5.2 ERMUSR 11-12-2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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As previously noted, the Committee recommends increasing the lineworker pay group to be consistent with the metro average. For the field, office, and management pay groups,the Committee recommends a COLA of 3%for 2020. Health Care Accounts Employer Contributions As previously communicated to the Commission,the 2020 renewal for our health insurance policy was 7.5%;this was the lowest increase possible through our insurance pool.The Committee recommends keeping the employer contribution to the employee's health care accounts (HSAs) at the same levels as 2019. These funding levels were $650 for single and $1985 for single plus one and family. Employee Handbook Annual Legal Review and Update In addition to the annual legal review, the Committee discussed a few other changes needed for the handbook. There are numerous position title changes that will need to be made as a result of the organizational structure updates approved by the Commission in August. Some of the other items that will be updated for future commission approval with the handbook: 1. Paid Leave Donation—This policy was created to allow employees to donate paid time off to a co-worker "who is experiencing a medical emergency in the form of a major or catastrophic life event necessitating time off from work for which the receiving employee has insufficient paid time off available."The Committee discussed expanding the policy beyond "medical emergency" to include loss of a family member or other manager-approved circumstance.The Committee gave staff direction to develop language for commission consideration with the handbook update at a future meeting. 2. Governor's Salary Cap—Minnesota state law limits the compensation for government employees based on the governor's salary. For government employees where market competitiveness creates a business justification to exceed that limit, there are options to apply for a waiver.There is also the option to use deferred paid time off for compensation over the limit.These approaches are both commonly used by larger Minnesota municipal utilities. The Committee discussed the need to proactively include language in the handbook to address the law and ensure compliance for future years. Staff will bring back language addressing these legal requirements with the employee handbook update for commission consideration at a future meeting. 3. Water Superintendent On-Call /Vacation—Due to salary compression issues, the Commission had previously approved providing annually an additional 40 hours of vacation to the Electric Superintendent and the Assistant Electric Superintendent to compensate these exempt manager position for their required on-call supervisory responsibilities that come with having employees that are on-call.The Committee discussed this benefit and concluded that it should be extended to the Water Superintendent as well due to the similar responsibilities.The revised language will be included in the employee handbook update for consideration by the Commission at a future meeting. Human Resources Manager Page 3 of 4 193