5.4 ERMUSR 10-10-2023UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:FROM:
ERMU Commission Mark Hanson -GeneralManager
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
October 10, 20235.4
SUBJECT:
Wage & BenefitsCommitteeProposed 2024 Adjustments
ACTION REQUESTED:
Approve all action items as outlined below to be effective January 1, 2024.
DISCUSSION:
A Wage & Benefits Committee meeting was held on Monday, October 2, 2023, to review
employee requests from the August 18 meeting. Staff presented the following requests: a wage
adjustment of thelineworker metro average plus $1.00 for all employees; tiered updates to the
bereavement leave policy, with the broadest category increasing to five days; changes to
nightwork and rest time policy; and a suggestion to review the vacation schedule for possible
changes to make ERMU more attractive to new(er) employees.
The discussions regarding each of the requests were presented in the staff report for agenda
item 5.3, Wage & Benefits Committee Update. This report is intended to clearly summarize the
recommended proposals for commission approval.
1) 2024 Wage Adjustment. The committee proposes a 4.0% wage adjustment for 2024,
regardless of the metro average, effective January 1, 2024.
2) Bereavement Leave Policy. The committee proposes updating the bereavement policy with
the more inclusive language regarding familial relationships and adding a one-day tier for
other family (aunts, uncles, and cousins) as presented below:
CategoryRelationship Days
Immediate and Spouse, domestic partner, child (including stepchild, foster-3
Close Familychild, or other child for whom the employee serves as primary
guardian), parent (including stepparent, foster-parent or
other individual who served the role of an employee’s
parental figure), grandparent (including step-grandparent),
and grandchild(including step-grandchild), in-laws (parent,
grandparent, and sibling), nieces, and nephews.
Other Family Aunts, uncles, cousins 1
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3)Nightwork and rest time Policy. The committee proposes the following adjustments to the
nightwork and resttime policy:
a)Provide a two-hour minimum rest time for nightwork (10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.).
b)Provide eight hours of rest time for employees working four or more hours of
nightwork for work completed between the hours of 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
4) Vacation Accrual Schedule. The committee proposes the following adjustments to the
accrual rates for employees with 0-12 years of tenure (shown in light grey below):
2023 Proposed 2024
0-4 yrs. 12 days 0-4 yrs. 15 days
5 yrs. 13 days 5-9 yrs. 16 days
6-9 yrs.15 days10-11 yrs. 17days
10 yrs.16 days12-13 yrs.19 days
11 yrs. 17 days 14-15 yrs. 20 days
12 yrs. 18 days 16-18 yrs. 22 days
13 yrs. 19 days 19 yrs. 25 days
14-15 yrs.20 days 20-21 yrs. 26 days
16-18 yrs.22 days 22-23 yrs. 27 days
19 yrs. 25 days 24+ yrs. 28 days
20-21 yrs. 26 days
22-23 yrs.27 days
24+ yrs. 28 days
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