Form revised May 26, 2009

 

FISCAL NOTE FOR NON-CAPITAL PROJECTS

 

Department:

Contact Person/Phone:

DOF Analyst/Phone:

Personnel

David Bracilano/47874

Sarah Butler/47929

Amy Williams/32651

 

Legislation Title:

AN ORDINANCE relating to City employment; amending SMC Section 4.04.035 authorizing employee use of sick leave for the care of a child whose school or childcare service is cancelled during and due to a pandemic emergency; amending SMC Section 4.04.040 to modify reporting requirements for payment of sick leave used during a pandemic emergency; and ratifying and confirming prior acts.

 

 

·         Summary of the Legislation:

This legislation amends the Seattle Municipal Code to expand use of sick leave during a pandemic emergency and to modify reporting requirements for sick leave use in a pandemic emergency.  Such expanded use of sick leave and reporting requirements are only authorized for the duration of a pandemic emergency declared by the Washington State Secretary of Health or the Local Health Officer.  

 

In a pandemic event, employees may use sick leave to cover their absence to care for their children whose schools or other childcare services (including non-institutional childcare or other programs that provides childcare) are cancelled for public health reasons.  This proposed legislation amends the Seattle Municipal Code to require that, upon request of the employee’s department, the employee must provide documentation verifying closure of a school or cancellation of a childcare service. 

 

This legislation also amends the Seattle Municipal Code to waive reporting requirements for payment of sick leave covering employees’ absences for their own illness or injury or to care for an eligible family member with an illness or injury during a pandemic event.  Outside of a pandemic emergency, employees are required to submit a doctor’s note verifying their illness or injury for absences greater than four days.  

 

·         Background:  (Include brief description of the purpose and context of legislation and include record of previous legislation and funding history, if applicable):

Public health experts have been predicting the recurrence of a pandemic influenza for several years.  Schools and childcare facilities are likely to be closed as a social distancing measure to prevent further spread of the influenza virus, and health care providers are likely to be operating over capacity.

 

This Council Bill has been proposed to mitigate the financial hardship of those City workers required to miss work to care for a child whose school or childcare service has been cancelled.  Additionally, in an effort to ease the burden on the health care system and City employees, this Council Bill amends the Seattle Municipal Code to waive current requirements that employees get a report from a health care provider in order to use sick leave to be paid for absences greater than four days during a pandemic event.

 

·         Please check one of the following:

 

____    This legislation does not have any financial implications.  (Stop here and delete the remainder of this document prior to saving and printing.)

 

__X_   This legislation has financial implications.  (Please complete all relevant sections that follow.)

 

This proposed Council Bill expands the authorized usage of sick leave which departments will absorb into existing budgets, and does not request additional appropriation authority.  The amount of sick leave use resulting from this proposed Council Bill depends on a variety of factors that are difficult to quantify, such as the number and length of school and childcare facility closures, amount of sick leave accumulated by employees, and alternative childcare arrangements available to employees in the event of a pandemic flu event.  Should a pandemic emergency occur, this proposed Council Bill will likely increase the number of sick leave hours compared to what would have otherwise been used.  However, most of those employees would likely use some or all of that sick leave for dependent care at some time. 

 

Additionally, there may be a cost associated with waiving sick leave reporting requirements during a pandemic emergency which departments will also absorb into their existing budgets.  This cost is also difficult to quantify; however, it may be offset by decreased health care costs associated with doctor’s reports required for payment of employees’ sick leave use for absences greater than four days.

 

·         What is the financial cost of not implementing the legislation?  (Estimate the costs to the City of not implementing the legislation, including estimated costs to maintain or expand an existing facility or the cost avoidance due to replacement of an existing facility, potential conflicts with regulatory requirements, or other potential costs if the legislation is not implemented.)

 

If this legislation is not implemented, employees without adequate vacation, compensatory time or other non-sick leave balances would be required to take leave without pay to care for well children whose schools and childcare services have been closed during a pandemic.  Additionally, employees will need to obtain a doctor’s note from already overburdened health care providers responding to pandemic conditions in order to receive payment for sick leave for extended absences from work.

 

·         Does this legislation affect any departments besides the originating department?  • If so, please list the affected department(s), the nature of the impact (financial, operational, etc), and indicate which staff members in the other department(s) are aware of this Bill. 

 

All City departments will be affected by this legislation.  The impact will be financial, and will be greater for departments who have minimum staffing levels requiring them to backfill absent employees. 

 

·         What are the possible alternatives to the legislation that could achieve the same or similar objectives?  (Include any potential alternatives to the proposed legislation, such as reducing fee-supported activities, identifying outside funding sources for fee-supported activities, etc.)

 

None.

 

·         Is the legislation subject to public hearing requirements:  (If yes, what public hearings have been held to date, and/or what plans are in place to hold a public hearing(s) in the future.)

 

No.

 

·         Other Issues (including long-term implications of the legislation):

 

None.

 

·         List attachments to the fiscal note below: (Please include headers with version numbers on all attachments, as well footers with the document’s name (e.g., DOF Property Tax Fisc Att A)

 

None.