Rio Arriba County leaders are exploring the policy that governs mandatory time off County employees take when the offices close after the Christmas holiday.
Commissioners tabled a motion, Sept. 24, to approve the County’s Mandatory Annual Leave policy after Commissioner Alex Naranjo questioned its fairness.
Naranjo’s argument is that the mandatory annual leave reduces the employees’ autonomy when it comes to using the time they earned.
“I appreciate what you are doing, but I don’t think we should force annual leave on anybody,” he said. “What if they don’t want to take annual leave? They may need it for something else down the road.”
Naranjo expressed reluctance about questioning the policy County officials have relied on for some time, but he held fast that some other system should be put in place to accommodate both the needs of the County and employees.
County Manager Tomas Campos said the policy was first instituted to help reduce operating costs and to give employees time with their families.
“By having the staff take mandatory annual leave from Christmas to New Years, because a lot of them have their children off and they want to spend time with their kids,” Campos said. “Also, a lot of them, the older employees, have very generous annual leave and they burn their annual leave.”
Unless the policy is changed, those employees who have not earned annual leave will be allowed to take the time off, but it will be deducted as they earn it, Campos said.
His response was met with a compromise, albeit a questionable suggestion from Naranjo. The commissioner proposed that if the forced time off is inevitable, it should be at the expense of the County.
“Why can’t you give it to them without making them take annual leave?” Naranjo asked. “If you force me to take them, then you should give them to me for free.”
Commissioner Danny Garcia said if there is a way to do it legally, he doesn’t see a problem with giving the employees the time.
“I guess there is nothing wrong with giving them the time,” he said. “But it is not fair for those that don’t have annual leave. It is very touchy. But, we have to make it balanced.”
Garcia was referring to Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center employees, whose security-focused positions make taking annual leave difficult.
Campos said trying to accommodate the security-related positions pose unique problems for him and his staff. If County officials were to donate the time, it would have to be classified as a holiday payout and that requires special consideration.
“You can’t stop the Detention and Sheriff, so you would end up paying the detention and jail employees double time,” he said.
Campos said he doesn’t necessarily see the double-time pay as an option, considering the plethora of financial problems the jail has experienced lately.
However, the bottom line, Naranjo said, is that the policy could be viewed as punitive.
“I am of the opinion that if they close down the facilities, you shouldn’t penalize the employees by making them take a forced annual leave day,” Naranjo said. “If you want to be lenient and that nice to them, you should not charge them for annual leave. That is something you can give them for the holidays.”
The mandatory annual leave policy was started right before former County manager Lorenzo Valdez retired in 2010.