As you already know, a change was effectuated late last year which in short removed eight (8) hours of annual leave time from the general employees floating holiday leave entitlement and it was replaced with four (4) hours of holiday time on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The purpose of this agenda item is to extend the same opportunity to the police union.
The attached Memorandum of Understanding was tentatively agreed upon by the City of New Port Richey and the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association in January of 2023 subject to ratification by the City Council for the purpose of implementing the change in the benefits related to holiday benefit hours for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, directly related to the changes made by the city for general employees in December 2022. The Memorandum provides specifically that the bargaining unit members floating holiday balance will be amended from a 32 to 24 annual hours, bargaining unit members will still be allowed to use said hours at their discretion. Additionally, the Memorandum provides that bargaining unit members that are assigned to a 40-hour work schedule will work a half day on Christmas Eve, and half day on New Year’s Eve. Bargaining unit members assigned to an 84-hour work schedule will receive four (4) hours of holiday pay for each day of the newly recognized holiday’s, regardless of whether the employee works the actual day of the holiday(s).