Those who work in nursing-related occupations represent the largest proportion of health care personnel hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So it’s no wonder why Bartholomew County officials don’t believe their “use it or lose it” vacation policy is appropriate for county nursing staff during a pandemic.
Employees cannot accumulate and carry more than 18 days of vacation at any given time, according to personnel policies for over 400 county workers.
But due to the novel coronavirus, as well as recent spikes in positive cases, the workload of county healthcare workers has increased significantly. And now, state and local health officials warn their workload may worsen as testing, vaccinations, capacity regulation and enforcement continues well into 2021.
That is why the Bartholomew County commissioners have unanimously voted in favor of Resolution 2020-15. It is a temporary amendment to the county’s personnel policy that allows certain health department employees to retain accumulated vacation in excess of 18 days.
But it does set specific conditions. Excess vacation time can only be carried over if an office holder, department head or supervisor certifies in writing that the county health employee was not permitted to utilize vacation time due to staffing needs directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resolution states.
The temporary amendment will expire at midnight on Sept. 30, 2021, and any accumulated vacation days in excess of 18 days must be used on or before Dec. 31, 2021.
At this time, the resolution applies only to health department employees, commissioners’ chairman Carl Lienhoop said.
“I’m not saying they will be the one and only, but right now, this resolution just applies to health workers,” Lienhoop said.
For more on this story, see Monday’s Republic.
