaker. ” Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation – Sick Leave Donation • Question: Is there a waiting period or a required period of continuous employment before an employee can receive donated sick leave? Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation - Sick Leave Donation • Answer: No. • Provided the employee meets the eligibility requirements stipulated in 60 L-34. 0042(5)(e), F. A. C. , the rule does not require a waiting period or minimum period of employment in order for an employee to receive donated sick leave. • One of the State’s goals in establishing the transfer program was to provide another avenue by which employees who did not meet the criteria for sick leave pool membership or whose agencies did not sponsor a sick leave pool could avail themselves of sick leave credits. Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation - Sick Leave Donation – Rule Citation • • 60 L-34. 0042 Sick Leave (5) An agency may establish a formal sick leave transfer plan, which allows an employee to donate personal sick leave credits to another employee. (e) To be eligible to receive sick leave credits under the plan, an employee must meet the following conditions: 1. The employee has used all accrued sick and annual leave and all types of earned compensatory leave. 2. The employee has suffered a documented illness, accident or injury, and requires, as certified by the treating physician, absence from the workplace for a minimum of five consecutive workdays. Unless waived by the employing agency, transferred sick leave credits shall be used for absences associated with such documented conditions beginning with the sixth missed workday or partial workday or on the first day the employee has exhausted all leave credits, whichever is later. Donated leave may be used consecutively, intermittently or in increments of a quarter hour, as needed. 3. The employee is not eligible for disability leave. 4. The employee has not used more than 1040 hours of transferred sick leave credits in the preceding twelve-month period. Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation - Administrative Leave – Death in the Family • Question: • If an employee on a flexible work schedule requests 2 days of administrative leave for death in the family, is he entitled to 16 hours only, or should the number of hours equate to two workdays, based on his flex schedule? Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation Administrative Leave – Death in the Family • Answer: • The number of administrative leave hours that are to be charged in association with the two days for death in the family will correlate with the number of hours normally worked on the specific days that the employee takes the leave. • Rule 60 L-34. 0071(d) 1, provides that employees, upon request, shall be granted two days of administrative leave with pay for the death of certain specified family members. • By definition, the workday of an employee on an approved flexible work schedule deviates from the standard eight hours. Programs Processes Partnerships

Rule Interpretation Administrative Leave – Death in the Family – Rule Citation • • • 60 L-34. 0071 Administrative Leave. (1) Administrative leave counts as hours of pay, but does not count as hours of work for overtime purposes. (2) Approval of administrative leave, under subsection (3) of this rule or otherwise, is limited to an amount necessary to bring the employee to full pay forty hours of work in the workweek, the number of approved hours in the extended work period, or the number of hours in the work period. In no case shall the approval of administrative leave cause the employee to exceed forty hours during the workweek, hours in an approved extended work period, or hours in the regular work period for excluded employees. (d) Death in family: 1. An employee, upon request, shall be granted two days of administrative leave with pay on the death of the employee’s spouse and on the death of the parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, children, and grandchildren of either the employee or the spouse. Programs Processes Partnerships

SES/SMS Annual Leave Payments – Entering and Leaving DROP • Question: • If a SES/SMS employee is leaving DROP and was previously paid for 480 hours of annual leave (upon entering DROP), is the employee eligible to receive payment for another 480 hours upon leaving DROP, since the rule does not stipulate a lifetime maximum for SES/SMS employees? Programs Processes Partnerships

SES/SMS Annual Leave Payments – Entering and Leaving DROP • Answer: • No, employees who were paid for the full 480 hours of annual leave upon entering DROP are not eligible for any additional leave payment upon leaving DROP. • Employees would only be eligible to receive a second payment if, upon entering DROP, they elected a number of hours less than 480, provided that when the payments are combined, the amount of hours does not exceed the 480 hour maximum as referenced in 60 L 34. 0041(6)(b). Programs Processes Partnerships

