By GLYNIS HART
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NEWPORT – Sullivan County commissioners adopted a voluntary leave donation policy, allowing county workers to donate unused vacation time or sick time to a co-worker in need.
The policy requires donating employees to retain “minimum balances” of 40 hours of earned time, 40 hours of vacation time, and 40 hours of extended sick leave.
To receive donated sick time, the employees must be regular employees working at least 20 hours a week and be experiencing a serious medical condition that continues beyond the end of all the paid leave they’ve accumulated.
“I just think it’s the right thing to do,” said County Manager Derek Ferland. Ferland said he looked into what other counties offer and found a lot of variability.
Commissioner Jeff Barrette said, “One caution: we need to make sure in time of need there isn’t pressure on people to donate. I don’t think we can ignore there’s a potential downside.”
Barrette voted for the policy but said it should be monitored to see how it works.
“Our null hypothesis is it’ll be pretty rare that we have to invoke this,” said Ferland.
Donating leave time will be both voluntary and anonymous.
Human Resources Director Jane Jontz said the people in their first year of employment are the ones most at risk of running out of extended sick leave, and with the county’s challenges in hiring enough nursing home workers, “We are probably better off to leave that person employed.”
“We don’t want to be in the position of firing somebody because they got sick,” said Barrette.
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