Algood Approves Second Reading Of Vacation Leave Amendment

Algood City Council has voted to give employees vacation time after 30 days of service.

City Administrator Keith Morrison said the change will help with recruitment and retention of employees.

“One of the issues that we have run into routinely with new hires is they have to wait one year to get any time,” Morrison said. “At 30-days, just like we do with sick pay, they would begin accruing 7 hours a month, which isn’t a full day, but it would allow them to take off a few hours if they needed it.”

City Council approved the change on second and final reading during Tuesday’s meeting.

The amendment to the city’s employee handbook also grants more vacation time to longtime employees. Under the current policy, employees with 10 or more years can take 15 vacation days per year. The amendment allows 16.5 vacation days for employees with 10-14 years of service and 25 days of vacation for 25-years of service or more.

Employees with 15-19 years of service would get 18 days of vacation and those with 20-24 years of service would receive 19.5 days.

Morrison said the change to vacation leave will not cause any fiscal damage to the city.

“I think the employee moral is going to go up because of this additional benefit,” Morrison said. “I think also what you may see with a monthly accrual is that maybe some of the employees don’t wait to take vacation 40-hours at a time. Employees don’t really abuse the benefit and a lot of them try to save hours in case they have an event where they need some time.”

Council unanimously approved the amendment.