GALVESTON COUNTY — Galveston County employees who have accumulated hundreds — and in some cases more than 1,000 — hours of paid leave are raising concerns about proposed policy revisions that could eliminate payouts, restrict vacation carryover and cap sick leave balances.

Commissioners Court is scheduled to discuss the proposal Monday before considering its adoption under a separate agenda item.

No changes have been approved. Commissioners could adopt the proposal as written, modify it, postpone action or reject it.

Commissioner Joe Giusti told KGTX 7 that nothing has been decided and said he does not support every provision in the current proposal.

“Our employees are our greatest asset,” Giusti said. “We’re not the highest paid folks around, but we’ve always touted the great benefits they do have. I don’t wanna particularly see us change them that much. Should we change some things? Yes. But not all of it.”

Employees concerned about accumulated leave

Several employees interviewed Friday at the Galveston County Courthouse said they are particularly concerned about what would happen to leave accumulated under the existing policy.

“Some of us have been here for many, many years,” county employee Debbie Diaz said. “It appears that some of our long-term employees who have a lot of sick and vacation time accrued are going to be losing that time, and we haven’t been told yet how that’s going to be compensated for.”

Employee Christine Welsh said she has accumulated more than 1,000 combined hours of sick and vacation leave.

“If they say they’re going to take it away from me, that’s what I earned,” Welsh said. “That hurts.”

Another employee, who asked not to be identified, said they have worked for the county for 32 years and viewed their accumulated leave as recognition of that service.

“To see that the time that we’ve accrued, the loyalty that we’ve given to this county, is gonna be taken away — or the proposal is to take that away — it deeply affects me personally,” the employee said.

The employee said benefits have helped compensate for county salaries that may be lower than those offered for similar positions elsewhere.

“We don’t make a lot of money compared to other counties in the positions that we have,” the employee said. “One of the things that we look forward to is the benefits — the sick, the vacation and what we would get at the end of that employee term.”

What would change?

Under the proposal, vacation would be awarded annually instead of accrued biweekly.

After completing their introductory period, full-time employees would receive 80 hours of vacation annually for one to four years of service, 120 hours for five to nine years and 160 hours for 10 or more years.

Employees would be required to use their vacation during the award year. Unused vacation could no longer be carried into the following year and would be forfeited. That would replace the existing policy allowing employees to carry over up to 150% of their annual vacation entitlement.

The proposal would also eliminate payouts for unused vacation upon separation, retirement, death or any other event, regardless of an employee’s hire date or classification.

Sick leave would also be awarded annually rather than accrued biweekly, with full-time employees receiving 80 hours each year. Unused sick leave could carry over, but an employee’s balance would be capped at 320 hours, equivalent to 40 eight-hour workdays.

The revisions would eliminate provisions allowing certain employees hired before Oct. 1, 2011, to receive partial payouts for unused sick leave. As written, no employee would receive a sick leave payout upon separation, retirement, disability retirement, appointment or election to an official position, or death.

Employees seeking to use sick leave immediately before or after a county holiday would also be required to provide medical documentation and receive approval from their department head.

While the proposal would eliminate leave payouts and establish new limits, questions remain about how the county would transition employees with existing balances into the new system.

Employees question communication

Employees also criticized how they learned about the proposal.

“I believe they were not well communicated. I believe they were abrupt,” Diaz said. “We accidentally found out from an email someone — another employee — pointed out that these changes were going to be made.”

Diaz said employees contacted the county’s Human Resources Department but had not received clear answers about how their existing balances would be treated.

“When we started looking into it, and we’ve made some phone calls to HR and things like that, we still haven’t gotten a clear answer on how these changes are going to be addressed,” Diaz said.

Another employee previously told KGTX 7 that they learned about the proposal from a coworker who heard about it from someone reviewing the Commissioners Court agenda.

“I just feel like this was very sneaky, because no one that I know was told about this in advance,” the employee said. “There were no emails or documents given ahead of time.”

KGTX 7 has not independently confirmed what notice, if any, employees received before the revisions were placed on the agenda.

County cites financial liability

Giusti said the county is considering changes because accumulated employee leave creates an unfunded financial liability that can grow as employees continue accumulating time. He said that obligation could potentially affect the county’s bond rating.

KGTX 7 has asked county officials for the current value of the accumulated leave liability, how much the proposal could reduce it and whether a bond-rating agency or financial adviser has specifically identified the liability as a concern.

Those answers were not immediately available.

Giusti said he was unsure who initially developed or requested the revisions but said they were brought to his attention by the county’s Human Resources Department. The Aug. 17 meeting agenda identifies Human Resources as presenting and submitting the revisions.

Giusti said employees and their supervisors may attend Monday’s meeting and voice their concerns during the discussion.

KGTX 7 has contacted the Human Resources Department, County Auditor’s Office and County Judge’s Office seeking additional information about the proposal, its financial justification and how existing leave balances would be handled.

The county judge’s office referred KGTX 7 to a communications representative, who has also been contacted for comment. The story will be updated as additional information becomes available.