Eliminating the Civil Service Commission and expanding pre-employment drug tests are among various changes Charleston officials hope to see under the city's rules and policies for non-uniformed employees.
For the first time in nearly two decades, the city is revamping its personnel rules and administrative policies, which were last updated in 1998.
City Council's Rules and Ordinances committee voted on Monday to amend several provisions in city code related to personnel, as well as adopt the new set of rules and policies.
The handbook city employees received upon being hired, City Manager David Molgaard said, was "grossly out of date."
Through meetings with department heads, Molgaard, the city attorney's office and the city's Human Resources director helped compile the new handbook for all policies relating to public employees, with the exception of the fire and police departments.
One of those changes would replace the Civil Service Commission, a three-person panel of volunteer attorneys who hear grievances from city employees.
City Attorney Paul Ellis said the commission frequently ran into scheduling problems and was "inefficient."
"The Commission would often say, 'Once we make a decision, who's gonna write the order?'" Ellis said.
In its place, the city will establish an independent attorney as an administrative law judge, who will be paid hourly to hear grievances from city employees.
Grievances generally are limited to disciplinary actions that affect an employee's compensation.
The law judge would be available once a month to hear complaints, then make a decision and write an order within 30 days of the hearing.
Charlie Thompson, the city's human resources director, said he knew of less than five instances over the past three years where a Civil Service meeting was needed to address an employee grievance.
Another personnel change would increase the probationary period for all new employees from six months to 12 months, which Molgaard said came at the request of several department heads.
"There was a feeling that six months wasn't enough to evaluate whether or not [an] employee would ultimately be a good performer," he said. "It's not fair to other employees if we're hiring people who aren't gonna carry their weight."
That also means employees who are disciplined during their first 12 months in a position will not be able to go through the grievance process.
The city also is increasing the number of panels to be tested during job applicants' pre-employment drug testing.
Potential employees now will be tested for benzodiazepines, barbiturates, methadone, propoxyphene, methaqualone, oxycodone and buprenorphine.
The city will continue testing for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and Phencyclidine (PCP).
The changes to the personnel code also include:
n Vacation time. Instead of receiving an annual lump sum of vacation time each January, employees will now accrue it on a monthly basis at a rate determined by their years of employment with the city. Current employees can opt out of the monthly accrual.
n Employee performance. All non-uniform employees will be evaluated annually on several factors, including core competencies, job duties and performance.
Molgaard said the evaluations also will supplement a performance-based system under which employees receive raises based on merit rather than tenure.
"This really creates a framework to have incentives, so we can reward employees for good performance," he said. "Right now, we don't have that ability under our structure in most cases to reward good performance - or to incentivize it."
n Settlement authority. Ellis would have the authority to settle any claim against the city up to $20,000 per claim. The settlement amount previously was $15,000.
The bill will go before City Council for a final vote at its meeting on Sept. 19.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.