At the Jan. 21 county commissioner meeting, the board members were presented with a quandary. Of some 579 Monroe County employees, many have not been able to take vacation days during the pandemic. And a couple years before that, days off were difficult to schedule during the recovery from Hurricane Irma. Should the board firmly stick to the county’s current “use it or lose it” rule? Or should employees be paid for unused vacation?
Bryan Cook, director of employee services for the county, explained the dilemma and offered a solution. Since 2014, the usual county policy has been “use it or lose it” toward vacation days. But the board waived this rule after Irma and during COVID-19, allowing the unused vacation days to roll into the next year.
“We’ve had challenges in people being able to use that time,” he said in the meeting, adding that “we’re staffed very lean.”
In 2021, when a coworker called out after testing positive for COVID, or had to quarantine due to exposure, the other staff members in their department couldn’t take vacation, especially in the departments where the operations can’t take a break — such as with fire rescue, social services and airports.
This has created a “balloon” of unused time that the county must pay when an employee resigns.
“A $20,000 check to two or three people in a department can make an impact on our budget,” said Tina Boan, the county’s senior director of budget and finance. She also pointed out that the county currently has $3 million total in vacation pay on the books for all employees. Theoretically, the county does not have to pay this all at once, but during an audit, this is seen as a financial liability.
Also, much of a lump sum of unused vacation that is paid to an employee upon resignation is often earned at the lower pay they earned at the beginning of their job. But the payment that is given when an employee leaves is at their most recent pay, which often includes raises over the years.
“So I’m just trying to keep that balanced and pay it out at the lower rate, frankly,” said Boan.
The solution? Cook suggested that every year, on April 1, the county pay employees for unused vacation to keep that “balloon” down. For full-time employees, the maximum hours they can roll over into the next year — a “cap” — is 480. So on April 1 of every year, they should be paid for the amount they accrued over the cap.
For example, if a Monroe County Fire Rescue staff member accrued 500 vacation hours in 2021, on April 1, 2022, they would get a check for 20 hours. And their balance would reduce back to 480.
Commissioner Cates worried that this would “incentivize” employees to not take a vacation.
“We can say, ‘Well, you’re getting paid twice — now you’re getting your vacation pay plus you’re getting your work pay,’” Cates said.
“I think people need to take their vacation,” said Commissioner Michelle Coldiron.
So the board and Cook reached a compromise: This year, on April 1, the county will give employees a payment for all hours accrued over their cap. Then, as long as 2022 goes back to a more “normal” year, the county will revert back to “use it or lose it” toward unused vacation.
Cook told Keys Weekly, “The price tag of this payout is approximately $173,000. That’s less than three employees’ salaries and benefits across the county. … In circumstances like these, we have to find the right medium between paying for the time the employees have earned and being a good steward to the taxpayer.”
