HFT Reduces 12 month Employee Debt by Half

Good news!

Over the last couple of weeks HFT has been been in talks with the administration over the plan to make 12 month employees pay back up to 20 days of pay that had been advanced to them when they were hire. Last night the administration recommended and the school board approved a plan that will reduce the amount of time that must be repaid in half. The following is from the board agrnda item:

"Specifically, the new recommendation proposes that one-half of the days advanced to each

employee be forgiven. Employees affected owe from a minimum of 9 days to a maximum of 20 days. This proposal will reduce the span of days to be reimbursed by the employees to a minimum of 4 ½ days to a maximum of 10 days."

"Based on board policy, each employee is advanced a minimum of 22 combined leave and vacation days as of September 1 of each year. Under the revised proposal employees will continue to have a choice of whether to use vacation/leave days or payroll deduction to satisfy the days owed to the district. Further, the revised proposal recommends that the timeframe for employees to utilize payroll deduction to reimburse the district for days advanced, should be increased by one year from the original proposal. The recommended proposal to reimburse the district for days advanced is now as follows:

• Employees will be forgiven one-half of the days owed
• Employees may reimburse the district using vacation days, local and/or state leave days from 2011–2012, 2012–2013, and 2013–2014
• Employees may reimburse the district through payroll deduction to be spread
  over 2012–2013, 2013–2014, and 2014–2015."

HFT is aware that this new proposal still places a burden on the 12 month employee but it is a smaller burden than first proposed and it may be settled over a three year period instead of two years. It may also be settled with days that are advanced over those three years (including this year) so it does not have to come out of current accumulated leave.