Trumbull committee to create new policy on donating sick leave

August 29, 2012 at 12:07a.m.

WARREN

Trumbull County commissioners have been advised they have the authority under Ohio law to force county Engineer Randy Smith to allow employees to donate sick leave time to employee Nancy Guerini.

But the commissioners have instead organized a meeting and formed a committee of five people, including a representative from Smith’s office, to work on a written policy for the county.

Commissioner Frank Fuda said Tuesday he believes the committee will decide within about a week whether to write a countywide sick leave-donation policy that would include the county engineer’s office.

On Aug. 15, the commissioners asked their legal counsel, William Danso, an assistant county prosecutor, to advise them on what Ohio law says about the donation of sick time.

“The Commissioners’ Office has received several requests for an opinion regarding sharing of sick time with employees who have a serious illness,” the commissioners’ letter says.

The request followed an article in The Vindicator in which Guerini explained how fellow employees at the county engineer’s office and elsewhere in county employment had offered to give her some of their accumulated sick time, but Smith had refused to allow it.

Guerini, 51, a two-year engineer’s employee, has been battling breast cancer since last November and used up her own sick time and 12 weeks of unpaid Family Medical Leave Act time and was having to pay $425.37 per month to keep her insurance, she said.

Danzo’s Aug. 20 response said county commissioners have the authority to implement a sick leave-donation program for all county agencies or for a lesser number of county agencies.

Most county employees have been allowed for many years to donate sick leave time to fellow county employees, but there is no written countywide policy, county officials say.

If a county is offering such a program, it should be in writing, Danso said. He added that particular county agencies can be required to participate in such a program enacted by the county commissioners.

Most Ohio counties have a donation policy of some type, Fuda said.

The committee working on the issue consists of James Keating, the county’s human resources director; Don Barzak, Smith’s top assistant; and representatives from the county auditor’s office, county recorder’s office and Trumbull County Family Court.