From the March 24, 2004 meeting of the library board of trustees [Minutes, pages 51-72]:
Personnel Committee Chair John Thomas: The [next] recommendation
[of the Personnel Committee]...is to declare that the Atlanta-Fulton
Public Library System shall be closed on all officially designated
Fulton County holidays, including those that occur on a Saturday or
Sunday, and that no employee shall be scheduled to work on those
dates....[Reading from the recommendation:] "It is logical for
the Library System to be closed on the day the County is officially
closed as well as the actual holiday that caused the official closure.
Employees assigned to work these holidays do not currently benefit
from being able to observe the actual Independence Day and Christmas
holidays in 2004." So these are the only two holidays that the Library
does not observe that Fulton County does officially observe.
Acting Chair Stephen Dorvee: [That is the] recommendation from
[the Personnel] Committee. Questions?
Trustee Stephanie Moody: Yes. I was noticing on the [Fulton
County] procedures [statement attached to the recommendation] at
number 2, I believe it was, it said "Employees who may be required to
work on a County holiday," etc. etc. And it said (the bottom line),
"Employees whose officially scheduled ‘off time’ falls on a County
holiday shall be granted eight hours of straight Compensatory Leave
accrued during the...pay period in which the holiday occurs." Based on
the fact that we—it seems that we are often short of staff—
Mr. Thomas: Uh-huh.
Ms. Moody: —it strikes me as unusual that we would give them
Compensatory [Time] pay. Couldn’t we just reschedule them to work
another day when we need somebody to work?
Dorvee: Ms. Hooker?
Library Director Mary Kaye Hooker: That’s for those— We are
normally scheduled for opening on Saturday and Sunday. If you call in
an extra person— Let’s say you have a person that doesn’t have the
opportunity for a shifting around, then that would apply to them. But
we can normally shift people if we were to be closed so they would get
their just straight salary and not any Compensatory Time. That is not
overtime. That is a day off for working extra or more than 40 hours a
wek. So I think that’s what—It’s the details that cover so many other
agencies besides us that sometimes cloud the issue. I think Sylvia has
worked on this quite a bit and she—Ms. Culver?
Library Human Resources Manager Sylvia Culver: Right. That is
referring to someone that is working on a day that is scheduled as an
off day for whatever department they’re in.
Hooker: For instance, if a staff member came in to empty a book
drop on Sunday when their branch is closed, then they would be allowed
Compensatory Time for that hour that they took...to do that. So that’s
really the only way that that [county procedure] applies to us.
Moody: So it’s above a 40-hour work week?
Hooker: Yes.
Dorvee: Ms. Fern?
Trustee Becky Fern: It says—maybe I’m just missing something,
but—"Designated holidays which occur on a Saturday shall be observed
on the preceding Friday."
Dorvee: I think that’s an old—
Fern: What if the person—the Library is open on Saturday
usually and so why wouldn’t the designated holiday be Saturday? They
are going to get [to] take Friday and Saturday? If July 4th is on
Saturday, then if they don’t work on that Saturday, they get a holiday,
correct?
Dorvee: Let me ask a question which may clarify this. This
attachment is just to show us what the holidays are?
Thomas: That’s just Fulton County’s holidays.
Dorvee: So Procedures 1 through 4 we’re not voting on.
Thomas: No. That’s right.
Dorvee: These are just for reference. This second sheet is for
reference as to what the holidays are.
Trustee Clint Johnson: We can’t vote on the second sheet.
Thomas: No. That’s just for reference.
Johnson: But, you know, what I read in that is that if a
holiday falls on a Saturday and we are scheduled to be open Saturday,
then they get Friday off and they come to work Saturday. That’s what I
read. That’s what it says. That’s what it says in County policy.
Dorvee: What we are saying is if it falls on a Saturday, we can
just close on that Saturday.
Thomas: That’s right.
Johnson: Either that or give them Friday off. You have a choice.
Fern: But they wouldn’t get Friday off too, would they?
Johnson: No.
Thomas: No.
Fern: OK. That was my question.
Dorvee: With that clarification, which is a good one, is there
any further discussion?
Trustee (and County Commissioner) Emma Darnell: I just want to
ask: Are these policies consistent with Fulton County Personnel
Policies and Procedures? Particularly with respect to Number 2,
Compensatory Leave, etc. Are these—is this consistent with Fulton
County Policies and Procedures?
Culver: This is the Fulton County Policy.
Darnell: I’m not talking about the holidays but the Procedures.
Are [they] consistent with these Fulton County Procedures?
Culver: Yes. That is from the Fulton County Policies and
Procedures Manual, that attachment.
Darnell: OK.
Culver: [Section] –100-2.
Darnell: I knew that the list of the holidays were consistent
but the rules, the procedures?
Culver: Yes. This is the actual document from that book.
Darnell: Thank you.
Culver: Sure.
Dorvee: Mr. Rupnow?
Trustee Roger Rupnow: I may be missing something here, but if
we are closing on the County holidays, why would an employee be
working on that day? Why does it say "who may be required to work on a
County holiday shall be granted either—"
Johnson: That’s for police and fire [department employees].
