County unpaid leave program gets extension

Hundreds of employees not showing up to work made Clark County officials happy.

The county saved almost $400,000 when 811 workers took about 8,640 hours of voluntary unpaid leave in a five-week experiment that ended Jan. 23.

Pleased with the savings, commissioners on Tuesday approved extending the trial program to Sept. 4 as a cost-cutting measure that would help avoid layoffs in the face of a tightening budget.

"I think on short notice it's a lot of money," Commissioner Steve Sisolak said. "It's good for employees, good for the county, good for taxpayers."

The pilot program got rolling in the late holiday season when employees would be most likely to take time off. The next seven months will gauge whether they will take unpaid furloughs during regular months, said Don Burnette, the county's chief administrative officer.

"The usage may well go down in the spring," Burnette said. "It ought to pick up over the summer."

Burnette said he heard of no reports of the furloughs hurting productivity. And only one request was denied: an employee whose accrued leave exceeded the end-of-year, 240-hour limit, he said.

He noted that county employees get yearly paid leave already, so a little more time away wouldn't be felt.

A worker could take no more than five days -- or 40 hours -- of unpaid leave in five weeks. Commissioners raised the cap to 15 days for the seven-month phase.

As the recession worsens, governments and businesses across the country are exploring voluntary unpaid leave as a way to trim costs. Santa Maria, Calif., the Hamilton Township in New Jersey and Dell computers have offered employees unpaid furloughs.

Locally, the idea appears to have gained little traction.

Jeff Winchester, an employment attorney, said the companies he represents have never spoken of offering voluntary time off.

"I have not dealt with employers that have come out with a big program," Winchester said.

His clients opt for the more conventional route of cutting workers' hours rather than letting them shorten their own work weeks, Winchester said.

Henderson city officials might consider offering unpaid leave, but for now are focused on an employee severance program, said Cindy Herman, city spokeswoman.

"There's a number of options that the city of Henderson has considered in order to meet any sort of fiscal challenge that we face," Herman said.

North Las Vegas is already on a four-day, 36-hour week, so shrinking it further would be impractical and could affect services, said Brenda Fischer, city spokeswoman.

"It's not being considered, but that's not to say it won't be considered in the future," Fischer said.

Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.