Shawano County supervisors are expected to vote Oct. 22 to approve a resolution ratifying a new leave of absence policy for county employees.
The resolution was forwarded to the board from the executive committee after members approved it Oct. 15.
The purpose of the policy is to provide unpaid leave to employees who are not eligible for FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) or have unique circumstances that are not addressed under FMLA.
This policy applies to all regular full-time and regular part-time employees.
FMLA offers job-protected unpaid leave for full-time employees with at least one year of experience with the county. The current policy requires those who don’t qualify for FMLA to use their PTO hours, and once they are used, the employee can lose his or her job.
The requested leave can be requested for an employee’s own serious health condition; an employee’s family member (which includes a spouse, parent or child) with a serious health condition; or the death of a parent, spouse or child.
An employee suffering from his or her own serious health condition is eligible for up to eight weeks unpaid time off, which must be used consecutively. For a family member’s serious health condition, the employee is eligible for up to 80 hours, which can be used intermittently.
The bereavement time is up to two weeks, which must be used consecutively.
While on an approved leave, an employee must use all accrued PTO. Holidays will not be paid.
Julie Hasser, human resources director, said the new policy is already paying for employees.
“Yesterday, I spoke with an employee who has been with the county for six months,” she said. “He had some unfortunate health situations develop. He was in the hospital when I spoke with him yesterday. He has been a really great employee and was very grateful that we have this in place now. I think it’s a great addition to our policy and taking care of our employees that we do have.”
FMLA is currently capped at 480 hours (12 weeks at 40 hours per week) over a 12-month period. Using FMLA does not require an employee to use PTO, but the local policy would require those hours be used first.
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