Dorvee: That’s for policy and fire. This attachment does not—
This attachment: take this off. You are not voting on this.
Thomas: Yeah. It’s just to show the holidays.
Dorvee: It’s just to show the holidays. This proposal is
consistent with Fulton County policy. With that clarification, any
further questions?
Moody: Well, it does say at point number 3, "It is logical for
the Library System to be closed on the day the County is officially
closed as well as the actual holiday that caused the official closure."
Dorvee: Is that the intent?
Fern: If the County closes on Friday, because most of their
employees work Monday through Friday, and the holiday is on Saturday,
then are we going to give our employees Friday and Saturday?
Thomas: No.
Johnson: No. I just said there is no work Saturday.
Thomas: No, we’re not.
Fern: It says right there—
Thomas: Is that what we meant there, Sylvia? We didn’t mean that.
Hooker: Yes, you did.
Culver: The County observes holidays based on this Policies and
Procedures [Section] 100-2. So if a holiday lands on a Saturday, it
will be observed by the County on Friday. So everybody in the County
would be—would have Friday as the day that that particular holiday is
observed. So the County—
Moody: What about the Library?
Culver: So what we are saying with this, the Action Item, is
that we world like to have the Library System closed on the Saturdays
and Sundays that holidays fall [on].
Fern: Not the Friday?
Moody: The bullet number three—
Culver: Right. But the County would also— The County will
observe the holiday on the Friday, so they would have that as the
holiday.
Fern: So would the Library be closed on Friday and Saturday?
Culver: Yes, it would be.
Dorvee: That’s not right.
Johnson: There’s a mistake in there.
Dorvee: We’ve got to send this back [to the Personnel Committee]
again.
Culver: The holiday would still be Friday, but the Library
System would be closed on the Saturday also.
Johnson: No, no.
Trustee (and City Councilman) Jim Maddox: If it’s a major
holiday where most people observe the entire weekend, you know, we are
all human, we all—
Fern: Like if Christmas was on Friday.
Maddox: Yeah. So, you know, I think what they are asking for
here is the same opportunity to do the same— although, yes, they would
have Friday and Saturday off when they are normally open. But that
doesn’t happen that often during the year, so I don’t see a problem
with it, personally. I think it’s something that makes sense. And they
just notify people we are closed that day. Most people are not going
to be in there anyway. They’re going to be off doing what people do on
holidays.
Thomas: Yeah. All we’re saying here— If you look at the
recommendation, we’re saying we are going to be closed Saturday and
Sunday. We’re not saying that they will also have Friday off.
Fern: If the County is closed on Friday, we would be.
Thomas: Yeah. But isn’t it in our purview to allow the days off
just like the second sheet here allows—
Hooker: You could allow that. You could allow— You could
determine that.
Thomas: Right. But we are saying we are not— We’re only going
to be closed on Fridays—I mean on Saturday and Sunday.
Johnson: I’ve got to agree with Ms. Fern on this. I know where
she’s going on this. And she’s right. I think that third bullet there,
that "It’s logical for the Library System to be closed on the day the
County is officially closed as well as the actual holiday" is not what
we’re seeking because the County is closed on Saturday and Sunday—
Thomas: That’s right.
Johnson: —normally. But we are not closed on Saturday and
Sunday normally. Therefore, if we grant a holiday on Friday, they’re
going to have to work on Saturday or Sunday, if that’s the case, if we
still have Sunday open.
Maddox: Well, that may be what it’s saying. But, you know, I
think— I mean, I just think that they should be given the same
opportunity in cases like that as any other employee of the County.
Because, you know, they want to take a weekend trip on a—let’s say
it’s a 4th of July holiday weekend.
Thomas: Well, let me ask you this because I don’t want to take
this back [to committee].
Maddox: And we’re not talking about that many days during the
year.
Thomas: Right.
Maddox: Just about once or twice a year, max.
Thomas: In keeping with the holidays that are officially
allowed by the County, what will please this board so our employees
have Christmas and July 4th off?
Maddox: That’s right. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Trustee Zeda Stanley-Sartor: Mr. Thomas, July 4th is on a Sunday.
Thomas: Right.
Stanley-Sartor: The day after Thanksgiving is on a Friday.
That’s one day closed: the County is closed, the Library should be
closed. And then Christmas Eve is on a Friday and Christmas Day is on
Saturday. We’re not talking about that many days, folks, because I’m
looking right at the calendar so I guess the calendar—
Darnell: But we are setting policy for several years.
Dorvee: My view is— And I think I disagree with Councilman
Maddox. My view is if you want to take a three-day weekend, you know–
I mean, if people are working on the weekends and they are not working
sometime during the week, then they can switch off or do whatever they
need to do to get a three-day weekend. I don’t think it’s responsible
to— Since we are short-staffed as it is and then start giving
out...away extra holidays.... That’s my view. We can’t do it. So my
view is that what this should say is rather than close on all
officially designated Fulton County holidays, which is designated on
all— Where we say "on all officially designated Fulton County holidays"
but that it will only be closed on the actual holiday, not on the
previous Friday.
