By RAYMOND L. SMITH

Staff writer

WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners recently passed several resolutions that tell county employees the maximum unused vacation and sick hours that can be converted to cash based on the departments in which they work.

The county for several years has been working to standardize the amount of unused time that can be converted to cash payments to no more than 80 hours of vacation and 40 hours of sick time. Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie-Bush said the commissioners have been attempting to rein in the number of hours that can be converted to cash since 2017.

The county in 2023 paid out nearly $1 million — $990,535.08 — to county employees for unused vacation and sick time.

In 2018, it paid out $1.4 million to employees that converted their unused sick and vacation time into cash payments, according to DeVengencie-Bush.

“The commissioners have been encouraging county departments that fall under their control to provide no more than 80 vacation hours, 40 sick hours that can be converted to cash,” she said.

However, she added, there are many county employees who work under boards other than the commissioners that decide the number of unused sick and vacation hours that may be cashed in that are different from what is allowed by the commissioners. Also, there are employees working under negotiated union contracts with different rules.

“We cannot tell employees working in the courts, the county board of health, veterans department, the MetroParks and those working under union contracts about the number of hours they can convert to cash,” Devengencie-Bush said. “Many of these departments have their own boards, or, in the case of the courts, can write an order dictating the number of hours they want their employees to have available to convert.”

Nonunion department employees in 23 county departments are under the 80 vacation and 40 sick hour conversion rule.

These departments include commissioners, treasurer, auditor, coroner, prosecutor, sheriff, building inspection, maintenance / vehicle maintenance, dog pound, homeland security, Office of Elderly Affairs, human resources, sanitary engineers, planning commission, data processing, CSEA, Job and Family Services, senior levy, transit administrator, 911, clerk of courts and the recorder.

Nonunion employees of the five county courts — Common Pleas, Probate, Domestic Relations / Juvenile, Central District and Eastern District — may apply to cash in up to 100 hours of unused sick and 180 hours of unused vacation hours.

DeVengencie-Bush said that many county employees, such as herself, do not convert their unused vacation and sick time to cash.

“You don’t know when there will be an emergency and there is a need for those hours,” she said.

DeVengencie-Bush told the commissioners that Trumbull judges in 2022 sent a court order barring the county from differentiating the number of vacation and sick hours that may be used by nonunion court employees and those that may be converted by unionized court employees.

“County employees represented by union contracts are bound by what is written in their contracts,” DeVengencie-Bush noted.

Union employees in the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, representing Trumbull County 911, may cash in up to 80 unused sick and 120 unused vacation hours. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3196, representing the auditor’s office employees, and AFSCME 3808-A, representing the recorder’s office, each may cash in up to 80 unused sick and 180 unused vacation hours.

AFSCME Local 2493, representing the commissioners, clerk of courts, building inspection, sanitary engineer, building and vehicle maintenance, treasurer and dog kennel employees, may cash in up to 100 unused sick hours and 180 vacation hours.

Union employees in the Ohio Patrolman’s Benevolent Association units 1-5, representing the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office, may cash in up to 120 hours of unused sick and 240 unused vacation hours.

Commissioner Niki Frenchko said the commissioners have been working to reduce the number of sick and vacation hours that may be converted to cash.

Commissioner Denny Malloy said allowing employees to cash in an excessive number of unused sick and vacation hours at the end of the year makes it extremely difficult for the county to budget, because the county does not know in advance how many hundreds of hours the county will have to pay.

“We want employees to use their vacation hours to get refreshed and not to come into work when they are sick,” Malloy said. “These are vacation and sick hours our employees have earned and should use appropriately.”

He suggested they should not be used as end-of-the-year bonuses.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said the unused vacation and sick hour conversions were negotiated long before any of the current commissioners were elected to office.

“It was seen as a way for the county to provide benefits during those years when the county did not have money to provide hourly or salary increases,” he said.

However, in recent years, Cantalamessa said the commissioners have been working to eliminate some of the hidden legacy costs they inherited from prior administrations, including Public Employee Retirement System pickups and reducing the number of hours of unused sick and vacation hours that may be converted to cash.

“We are asking the courts and other boards to join our efforts,” he said.

Have an interesting story? Email Ray Smith at rsmith@tribtoday.com.