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Home My WebLink About053-20 (EmplpyeeBonuses(CompBoardFundedPositions)) f ORDINANCE December 9, 2020 WHEREAS, in Chapter 56 of the Acts of 2020 Special Session 1, approved by the Governor on November 18, 2020, the General Assembly, at Item 477, Section HH thereof, appropriated funds to provide sworn constitutional officers and their staffs, including sheriffs, sheriffs' deputies, regional jail superintendents and corrections officers, whose positions are funded by the Compensation Board, a one-time bonus payment of$500 each on December 1, 2020; THEREFORE, be it hereby ordained that the Board of Supervisors authorizes payment of a monetary bonus of$500 each to all individuals, whose positions are funded by the Compensation Board, who were, as of December 1, 2020, employed as: sworn constitutional officers for the County, and their staffs, including the sheriff and sheriffs' deputies, and the superintendent and corrections officers of the regional jail, said bonus to be payable on or before December 31, 2020, to the extent of funding provided therefor by the Commonwealth. Enacted this 9th day of December, 2020. Charles S. DeHaven, Jr., Chairman Aye Shawn L. Graber No J. Douglas McCarthy No Robert W. Wells Aye Blaine P. Dunn No David D. Stegmaier Aye Judith McCann-Slaughter Aye A COPY ATTE Kris C. ier Frederick County Administrator Res. # 053-20 ' COUNTY of FREDERICK 'I Kris C. Tierney County Administrator ygGr 5401665-6382 Fax: 5401667-0370 E-mail. ktierney@fcva.us MEMORANDUM TO: Board of Supervisors FROM: Kris C. Tierney, County Administrator DATE: December 3, 2020 SUBJECT: Employee bonus Staff previously provided a memo to the Board (copy attached) which contained background information and outlined 3 alternative approaches to providing a Bonus payment to employees who have been working through the COVID pandemic. While a number of localities within the regional have utilized CARES funding to provide hazard pay to their employees, for a variety of reasons we have taken a different approach choosing instead to utilize some CARES funds to cover a portion of our public safety salaries during the period of the pandemic, thus freeing up County funds for other purposes. Meanwhile, the General Assembly approved, and the Governor signed an FY21 Supplemental Budget which includes 12/1/2020 bonus payments in the amount of$500 for Compensation Board funded sheriffs, sheriffs' deputies, superintendents,and regional jail offices for those employed as of December 1, 2020. The State Compensation Board funding will cover only 163 out of 190 employees at the Regional Jail, 67 out of 155 positions in the Sheriff's Department and no other positions including those in Fire and Rescue. Staff is requesting the Board's approval of a one-time bonus of$500 for all employees that have worked through the period of the pandemic and second $500 payment for positions classified as high or very high risk to be paid at a later date. To implement this approach would require a total General Fund Supplemental Appropriation in the amount of$29,603 and a Regional Jail Fund Supplemental Appropriation in the amount of $72,125. These amounts appropriate the Compensation Board Funding. A General Fund transfer from the Operational Contingency of $430,775 is needed to fund the county portion of the bonus. The Board could chose authorize payment for only those State Compensation Board funded positions at no cost to the County; fund a bonus for only high or very-high risk positions; or approve bonuses of less amounts. 107 North Kent Street 0 Winchester,Virginia 22601 COUNTY of FREDERICK Kris C. Tierney County Administrator 540/665-6382 Fax: 540/667-0370 E-mail: ktierney@fcva.us MEMORANDUM TO: Board of Supervisors FROM: Kris C. Tierney, County Administrator DATE: November 30, 2020 SUBJECT: Hazard pay and employee bonuses As the Board may be aware,the General Assembly recently mandated(with funding)$500 bonuses for State Compensation Board funded Sheriff's Office and Jail employees. See the accompanying memorandum which outlines recently approved state budget supplements and notes that each locality should pay the bonus as close to December 1 as possible, and no later than December 31, 2020. Simultaneously, County Administration had been reviewing the possibility of bonuses or "hazard pay." The subject of"hazard pay" amid the COVID-19 pandemic has been circling in the press and amongst staff. County Administration, along with the County Attorney, Finance, and HR, have discussed the value of County employees and the applicability of hazard pay at length. The decision was not taken lightly,however it was decided to forgo the utilization of CARES Act funds for hazard pay for several reasons, stemming from the County Attorney's determination that hazard pay must be an hourly wage added to the employees regular hourly rate of pay. While the U.S. Treasury guidance does say the hazard pay is an eligible use of CARES Act funds, it also says that hazard pay may not be issued across the board to employees. In the absence of clear guidance, any determination on how to administer hazard pay would have to look at, and follow, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). FLSA requires that hazard pay be included as part of an employee's regular rate of pay in computing the employee's overtime pay. Based on the requirement that hazard pay be an additional hourly rate and that the higher rate must be used in the calculation of overtime, it is administratively impossible to issue hazard pay for any period in the past for the 305 staff members deemed to be in very high and high risk positions per the Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) risk classifications. This would require manual entry and recalculations of wages, overtime pay, benefits (mainly VRS) and taxes. 