Inquiry Into the Policy of the Replacement of Key County Personnel

The requirement that a position be considered filled as long as the former employee is on terminal vacation upon retirement does not allow the department to hire a suitable replacement early enough for overlap training, and often results in a key position being left vacant for a long period of time. .Recommendation I-1 The Grand Jury recommends that when it is known that an employee in a key position will soon retire, or leave for any other reason, the director of his/her 3 department should be allowed to post that position immediately, and hire a replacement as soon as a qualified person is found.

When there is a succession plan in place, or when there is a deputy to the departing employee, there is someone available to immediately assume the functions of the vacated position. Even if that individual is not later selected to fill the position, the organization can continue to function smoothly with that individual temporarily filling the vacancy until the recruiting process is complete.

When a long-term employee retires and chooses to take payment for his/her vacation and sick leave in a lump sum, the department faces the possibility of a significant budget overrun. It is possible for an employee who has been with the county for over 20 years to have 66 working days (or approximately 13 weeks) of vacation accumulated. It is also possible for a 30-year employee to have as much as 360 days of sick leave. The first 60 days will be paid on the basis of 50% of normal salary; the remaining 300 days will be paid on the basis of 12½ % of normal salary. Thus, the sick leave payment will be equivalent to another 13 weeks. This means that a long-term employee could be paid up to 26 weeks of salary, or half of his/her annual compensation. 4

The Grand Jury learned that there are no standard guidelines in the county personnel procedures to address the problem of replacing key personnel.