LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors last week approved COVID-19-related policies for employees that will include hazardous duty leave with a potential cash payout and a requirement that staff use masks when working in public.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson presented the proposals for hazardous duty leave and facial masking to the board in two separate discussions at its April 21 meeting.
Huchingson said she and an ad hoc committee met with all of the department heads the previous week, and they “overwhelmingly conveyed” to staff that to offer hazardous duty leave below the value of emergency paid sick leave would be a disincentive.
As a result, the ad hoc committee recommended a limited, one-time benefit of 80 hours of hazardous duty leave be made available to essential employees, equal to the 80 hours of paid time non-essential employees are receiving while sheltering in place. The leave would need to complete the required forms that would be subject to approval.
On July 30, 2021, approved employees would be able to get 40 hours of payout for the unused balance, she said.
Huchingson said that if all eligible employees took that payout, it would account for 2 percent of the work time for a year. The total cost to the county would be $916,000, of which $363,000 would be general fund costs, with the remainder to be covered by the self-funded departments.
Alternatively, Huchingson said projected costs based on what is budgeted for 2019-2020 – which she said assumed all positions are filled despite the county’s ongoing vacancy rate of above 20 percent – would total $1,080,848, of which $413,791 would be general fund, with the remainder covered by the self-funded departments.
She said staff intended to use salary savings to cover the cost and will reevaluate at midyear during the 2020-21 fiscal year budget.
Huchingson said the cost of lost productivity resulting from the emergency paid leave at 80 hours each for non-essential employees during the shelter in place order – with approximately 200 employees requesting that leave to that date – was still being determined, as the shelter in place remained active and approvals were continuing.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said that, from the beginning, the goal has been to support staff who are still being requested to go to work.
“I feel like this is a necessary thing to provide to our staff,” said Sabatier, getting agreement from board Chair Moke Simon.
Supervisor Rob Brown said it’s among the toughest decisions they have to make. “I don’t know the easy answer. I really don’t,” he said.
“I’m not sold on the idea that we can afford it,” said Brown, explaining that this same board may have to look at laying people off rather than just cutting positions due to the economic issues related to the pandemic. “We’ll see who’s really essential at that point.”
Brown said the impacts of the pandemic are going to hit the county hard due to the ripple effect, referring to a recent survey that showed 28 local businesses are closed and may not reopen.
He said he had a hard time committing to almost $1 million in extra costs, not because it’s not for a good purpose but because he doesn’t believe they have the money.
Sabatier said they could cover it without even tapping into the county’s rainy day fund. He mentioned the money used to put into reserves from the sale last year of the Lucerne Hotel – which Huchingson had pushed because she said the county needed the money – and said the county had the money to cover the expense. He added it wouldn’t cause the county to have to cut positions.
Brown replied that he didn’t say, nor imply, that this issue alone was going to break the county. He said it’s a small portion of what is going to hit the county.
The other board members expressed their comfort with going forward with the potential additional expenditure.
Public Services Director Lars Ewing raised to the board his concern that the policy only covers permanent employees, not the county’s extra-help employees. He said he has more than a dozen extra help employees working in essential capacities.
Huchingson told the board that she’s had repeated conversations with Ewing about the topic. “It’s not forgotten,” she said, explaining that they were working on permanent employees at that point.
Sheriff Brian Martin said the issue was a direct response to what the federal government did weeks earlier when mandating two weeks of leave.
The board approved the leave policy 4-1, with Brown voting no, and gave Huchingson the authority to meet and confer with employee union groups.
New masking policy approved
The board followed that discussion by another in which it approved a temporary policy requiring county employees to wear face masks when working in public at county facilities.
“The policy is a very simple one,” said Huchingson.
With Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace having issued guidance on April 13 in which he strongly urged masking in public, Huchingson said the proposed policy was for county employees to wear masks in county facilities when they are working with the public. Masks will be provided to employees by the county. The policy remains in effect until the board ends it.
“This is a great lead-by-example type situation,” said Sabatier.
Huchingson said touchless hand sanitizer also has been placed in the courthouse.
Supervisor Tina Scott asked if they had masks. Huchingson said they have some expired N95 masks and other departments are in the process of acquiring new ones.
Huchingson said employees can wear whatever type of mask they want, they just have to cover their mouth and nose.
Ewing said his department has a process in place for getting masks as part of ordering cleaning supplies.
The board approved the masking policy 5-0.
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Supervisors approve offering hazardous duty leave benefit to county workers, OK staff masking policy
- Elizabeth Larson
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