Board to Weigh Plan to Help Employees

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider a proposal to allow county employees to convert unused sick leave and vacation time to cash so employees can donate the money to co-workers in need.

The Catastrophic Illness Contribution Program would allow members of the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County and the Ventura County Professional Peace Officers Assn. to make contributions through United Way to employees who have used up their leave time because of a catastrophic illness.

Converting paid leave to cash is easier than transferring sick leave and vacation time between employees, said Ron Komers, the county’s personnel director.

Employees give cash donations or redeem up to 40 hours of vacation or annual leave for co-workers.

Most contributions to the proposed fund would be earmarked for specific employees in need, Komers said.

“Generally speaking, these are spouses or parents whose family members have cancer and they need to stay home and help take care of them,” Komers said.

“I know of one man now whose wife is terminally ill, and he needs to take time off to take care of her.”

Komers estimated that about three or four employees a year would qualify for the fund.

An employee must be on approved medical leave and must provide proof that his or her family member will require an extended period of recovery and needs the employee during that time.

About 4,500 county employees would be eligible to donate to the proposed fund, Komers said.

“The idea that county employees help other county employees is just great,” Komers said.

Other counties in the state have similar emergency programs to help their workers in need.

“But as far as I know, we’re the only one that’s using this particular technique of cashing in a vacation and donating it to a charitable organization,” he said.

The program evolved out of a similar effort by county employees to convert their unused leave time to cash donations to aid financially strapped families of military reservists called to active duty.

“Over $20,000 has been donated to the Persian Gulf fund,” Komers said.

“We’re quite pleased with that.”