107 North Kent Street * Winchester, Virginia 22601 To implement an hourly hazard pay for a period in the future would also be difficult as the CARES Act funds expire on December 30, 2020. This option would also require manual entry to update hourly rates for the 305 employees, and manual entry to return to the regular rate of pay for January and beyond. For the reasons explained above, the best approach to eliminate the administrative burden and recognize that County staff have been dedicated through this health emergency is to issue a discretionary bonus along the same lines as the General Assembly's provision for Compensation Board employees. Discretionary bonuses can be a lump sum, one-time payment that does not result in overtime. However, a bonus is not an eligible expense under the CARES Act and will have to come froze County funds and be approved by the Board of Supervisors. The recent General Assembly legislation also states that if the locality has already paid a one-time bonus with local fiends, the Compensation Board will consider the locality has met the intent of the legislation and will be reimbursed. The locality may turn down the bonus and not provide the bonus only if they have already paid a bonus of at least$500 in FY 21 using local funds. Frederick County has not provided any bonuses in FY 21. Frederick County has options to consider in administering bonuses to full-time employees. Option 1 Frederick County has 230 positions that qualify for State Compensation Board bonuses and eligible for$101,728 in state reimbursement per the legislation discussed above.Frederick County has the option to pay only those positions that are State Compensation funded. This option would fund 163 out of 190 employees at the Regional Jail, 67 out of 155 positions in the Sheriff's Department, and no other county positions including those in Fire and Rescue. This option would require a General Fund Supplemental Appropriation in the amount of$29,603 and a Regional Jail Fund Supplemental Appropriation in the amount of $72,125. This bonus would be paid by December 31, 2020. Option 2 In addition to the 230 State Compensation positions, the County could provide across the board bonuses of $500 to all full-time positions. There are approximately 588 positions that are not eligible for state reimbursement and would have a General Fund local cost of $278,275. This amount could be funded from the General Fund contingency that has a current balance of$2.6 million. This bonus would be paid by December 31, 2020. This option would also require the supplemental appropriation of the State reimbursement amounts—General Fund$29,603 and Jail Fund $72,125. Option 3 In addition to a$500 bonus to be paid by December 31, 2021, consideration is being requested to provide an additional$500 to all county positions that have a DOLI risk classification of very high and high. Frederick County currently has 305 positions that would qualify for this additional$500 bonus with an additional local cost of$152,500, which could also be funded from the General Fund contingency. This bonus would be paid to those who qualify by March 31, 2021. Consideration of the various options is being requested at the December 9, 2020, Board of Supervisors meeting in order to allow time to process the bonus that would be paid by December 31, 2020. Given the short turnaround time we wanted to get this information out to you in advance of the agenda. Thank you. n t I �1{ TYRONE NELSON ?'gCRAIG BURNS CEAIkMAN ° tiw' MARTTIA MAVREDES --. EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS ROBYN DE SOCIO EXECUTIVE SECRETARYC"NW r ALT , OF VIRGINIA IIIA \ }a /ll Compensation Board P.O.Box 710 Richmond,Virginia 23218-0710 November 20, 2020 MEMORANDUM TO: Sheriffs and Regional ]ail Superintendents City Managers and County Administrators FROM: Robyn M. de Socio, Executive Secretary SUBJECT: FY21 Supplemental Budget Approval for 12/1/2020 Bonus Payments I am writing in follow up to letters sent October 29, 2020 (related to Conference Report Action by the General Assembly) and November 9, 2020 (providing estimates of bonus funding), to notify you that the Governor has signed the budget of the 2020 Special Session I of the General Assembly, and the Compensation Board has approved the allocation of additional funding to support the costs of providing the General Assembly approved bonus payment of $500 on December 1, 2020 for Compensation Board funded sheriffs, sheriffs' deputies, superintendents, and regional jail officers. The Compensation Board has approved the amounts included in