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7. Employee Paid Leave <br />Permanent, full-time County employees currently earn vacation, petty and personal leave for <br />each month in which they are in a pay status for one-half the month. Attachment 7 provides an <br />overview of employee leave, including recommended changes and a chart of current and <br />proposed accruals. As the County moves forward with automated time-keeping and self service <br />programs., additional efficiencies to administrative processes must be considered. Expense to <br />the County occurs when employees separate from employment and are paid for vacation <br />accruals (to a maximum of 240 hours). Attachment 8 details the proposed changes to the <br />Personnel Ordinance. Recommended changes to the Personnel Ordinance would: <br />1. Combine petty, personal and vacation leave effective January 1, 2011 into <br />anew category of Annual Leave. <br />2. Change Annual Leave accruals from a monthly to bi-weekly basis, <br />3. Provide that all annual leave could be used in increments of 15 minutes. <br />4. Increase leave accruals by adding 29.9 total hours a year, or 1.15 hours to <br />each of 26 pay periods, to the existing vacation accrual rates. (Please note <br />that 30 hours is not equally divisible by 26 pay periods.) <br />Recommendation: <br />The Board amend the Orange County Personnel Ordinance Article I V, Section 5.0 <br />Employee Leave and Repeal Article lV, Section 10.0 Petty Leave and Article IV, Section <br />23.0 Petty Leave (See attachment 9) <br />8. Tuition Refund Program <br />Orange County provides a tuition refund program for permanent employees for the purpose of <br />assisting them further their education and skills. All courses must be job related and approved <br />by the Department Director. Refunds are for tuition, fees and required books, and are limited to <br />$600 per employee in a fiscal year. Students may attend traditional or on-line courses. The <br />County has budgeted $11,000 for tuition refunds in FY 2010-11. <br />Tuition Refund Program Funding and Participation <br /> Ex enditures # of Partici ants <br />FY 2003-04 $7,846 18 <br />FY 2004-05 $10,000 22 <br />FY 2005-06 $10, 979 23 <br />FY 2006-07 $8,399 17 <br />FY 2007-08 $9,174 18 <br />FY 2008-09 $5,588 12 <br />FY 2009-10 $9,958 18 <br />Recommendation: <br />• No changes are recommended to the Tuition Refund Program. <br />Next Steps: <br />Pending approval of the 2011 Employee Benefits Renewal, Staff will <br />• Develop and disseminate communications and schedule informational meetings. <br />• Hold Open Enrollment, tentatively scheduled for October 20 to November 18. <br />