Fiscal Note
The provisions of this Third Substitute ordinance amendment would apply primarily to private employers maintaining a place of business within the boundaries of the City of Madison. Governmental employers are generally exempted from the ordinance. The City of Madison, however, is specifically excluded from the governmental entity exemption, so the ordinance would have a direct fiscal impact on City operating costs. The amendment would become effective beginning in 2007.
The most immediate and direct cost would be associated with the sick time used and accrued by seasonal and hourly City employees who are presently not eligible to accumulate sick leave. Extrapolation from 2004 payroll data can give us a reasonable estimate of the additional sick leave costs.
In 2004, the City employed 770 different individuals in seasonal and hourly positions who did not accumulate sick leave benefits. These individuals worked a total of 281,000 hours during the year, for a gross average of about 365 hours per person. Based on the bi-weekly payroll data available, it appears that 388 of these employees (50%) worked the minimum 36 hours in a bi-weekly pay period needed to qualify for sick leave accumulation under the proposed ordinance. These qualified employees worked 145,000 hours during the year (52% of all hours worked by hourly employees) for an average of 374 hours per person. Under the provisions of the proposed ordinance, this group would have earned 2,900 hours of sick leave (approximately 363 days, or a little less than one day per qualifying employee) in the first year (2007) and 4,800 hours of sick leave (approximately 605 days, or about 1.5 days per qualifying employee) in the second and subsequent years (2008 and beyond). Assuming 100% usage, this additional sick time would have a cost to the City of approximately $38,000 in 2007 and $63,000 in 2008 and subsequent years, which would be charged to the operating budgets of affected departments ...
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