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MRSC Insight Blog


Posts for Leave Policies

Lending a Hand: Offering Public Employees Paid Time Off to Volunteer

February 10, 2025  by  Flannary Collins
Category:  Gift of Public Funds ,  Leave Policies ,  Personnel Policies

While good benefits can attract people to your agency, so can intangible perks, such as providing paid time off to volunteer (VTO). In order to offer paid VTO, agencies must craft a policy that clearly identifies those volunteer opportunities that qualify for the paid leave.

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Pop Quiz: Paid Family Medical Leave and the Family Medical Leave Act

February 6, 2023  by  Jill Dvorkin
Category:  Leave Policies

Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) and the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provide extended leave, job protection, and other benefits for qualified employees, but the interplay between the two programs can be confusing. Test your knowledge.

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Shows a person reading a document about employee benefits

Elected Officials and Benefits Programs

January 25, 2023  by  MRSC Insight
Category:  Governance ,  Compensation ,  Leave Policies

Are elected officials considered employees? If so, are they eligible for the various benefits programs provided for in state law? This simple question requires a case-by-case examination of eligible state-based benefits programs. 

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Taking a Break – A Primer on Legal and Other Holidays

January 11, 2023  by  MRSC Insight
Category:  Leave Policies

People love holidays, but how do these impact government? Which holidays will an agency observe? Will offices be closed? Will it include paid time off for staff? To answer these questions, an agency should make its holiday schedule and policies around holidays readily available.

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2022 Legislative Updates to Personnel Laws — Salary and Leave

June 27, 2022  by  Sarah Doar
Category:  Compensation ,  Leave Policies ,  New Legislation and Regulations

New legislation requires many employers to include wage and benefit information in all job postings and makes changes to the state's Paid Family and Medical Leave program.

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State and Local Governments Prepare to Celebrate Newest State Holiday: Juneteenth

June 6, 2022  by  Jill Dvorkin
Category:  Leave Policies

Juneteenth became an officially recognized holiday at the state and federal level in 2021, and some local governments are also choosing to make it a paid holiday and/or sponsoring organized celebrations. 

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Additional Rights for Employees at High Risk for Coronavirus Complications

April 15, 2020  by  Karen Sutherland
Category:  Guest Author ,  COVID-19 ,  Leave Policies

This blog post reviews Proclamation 20-46, which provides additional rights and protections for workers at high risk for coronavirus complications.

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Pop Quiz: Family Leave and Sick Leave Edition

January 14, 2019  by  Paul Sullivan
Category:  Leave Policies

Take a short quiz to test your understanding of the Paid Family Leave and Sick Leave for employees.

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Paid Family & Medical Leave Act: What does finance/payroll need to do?

November 27, 2018  by  Toni Nelson
Category:  Leave Policies

With 2019 on the horizon, local governments must begin to comply with new Paid Family & Medical Leave requirements. Finance Consultant Toni Nelson looks at what steps the finance department should take, beginning today. 

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Year-End Personnel Topics Pop Quiz

January 9, 2018  by  Paul Sullivan
Category:  Compensation ,  Leave Policies ,  Minimum Wage ,  Termination and Retirement

Take a short quiz to test your memory of some common, personnel-related legal issues as well as new employment laws that came in to or remained in effect in 2017.

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Paid Sick Leave Starts January 1

September 5, 2017  by  Paul Sullivan
Category:  Leave Policies

Starting January 1, 2018, all employers in the state, including all local government agencies, must provide paid sick leave for their employees. In this blog post, MRSC Legal Consultant Paul Sullivan responds to some possible questions about the new paid sick leave requirements.

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Paid Sick Leave and Initiative 1433

March 27, 2017  by  Paul Sullivan
Category:  Leave Policies

Initiative 1433, approved by the voters in November 2016, sets the minimum wage for most employees (currently $11.00 per hour). But the initiative does more than that. Starting January 1, 2018, every employer in the state, including local governments, will be required to provide its employees with paid sick leave. This blog post will explore how this new requirement will affect local governments in Washington State. 

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Three Things You Should Know about FLSA and the MWA (but Maybe You Don’t)

March 2, 2016  by  Paul Sullivan
Category:  Fair Labor Standards Act ,  Leave Policies ,  Minimum Wage

Although the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state Minimum Wage Act (MWA) are not new, they still raise questions. Here are a few issues you may not be aware of.

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Sick Leave Benefits for Local Government Employees, Part 4: Establishing Clear Policies

August 18, 2015  by  Cabot Dow
Category:  Guest Author ,  Leave Policies

Part 4 in this series provides some review, guidelines for establishing clear policies, summation, and attempt to wrap up the subject for now.

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Sick Leave Benefits for Local Government Employees, Part 3: Some Recommendations

June 9, 2015  by  Cabot Dow
Category:  Guest Author ,  Leave Policies

MRSC HR Advisor Cabot Dow continues his series on sick leave with some policy recommendations for reducing abuse of sick leave.

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Sick Leave Benefits for Local Government Employees, Part 2: Framework for Issue Assessment

April 10, 2015  by  Cabot Dow
Category:  Guest Author ,  Leave Policies

This is part two of a four-part series on the subject of sick leave benefits for local government employees, focusing on identifying issues to think about and questions to discuss regarding paid sick leave benefits.

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Sick Leave Benefits for Local Government Employees Part 1: An Overview

March 2, 2015  by  Cabot Dow
Category:  Guest Author ,  Leave Policies

This blog post (written before Washington's sick leave law was passed) provides an introduction to local government sick leave policies.

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"Employers Must Accommodate Religious Beliefs," Says Washington Supreme Court

August 31, 2014  by  Nate Bailey
Category:  Guest Author ,  Leave Policies

The Washington Supreme Court recently announced that the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) requires employers to accommodate employees' religious beliefs. The Court's recent decision in Kumar v. Gate Gourmet, Inc. marked the first time Washington's high court has directly...

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