Agenda - Council - 10/12/1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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PC CASE #: [ DISCUS$IONITEM: PUBLIC WORKS ON CALL POLICY DEVELOPMENT By: Joyce Pruitt Hottinger, Administrative Services Manager and Public Works Director Dean Kapler Background: Public Works Director Dean Kapler has inquired about a policy for on call employees in the Public Works Department. For instance, in the event the weather is anticipated to become icy, a worker could be required to carry a pager that a designated PW employee would ring in the event the weather requires employee service. The thought is that the Streets Supervisor would be responsible for dispatching call outs as necessary. The City's labor contract currently addresses the call back provisions requiting payment for call back service performed. In Public Works, there have been previous occasions when it has been difficult to find available employees for call back. An on call policy would attempt to address the issue of worker availability and provide compensation for the employee who is responsible for being on call. Not only would a policy ensure Staff is ready to react, but should also improve response time, especially critical when dealing with isolated icy issues. This is presented as a discussion item to find if Council would support development of such an on call policy. Staff has discussed the possibility of compensating on call employees at a rate of one hour at time and on-half pay for "on call" events which do not result in "call back" work. It is anticipated, on average, there would be between 6-10 "on call" events per year. For 1999, a Step 6 (top step) HEO employee receives $17.68/hour. Thus, having the HEO worker be the on-call status worker would equate to $26.52/hour. The Public Works Maintenance Workers range from an hourly wage of $11.57 (start) to $14.11 (top). Thus, an on-call wage (without call back status) would cost approximately $17.35/hour for start range employees, to $2 i. 17/hour for top pay maintenance workers. Based upon the needs of the department, Staff is proposing a policy which would define "on call" to include those times only when a public works pager is assigned to an employee and and suggest a minimum compensation of one (1) hour pay at one and one- half time the employee's base pay rate in the event of a non-call back event. The policy would differentiate between thgse employees who are on call with a pager (as is proposed in this case) and those who are advised the day or evening before that they will be expected to report at 2:00 a.m. for typical snowplow and sanding operations. Staff would outline the contacting procedures within this policy as well.