Section 4.19 Travel<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nMr. Burroughs addressed the Travel Policy and stated that he would like to see some revisions in this section.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs said that whenever staff members travel for the company, prior to their departure he would like for them to sign a copy of the Travel Policy acknowledging that they have read and understand the policy.\u00a0 This is due to the number of employees that have traveled in the past, returned and claimed they were unaware of the policies. \u00a0Another edit in Section \u201c1\u201d that Mr. Burroughs would like to make is to add at the end of subsection \u201cC\u201d is \u201cor other staff as deemed necessary by the Executive Director.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further discussion pertained to Section \u201c2\u201d Transportation, subsection \u201cB\u201d covering use of personal vehicles for company travel purposes.\u00a0\u00a0 Non-JWSC employees are not allowed to travel in JWSC vehicles.\u00a0 At times, the traveling employee may take their spouse with them on out of town trips.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs suggested that the policy should be revised to state \u201cIf a JWSC employee elects to use a personal vehicle when a JWSC vehicle is available the employee will not be reimbursed for mileage or gas expenses.\u201d\u00a0 It was also noted that not only are non-JWSC employees not allowed to travel in JWSC vehicles, they are also not allowed to ride in vehicles rented or leased by the JWSC, or paid for with a JWSC credit card.\u00a0 The Committee agreed with this revision.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs added that if there is not a JWSC vehicle available, then the employee would be reimbursed for mileage and gas.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs will draft up the revision for further review at the next HR meeting.<\/p>\n
Lodging was the next discussion point as found in Section \u201c3A\u201d where Mr. Burroughs commented he would like to add \u201cIt is preferable for accommodations to be arranged in advance at hotels with block rates for the specific travel purposes; should the block rate not be available lodging must be approved by the Executive Director prior to it being booked.\u201d \u00a0The needs for overnight lodging were also discussed.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs suggested to add \u201cJWSC will only pay for the cost of lodging necessary for JWSC business and not for the extension of their stays.\u201d\u00a0 He added that in the case where the event ends at 5:00 or later in the evening, the cost of paying the employee overtime to travel back home that night is compared to the cost of their staying that night in a hotel and driving back the next morning.\u00a0 Whichever of the comparison is the more cost effective option will be the determining factor at the discretion of the Superintendent or the Executive Director.\u00a0 It was suggested to break this revision down to specify hourly or salary employees.<\/p>\n
The per diem amount was the next point of discussion.\u00a0 Currently it is set at $35 daily to cover all meals for the entire day.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs recommended to change the per diem rate to the GSA\u2019s rate for which the amount is based on what city or location you are in. \u00a0His revision would be stated \u201cMeals including taxes and tips will be reimbursed at actual costs capped at the Government Services per diem rate for the time of travel and the specific location.\u00a0 Travel days which are the days you are traveling to and from, are capped at 75% per diem for which travel time including conference time is less than 12 hours.\u00a0 Any exceptions must be approved and reimbursement for tips may not exceed 25% of the purchase price.\u201d<\/p>\n
The policy covering telephone calls was the next suggested revision, of which Mr. Burroughs said he would like to add the wording \u201cShould the employee be issued a JWSC cell phone, the employee will not be reimbursed for JWSC business phone calls made by other methods.\u201d<\/p>\n
The policy for Payment of Travel Expenses was addressed next.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs read the current policy concerning alcoholic beverages, which stated that \u201cPersonal and non-allowable travel expenses are included but not limited to costs of alcoholic beverages.\u201d\u00a0 He said he would like to add the wording \u201cShould the employee choose to have an alcoholic beverage during their meal, there must be a separate receipt for the alcohol from the receipt for the meal.\u201d\u00a0 This is especially beneficial in an example case such as an Open Records Request being made regarding travel expenditures because the alcohol would not be on the receipt reimbursed by JWSC.\u00a0 (Image of Impropriety) Mr. Burroughs will add a reference to no alcohol during normal business hours, only after conference hours.<\/p>\n
Personal expenses such as haircuts and laundry, and also valet services beyond 5 minutes are not allowed.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs indicated he would like to add \u201cValet services at hotels may be allowed if it is in the best interest of the employee\u2019s safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Burroughs then stated that he would like to add item number 7.\u00a0 He recommended the language of \u201cEmployees who are issued JWSC cell phones with mobile hot spot capabilities will not be reimbursed for charges associated with wireless internet access at hotels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding additional expenses incurred by the spouse, Mr. Burroughs read \u201cShould the employee choose to have a spouse or other guest join them at mealtime, separate receipts should be obtained for the spouse\u2019s or guest\u2019s meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hours Worked Policy was reviewed next.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs read the clause for travel and training time which said, \u201cTime spent in professional or technical training seminars which are required by the JWSC may be counted as time worked.\u201d\u00a0 He commented that this typically is not an issue, however occasionally if staff members are traveling on the weekend during their normal assigned working hours, they will receive pay for the time traveled from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm; and that pay stops at 5:01 pm.\u00a0 Mr. Burroughs advised that due to confusion, he would like to revise this wording to state \u201cNon-exempt (hourly) employees will be compensated for travel time that occurs outside of their normal working hours as required, with compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay (cash).\u00a0 Should a non-exempt employee already have accrued 240 hours compensatory time, travel time may be paid as overtime hours worked outside the employee\u2019s normal scheduled shift.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Burroughs will draft the revisions to the Code of Conduct Policy and the Travel Policy as discussed at this meeting, and bring those revisions back to the Human Resources Committee for further review prior to presenting to the full Commission for approval.<\/p>\n
The Safety Council will join the Human Resources Committee at the November meeting, and will present a \u201cmock\u201d Safety Council Meeting so the Committee may see the procedures carried out during those meetings.<\/p>\n
With no further business to discuss, Committee Chairman Elliott adjourned the meeting at<\/p>\n
11:33 a.m.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For your consideration, please read the minutes from the Human Resources Committee Meeting held on Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. Human Resources Minutes 10-15-20 with Attachments To read the minutes, please open or download the pdf from the link above, or you may see more below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-resources-safety-committee-minutes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldenisleslepc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}