Sentinel The Shorewood
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Enterprise Publications • www.shorewoodsentinel.com
Vol. 17 No. 44
Managing sick days Shorewood makes changes to village employee sick leave, retirement policies By Sherri Dauskurdas Staff Reporter
The Village of Shorewood is following the trend of many small businesses, making adjustments to employee sick-time policies in an effort to save some cash. The village board has approved changes to the way employee sick time is accrued and paid out, phasing out a common practice of being paid out for banked sick leave at retirement. Large sick-time payouts can cripple a company’s budget, as staff members earn the sick-time at a lower rate of pay throughout their career and then get paid out in a lump sum at their current rate of pay when they retire.
Under the new rules, Shorewood village employees hired before 1994 can be reimbursed a maximum of 50 days of unused sick time upon retirement.Anyone hired between the years of 1994 to 1998 will be allowed 25 days sick time banked if they retire by 2018. Staffers hired after 1999 can bank up to 10 days, should they retire before 2022. However, the changes also allow all employees who work a minimum of 30 hours per week to accrue up to 221 days of sick leave in their bank throughout their employment, an increase over the 120 days previously allowed. sdauskurdas@buglenewspapers.com