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2.4. ERMUSR 08-13-2013 Elk River —. Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski—Finance and Office Manager John Dietz—Chair Al Nadeau—Vice Chair Daryl Thompson—Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: August 13, 2013 2.4 SUBJECT: Sick Leave Policy update BACKGROUND: Effective August 1, Minnesota employers with 21 or more employees have to change their sick leave policies. A change to Minnesota law, enacted during the 2013 legislative session, requires employers that offer paid sick leave benefits to allow the use of those benefits for absences related to illness or injury of an adult child, spouse, sibling, parent, grandparent, or stepparent. Previously,the law had required employers to allow use of paid sick leave only for absences due to the employee's own illness or the illness or injury of a child. The new legislation, which amends a Minnesota statute in effect since 1990, also broadens the definition of"child"to specifically include stepchildren and foster children as well as biological and adopted children. DISCUSSION: As a practical matter, law trumps policy and if we did not update our policy the law would prevail (should we have a situation where it needed to be applied.) This practical application would allow us to continue our current policy and update the verbiage at a later date when we update our Employee Handbook. Our current policies were not that different from the new law and basically only needed to be updated to include "injury"as an absence use, and "siblings" as qualified individuals. Given these minor changes, the attorneys at Campbell and Knutson have proposed updates to our policies within the Employee Handbook and they are presented for your review. ACTION REQUESTED: Staff recommends adoption of the updates to the Sick Leave Policies, as presented. Page 1 of 1 (' O N E N E t e r NATURE Reliable Public Power Provltler Unused sick leave will not be paid out in wages upon termination of employment, but in some circumstances is subject to limited conversion under the Health Care Savings Plan policy found elsewhere in this Handbook. LEAVES OF ABSENCE The Utilities provides leaves of absence according to the following policies. Unless otherwise indicated, all leaves of absence are unpaid. An employee requesting a leave of absence must complete a Request for Leave of Absence form. Forms for requesting a leave of absence are available from the Human Resources Representative. When possible, advance notice of a leave should be provided to an employee's supervisor so work schedules can be adjusted accordingly. 45. PARENTING LEAVE Eligible employees are entitled to take up to 6 weeks unpaid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child in accordance with Minnesota law. To be eligible for such leave, an employee must have been employed for at least 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the requested leave and have been employed at least on a regular half-time basis. Parenting leave under this policy is available for eligible fathers and mothers. Requests for parenting leave must be made in advance. In most circumstances, leave may not begin more than 6 weeks after the actual birth or placement of the child. If the child requires extended hospitalization after birth, the leave may begin within 6 weeks after the child leaves the hospital. An employee on parenting leave must use all his or her accrued and available paid vacation concurrently with the parenting leave, up to the amount needed to cover the entire parenting leave. 46. SICK OR INJURED CHILD DEPENDENT CARE LEAVE POLICY Employees who have worked at least one-half time during the twelve months preceding a leave are entitled to use accrued personal sick leave benefits for, in addition to absences caused by the employee's own qualifying event, absences due to an illness of or injury to the employee's spouse, miner child, or another eligible dependent as defined by this policy and state law a-ehild 34. PAID SICK LEAVE Regular full-time employees accrue sick leave at the rate of 3.69 hours per pay period (approximately 8 hours per month). Regular part-time employees accrue sick leave pro rata based on the full-time accrual rate. Temporary and seasonal employees are not eligible for sick leave. Sick leave may be used for injury, illness and doctor visits for the employee or the employee's child or another eligible dependent or his/her spouse, or for purposes of parenting leave in accordance with Minnesota law. To be "another eligible dependent" under this policy an individual must - : : :,-• - - - - - - : : :_ : • : - . - • -' - • • - :.- -' .. : :: . : .. . . : : .. be a sibling, parent, grandparent or stepparent of the employee. Use of sick leave for the employee's stepchild biological, adopted or foster child, either under 18 or under 20 if still attending school is not limited, but for children not meeting the preceding qualification and for all other eligible dependents the employee is limited to no more than 160 hours in any twelve month period as provided by Minnesota law (M.S. §181.9413). Documentation from a health care provider may be requested by the Utilities in its sole discretion. Sick leave is a privilege, and misuse may result in disciplinary action. Sick leave may also be uscd for up to five (5) days in a calendar month for instances of serious Sick leave may not be used for the purpose of extending an employee's active employment with the Utilities or for retaining a full-time equivalency percentage that is not based on an employee's actual planned and scheduled working time. Employees are required to notify their immediate supervisor at least thirty (30) minutes prior to the start of their regular working hours if they intend to be absent from work. If an emergency prevents the employee from notifying his/her supervisor at such time, the employee is expected to call as soon as possible during the work day. Employees are also required to keep their supervisors informed of their condition and anticipated return to work. An employee attempting to use sick time for reasons other than those explicitly permitted in this policy or state law will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. A doctor's certification of the need for sick leave in accordance with this policy shall be required if an employee is absent more than four (4) days or if abuse of sick leave is suspected by the employee's immediate supervisor, a Utilities manager, or the Human Resources Representative. In some circumstances, an employee may be requested to submit to a medical examination by an appropriate health care provider to confirm whether the employee is fit for duty. In such a circumstance, the Utilities may select the health care provider to conduct the examination.