the estimates provided to you on November 9, 2020, subject to revision in accordance with personnel actions that may occur that would change incumbents in positions on December 1, 2020. As noted in the previous communication, individuals that leave an eligible Compensation Board funded position prior to December 1 will not be eligible to receive the bonus and the locality cannot be reimbursed for a bonus paid to those individuals; individuals that are hired into an eligible Compensation Board funded position on or before December 1, 2020 will be eligible to receive the $500 bonus payment and the locality will be reimbursed by the Compensation Board for those individuals. Please refer to the information and estimate provided on November 9, 2020, and communications between the sheriff's office and locality to identify changes to incumbents in positions that may impact the bonuses to be paid and total funding approved for which the locality can be reimbursed. The Compensation Board will provide an updated amount to each office/locality once sheriffs' offices and regional jails have entered personnel changes into the COIN reimbursement system confirming incumbents in eligible Compensation Board funded positions on December 1, 2020 and identifying total bonus reimbursement amounts approved. Some offices and localities have asked questions regarding the implementation of the bonus, and I provide the following guidance based upon discussions and confirmation from legislative money committee staff to ensure legislative intent: MEMO: Sheriffs and Regional ]ail Superintendents, City Managers and County Administrators November 20, 2020 Page 2of3 • Legislative intent provides that this is a one-time bonus to be paid on December 1, 2020 to these employees and does not represent base salary funding, and consequently is in addition to and does not supplant local salary supplements or any recent local salary increases. Like all funding for salaries and expenses in constitutional offices, the locality will be responsible for paying these expenses and the Compensation Board will reimburse actual expenses incurred with the monthly payroll and expense reimbursement. • While the budget language related to the bonus indicates it is to be paid on December 1, 2020, the Compensation Board recognizes that flexibility is needed to comply with local appropriation requirements and local payroll processes and cycles. Each locality should pay the bonus as close as possible to December 1 in keeping with legislative intent, but is provided flexibility to pay the bonus with a regular payroll cycle (which may reduce tax withholding to the employee), if possible, but in no case later than December 31, 2020. • Similarly to how salary increases have been handled in recent years, if a one-time bonus of at least $500 has been paid to sheriffs, deputy sheriffs or regional jail officers with local funds in FY21 during or prior to December, 2020, the Compensation Board will consider that the locality has met the intent of the legislature and can be reimbursed for the $500 bonus cost with the December payroll reimbursement. This means that the sheriff or the locality may turn down the bonus for sheriffs' deputies and regional jail officers and not provide it only if a one-time bonus of at least $500 has already been provided using local funds in FY21 during or prior to December, 2020. However, any employee hired after the date of the locally provided bonus in FY21 that is in a deputy or regional jail position on December 1, 2020 is entitled to the $500 bonus, payable by the locality and reimbursable by the Compensation Board, if they have not already received the locality provided bonus. • The use of the locality's allocation of Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) to provide for a hazardous duty payment to sheriffs, sheriffs' deputies, and/or regional jail officers does not meet legislative intent that the $500 bonus be provided to these Compensation Board funded sworn positions; consequently the locality may not turn down the bonus for sheriffs, sheriffs' deputies and regional jails officers. Additionally, Compensation Board funding may not be used to reimburse expenses paid by the locality with CRF. MEMO: Sheriffs and Regional Jail Superintendents, City Managers and County Administrators November 20, 2020 Page 3 of 3 Please review this information and the bonus funding estimate provided on November 9th carefully, or notify the appropriate member of your staff of the availability of this information for review. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact us. Compensation Board Staff: Contact (click for email): Telephone: Bill Fussell, Senior Fiscal William.fussel! scb.vir inia. ov 804-225-3435 Technician Joan Bailey, Senior Fiscal Joan.bailey(a)scb.virginia.gov 804-225-3351 Technician Charlene Rollins, Customer Charlene.rollins@scb.virginia.gov 804-225-3321 Service Manager Charlotte Lee, Budget Manager Charlotte.leeOscb.virglnia-.gov 804-225-3366 Robyn de Socio, Executive Robyn.desocio@scb.virginia.gov 804-225-3439 Secreta ry s:OennialBudget FY21-FY2212020 GA Special Session Il Sher-RJ bonus 12-1-201fy21 supplemental budget for sheriffs-rj sworn bonus 12-1-20.docx