Horry County to re-examine paid time off for its employees

Horry County Council will look at adjusting county employee time off, despite some objections, at a workshop later this month to lessen the impact overtime has on the general fund.

Though the move may directly impact the more than 2,100 county employees and their families, it could have a bigger impact on all county taxpayers if the effort to adjust time off saves the county money in its general fund.

Currently, a new county employee starts with five weeks of paid time off that can be used for sick time or vacation. County Administrator Chris Eldridge said that has caused a large amount of the county’s more than 2,100 employees to take time off at any given time, causing a ripple effect in overtime costs to conduct county business.

The proposal is to separate sick and vacation time, which is how it was before the county merged the two in 2003, and offer new employees two weeks of vacation per year and 12 sick days annually. The change would be applicable to those with less than 10 years of service to the county. Those with more than 10 years would get three weeks of vacation annually with 12 sick days annually. Employees can bank their paid days off to a maximum of 240 hours for vacation and 720 hours for sick time.

“Part of the challenge is unraveling what we currently have,” Eldridge recently told the county’s administration committee. “We’re looking to go back and take whatever leave employees have and put them in the vacation pot.”

Council Chairman Mark Lazarus said it was important to him to make sure the county’s employee kept the time off they earned.

“Anything anybody has accumulated to this point, whatever the formula was, I’m not taking any of that away from them,” Lazarus said.

County Council will discuss employee time off, among other budget items for the fiscal year 2016 budget that begins July 1, at a workshop at 2 p.m. May 27 in council chambers.

The proposal also eliminates donated leave time where one employee can donate time to another who may need more time off for illness. That doesn’t sit well with Chris Stephens, a former county employee, who said the donated leave time can be crucial for a family’s survival through illness.

“That’s very important for county employees if they don’t have the appropriate amount of time or if they fall ill or a family member falls ill,” Stephens said. “In the police department, I know, it was widely used if a police officer was injured. That was the only way they survived.”

In March, the national Fraternal Order of Police stepped in to defend county public safety workers from losing any paid time off or parts of their benefits packages. County officials contend although the county saw a 1 percent growth in revenues, expenses rose by 2 percent.

County workers’ paid leave amounts to $13.8 million annually, and overtime costs the county $3.4 million annually.

Eldridge said department heads will have to play a bigger role in granting time off if the changes are implemented.

“It will be up to us, as managers, to encourage employees to manage that sick time,” Eldridge said.

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Horry County to re-examine paid time off for its employees."