Thomas: Or following Monday.
Dorvee: Right.
Fern: They can take a day of vacation if they want. But, I
mean, they are not like the rest of the County. They work on the
weekend and the County doesn’t work on the weekend. They are not like
the rest of the County. They knew that when they took this job that we
work on weekends.
Dorvee: Well, we’ve got a—
Moody: What if we changed it to say—declare—that "the
Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System shall be closed on all officially
designated Fulton County holidays that occur on a Saturday or Sunday"?
Thomas: And that "no employee shall be scheduled to work on
those days."
Moody: Yeah.
Rupnow: What happens if we just say "on designated Fulton
County holidays" because, if they give them Friday off, the Saturday
isn’t a designated holiday, is it?
Dorvee: We are not going to have them working on Christmas.
Moody: The point is, we want to give them the weekend off and
the day of the holiday off if it falls on the weekend.
Rupnow: I don’t think that’s what we want to do.
Dorvee: Yeah, it is.
Thomas: No. It is: If Christmas falls on a Wednesday, we want
them to have Wednesday off.
Rupnow: Right.
Thomas: If it falls on Saturday or Sunday, we want them to have
Saturday or Sunday off, but not Friday.
Rupnow: OK. But not Friday.
Thomas: That’s right. But not Friday.
Rupnow: Yeah. But the designated holiday in the County’s
arrangement in your example, that would be Friday, on the Saturday or
Sunday arrangement.
Fern: That’s right. Are these national holidays, all of these?
Rupnow: Yes.
Fern: Is there no way to just say that we are going to be
closed on the day of the holiday, not a day before or after?
Moody: If you take..."officially designated Fulton County
holiday" out of it.
Johnson: These aren’t all national holidays. Christmas Eve is
not a national holiday. The Big Ten includes President’s Day. That
would be the tenth national holiday, which we don’t recognize as a
State holiday.
Dorvee: Can I make a suggestion? Can I make a suggestion that
we say "the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System shall be closed on
all officially designated Fulton County holidays but that the policy
that says that 'designated holidays [that] occur on a Saturday shall
be observed on the preceding Friday or those that occur on a Sunday
shall be observed on a succeeding Monday' shall not apply to the
Library System"?
Johnson: And get rid of the next bullet, because that begs the
question that we should be closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Thomas: That’s right. That second bullet there is the one
you’re talking about in the [section of the recommendation called]
"Factors"?
Johnson: The third bullet—
Dorvee: Right.
Thomas: OK.
Johnson: —just delete that.
Dorvee: Would you accept that statement as—
Fern: Well, that thing under "Factors"...we won’t go with any
of that.
Dorvee: We won’t go with any of that, right.
Darnell: Mr. Thomas?
Thomas: Yes?
Darnell: The only concern I have is the Library employees–who
are County employees—would have no additional day or days because the
policy has to be uniform for 8,000 employees including those who work
for the Library. I think the way you did the language there will do
that—will accomplish that. I don’t know—care—if it’s two times a year
or one time. The policy has to be the same in terms of holidays for
all County employees—
Dorvee: I think if we adopt—
Darnell: —the effect has to be the same.
Thomas: Mr. Chair, Sylvia Culver—
Dorvee: Ms. Culver?
Culver: I just have a comment. There are other people [who work
for the Library] that aren’t normally scheduled to work on Saturday.
So it sounds like with what you mentioned that change would affect
people that are scheduled to work on Saturday. So I’m wondering how it
would affect people that are scheduled to work Monday through Friday.
Would that group, then, not be able to take advantage of a day off
based on this Procedure No. 2?
Darnell: You don’t get an extra day, whichever way you want to
word that. If you don’t work Saturday and Sunday, then you do the
Friday. But you don’t get an extra day. Is that what I’m hearing?
Johnson: Right. We’re working on it.
Darnell: That you don’t get an extra day because no County
employee gets an extra day.
Culver: So we can work to word it in a way to incorporate [an]
either/or scenario.
Thomas: I like the way the Chairman suggested, that they don’t
get that extra day.
Johnson: But we’ve got to have that good terminology.
Dorvee: Can the court reporter read it back because I don’t
know that I can do it again. Can you read it back to us?
[Whereupon the court reporter read back a previous portion of the
transcript.]
Dorvee: The motion—or, actually, I can’t make the motion
because I’m the Chair.
Thomas: I will.
Dorvee: Go ahead.
Thomas: Declare that the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
shall be closed on all officially designated Fulton County holidays
that occur on Saturday and Sunday but that portion of the Fulton
County Policies and Procedures Manual that declares holidays that fall
on Saturday shall be observed on Friday and those that fall on Sunday
shall be observed on succeeding Monday do not apply.
Dorvee: To employees who work on Saturday and Sunday.
Thomas: OK.
Dorvee: Do I have a second?
Darnell: Second.
Dorvee: All in favor?
[Whereupon, there was a chorus of ayes.]
Dorvee: All opposed?
[Whereupon, there was no response.]
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