BATTLEFORD — Battleford town council approved a new policy that would allow out-of-scope management to receive a day off a month, 12 days a year, for after-hours work they do to attend council and other meetings and take care of projects after hours.
CAO Todd Francis discussed the earned days off (EDO) policy proposal at Monday's council meeting.
"It's there for them to take the time. There's no cash value to it, and there's no carryover [to the next year]," Francis said.
He said their supervisor would be responsible for determining when they can take the days, when their department can handle it.
"If they [management members] want to take five vacation days, and they've accrued two EDOs, and they want to take seven [days off], have at it," Francis said. "It's up to them."
Councillor Judy Pruden was at first hesitant about the policy, then supported it once she heard there were controls in place, to make sure management had approval for when they took their EDO days.
The EDO policy replaces what was before known as an informal understanding that management would receive an in-lieu day off for working council meetings.
The new policy formalizes the agreement and makes the details all-encompassing, so management can have their in-lieu day off when they perform work-related business outside of normal work hours.
"It's time in lieu," Mayor Ames Leslie said. "Right now the managers get a day [a month] in lieu of council meetings they attend. What this one is doing is it's taking that, and recognizing that our leaders, our management team, work hours in excess of eight hours sometimes. This time in lieu is just going to compensate them a little bit for the extra work that they put in to make our community what it is."
The mayor noted that management is receiving a day a month now time in lieu. This is just clarifying a much broader range of tasks that can constitute their overtime hours, and putting it into a policy. Before it was just an agreement, not written in formal policy.
"It's the same amount off per year they are already getting. It's just recognizing that all the extra things they do are contributing to that day off a month they are given," Leslie said.
He believes the EDO management team policy will be a good way to reward management for their extra efforts.
"I think any way you can recognize the hard work of your employees - whether that is your management or normal employees - I think it just goes a long way," Leslie said. "When anybody works in excess of what their scheduled hours are, sometimes it's just nice to have somebody say: 'Thank you for that.' This is just one of those ways."
