County Board debates employee break policy
At a recent county board meeting, a discussion on Clark County personnel policies turned into a lively debate when it came to the matter of whether or not to allow county employees to leave county property during their paid breaks.
The Clark County Personnel Committee reviewed the county’s employee handbook and brought back changes to be approved by the board at its Jan. 19 meeting. One change was in regard to break periods. County employees receive an unpaid half-hour lunch and two, 15-minute paid breaks every work day. The proposed change that was ultimately voted down would have removed the requirement that employees remain on county property during their breaks.
“It’s impossible to take a 15-minute paid break and leave the premises and be back on time, so why not leave it in?” asked county board member Fred Schindler.
“Well, OK. If an employee can’t get back in time, in the 15 minutes — they’re not doing it now, truthfully — but if they can’t get back in 15 minutes, why should we penalize the whole when we need to discipline the one, the singular employee? There are people that want to get out and walk five, 10 minutes, get some fresh air,” replied Julie Delikowski, county personnel manager.
She said there are studies that show that a five-minute walk will help an employee come back and be more engaged in their work than if they sat in the breakroom for five minutes.
“I’m not against it; it just seems like by the time you walk out of the courthouse, do what you’re talking about and walk back in, is there enough time to get back?” said Schindler.
He asked why the employees couldn’t just go walking on their lunch break.
Board member Dean Zank expressed concern that the county would be held liable if an employee were to leave county property on break and get injured, while still being clocked in.
“There is some risk there, but it has a lot to do with what the person is doing and whether they’re acting in the course of their duties as an employee,” said Philip Nesbit, county corporation counsel. “So there’s a big difference between someone who goes out for a pleasure walk to clear their mind versus they have to go mail something at the end of the walk. If someone’s mailing something on county business and they get hit by a car on the way, then we have a problem. But if they’re just going out with their own purposes, that’s different. It’s a multi-factor analysis though.”
He suggested that if the board wanted to address the liability aspect, it could amend the policy to state that if employees are going to leave the premises, they can’t be doing any work duties.
The discussion came back around to the health and wellness benefits of allowing employees to get away on their breaks versus the concern of people abusing the system and being out longer than they should be.
Delikowski pointed out that even if employees didn’t leave the building, they could still find a way to lallygag by visiting with people from other departments and not returning to their workstation on time.
“The managers have to monitor it. If they don’t trust their employee, they need to watch their employee,” she said.
“Why aren’t they doing it then?” questioned board member Jim Smagacz. “Everyone says, ‘Oh, they’re just doing this little bit, they’re just doing this little bit, they’re just doing this little bit. But all that time adds up. When the public sees county employees walking downtown during a non-lunch hour, they question that, I think.”
“We can’t change the community’s perception, but what we can do is say…” Delikowski began.
“But these are the people that are paying their wages,” Smagacz responded.
“I get that, but what we can say is we support the health and wellbeing of our employees. A brisk walk is really good for them,” said Delikowski.
Smagacz argued that the employees could just go for a walk during their lunch.
After some more discussion, board member Chuck Rueth chimed in. He suggested tabling the issue, rewording the policy and bringing it back to a future meeting, since there were strong opinions on both sides.
On the topic of wellness, board member Randy Sebesta suggested bringing a shortened version of the StrongBodies strength training program to county employees, as something to break up their day. Delikowski said she could look into that.
The language up for debate specifically stated, “Employees shall not leave county property or assigned work site during a break period.”
Smagacz made a motion to leave that sentence in, but strike “or assigned work site.” Rueth seconded that motion.
“I don’t understand what’s being gained by keeping it in. I don’t know what we’re gaining besides control,” said board member Ashley Thielman.
The motion went up for a vote and passed 18-10, meaning the existing policy of employees not being able to leave work on their 15-minutes breaks stands. Supervisors voting against the motion were Larry Klabon, Roy Tyznik, Jerome Krempasky, Thielman, Ken Gerhardt, Fritz Garbisch, Butch Trunkel, Kathy Brodhagen and Ann Molitor.
Other personnel policies The board approved a few additional changes to the employee handbook. One is that employees will no longer get a printed copy of handbook; they will be directed to go online and then sign a form saying they read it. The employee handbook is posted online and will be updated as needed.
The Americans with Disabilities Act policy was updated to state that requests for accommodation will be processed on a “case-by-case basis.” The county has an obligation to provide reasonable accommodations, unless the accommodation causes “undue hardship” to the county. Language was added as follows: “If an accommodation cannot overcome the existing barriers or if the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the operation of the business, the employee, Department Head and Office of Personnel will work together to determine whether reassignment may be an appropriate accommodation.”
Another update is that county employees will be required to register for the Nixle emergency management notification system, which will notify them if the county courthouse is closed due to an emergency situation like no electricity. The policy also specifies that for county departments that have a social media page or pages, it will be the department head’s responsibility to update the page(s) in the event of a closure.
Local school board member honored
Theresa Hasz has served on the Granton School Board for 20 years. She was recognized at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) Annual Convention, held in Milwaukee Jan. 18-20. WASB President Barb Herzog and WASB Executive Director John Ashley presented Hasz with a plaque for her years of service.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
