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About 70 Luzerne County court-appointed support workers will gain two new half-day holidays but make a concession involving the way their vacation days are credited, according to a contract approved by county council this week.
The agreement covers American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees-represented secretaries and clerks in probation, domestic relations and magisterial district judge offices, officials said.
Under the old contract, the support employees received up-front credit for a full year’s allotment of new vacation days at the start of each year.
Instead, starting 2021, these union workers will gradually receive credit for new vacation days as the year progresses beyond their hiring anniversary date — a practice known as an accrual system.
For example, employees with 10 to 14 years of service entitled to 20 vacation days for the upcoming year will receive credit for 1.66 days per month, the contract says.
The county administration wanted the change so workers leaving employment early in the year can’t use up a year’s worth of vacation time before departure, said county Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik. Several other county union contracts already include the accrual calculation, he said.
As a compromise, the new contract adds half-day holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, Parsnik said.
That’s in addition to 12 existing holidays granted to all county government employees. The increase goes against a recommendation in the county’s five-year financial recovery plan released in 2015 suggesting the county eliminate one paid holiday for all workers to save around $73,000 and increase productivity.
Parsnik said the two half-day holidays became a bargaining option in this contract because the support workers are assigned to court offices that typically don’t schedule matters on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
He stressed the administration does not plan to support the addition of holidays in other union agreements.
The union also agreed to a health insurance contribution increase.
Court-appointed support workers hired before 2016 will start paying 12 percent toward their insurance in 2020, compared to the current 10 percent. Employees hired after Jan. 1, 2016, will continue paying 15 percent.
Union workers classified as “clerk 5” will receive 2.25 percent raises in 2022 but no base salary increase the first three years of the contract. These clerks already received pay increases through the court as part of a position reclassification requiring magisterial office secretaries to be cross-trained and handle more duties, Parsnik said.
Support workers in other positions will receive retroactive 3 percent raises for 2019 and increases of 2.5 percent, 2 percent and 2.25 percent the final three years of the contract.
Also expanded was a uniform allowance now called a clothing allowance. The old agreement said an allowance in accordance with county policy would be provided to workers in positions requiring uniforms. The new contract said each employee will receive a $100 clothing allowance annually.
Specifics on the compensation and other contract provisions were discussed in a closed-door council executive session Tuesday but not publicly released until after council’s vote — a solicitor-endorsed practice that prompted complaints from county council candidate Walter Griffith. He argued the proposal should have been publicly posted in advance, saying, “It’s our money.”