During Alexandria’s Personnel Committee meeting last month, Police Chief Lucas Cooper raised an issue regarding the city’s paid time off policy, leading to a discussion on a policy change by city officials.
Cooper mentioned a police officer shortage in the city and speculated that it could be caused by officers being repelled by the city’s comparatively minimal paid time off policy. Changes to the policy would affect all full-time city employees, not just police officers.
The city previously capped paid time off at four weeks after 11 years of employment, which city officials worried could discourage long-term careers with the city.
On Dec. 1, Alexandria Mayor Andy Schabell signed an executive order amending the personnel policy to include more paid time off for city employees, which council passed.
The old vacation leave policy for full-time employees read that city employees were not eligible for paid vacation time until they had worked for at least six months. The policy also stated that leave was consistent with their customarily scheduled workday hours.
After six months, employees became eligible for five days of vacation. The new policy is based on their workweek and allows employees who have been with the city for zero to 12 months to receive one week of vacation. New employees will have a three-month probation period before any leave is allowed to be taken.
Workers with the city for one to four years will receive two weeks of vacation; previously, the policy was one to five years with the city.
Five to 10 years with the city equates to three weeks of vacation. The policy was previously for six to 10 years.
People with 11 to 15 years of employment within the city will receive four weeks of vacation, and 15-plus years will receive five weeks. The policy previously capped vacation time at four weeks after 11 years of employment.
Part-time employees will earn vacation leave based on the years of service and the number of hours they work in a week.
During the Personnel Committee meeting, Cooper also suggested allowing police officers who are transferring from other departments (and have already completed training) the ability to negotiate time off upon hire in the hopes of attracting candidates. Council agreed they could be flexible in some cases by allotting vacation time of up to three weeks.