SES/SMS Annual Leave Payments –DROP – Rule Citation • • • 60 L-34. 0041, F. A. C. , Annual Leave (6 )(b) A senior management service or selected exempt service employee who separates from state government shall be paid for unused annual leave up to a maximum of 480 hours, with the current year’s accrual prorated. In case of death of an employee, the 480 hour limit shall not apply and all unused annual leave at the time of death shall be paid to the employee’s beneficiary, estate, or as provided by law. (6)(d) An employee electing to participate in DROP may request payment for accrued annual leave at the time of entry into DROP; alternatively, the employee may elect to defer payment until separation from service. If an employee elects immediate payment, then upon separation from service the employee shall be eligible for accrued annual leave payment only to the extent the employee has earned additional annual leave, which combined with the original payment does not exceed the applicable maximum amount specified in paragraphs (a) or (b) of this subsection 60 L-34. 0041(6), F. A. C. Programs Processes Partnerships

SES/SMS Annual Leave Payments – DROP – Statutory Reference • 121. 091 (c) Benefits payable under the DROP. -- 2. Each employee who elects to participate in the DROP shall be allowed to elect to receive a lump-sum payment for accrued annual leave earned in accordance with agency policy upon beginning participation in the DROP. Such accumulated leave payment certified to the division upon commencement of DROP shall be included in the calculation of the member's average final compensation. The employee electing such lump-sum payment upon beginning participation in DROP will not be eligible to receive a second lump-sum payment upon termination, except to the extent the employee has earned additional annual leave which combined with the original payment does not exceed the maximum lump-sum payment allowed by the employing agency's policy or rules. Such early lump-sum payment shall be based on the hourly wage of the employee at the time he or she begins participation in the DROP. If the member elects to wait and receive such lump-sum payment upon termination of DROP and termination of employment with the employer, any accumulated leave payment made at that time cannot be included in the member's retirement benefit, which was determined and fixed by law when the employee elected to participate in the DROP. Programs Processes Partnerships

HR Conference 2006 Tallahassee, Florida November 14 &15 Reminders • Administrative Leave • Offsetting Programs ~ Processes ~ Partnerships ~ Programs ~ Processes ~ Partnerships

Administrative Leave • 60 L-34. 0071 Administrative Leave • (1) Administrative leave counts as hours of pay, but does not count as hours of work for overtime purposes. • (2) Approval of administrative leave, under subsection (3) of this rule or otherwise, is limited to an amount necessary to bring the employee to full pay forty hours of work in the workweek, the number of approved hours in the extended work period, or the number of hours in the work period. In no case shall the approval of administrative leave cause the employee to exceed forty hours during the workweek, hours in an approved extended work period, or hours in the regular work period for excluded employees. Programs Processes Partnerships

Administrative Leave • 60 L-34. 0071 Administrative Leave • 1. • a. When the Governor, by Executive Order, declares an emergency, the agency shall determine which affected facilities or portions thereof are located in the area covered by the Executive Order. b. Except for those employees the agency determines are necessary for providing essential services, employees assigned to the facilities the agency has closed shall be released from duty and granted administrative leave for the period the facility is closed. Employees whom the agency requires to remain on duty to provide essential services shall be granted special compensatory leave credits for the hours worked during the period the facility is closed, and the other employees will be granted administrative leave. c. An employee who is on a prior approved leave of absence or scheduled holiday during an emergency shall not have the leave of absence changed to administrative leave. • • Executive Order: Programs Processes Partnerships

Offsetting Leave • 60 L-34. 004 General Requirements for Leave Earning, Approval, and Use. • (3) Regardless of the amount of leave originally approved, including administrative leave, the employee will only be charged with or granted the amount of leave necessary to bring the employee to a forty-hour workweek, the regular hours for an approved extended work period, or regular work period for excluded employees. • (8) Extra hours may be offset to avoid overtime at the end of the workweek, approved extended work period, or, for excluded employees, regular work period; provided, the offset shall be made within these designated work periods. Programs Processes Partnerships

Contact Information Erin S. Thoresen Human Resource Consultant Division of Human Resource Management 850 -922 -1274 Erin. Snedeker@dms. myflorida. com Programs Processes Partnerships