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Sick leave policy questioned in Silver Spring Township

The Sentinel - 4/8/2019

April 07-- Apr. 7--Silver Spring Township's human resources administrator says the township has bungled its sick leave policy as she faces a long-term absence for cancer treatment.

Corrina Brackbill has received mixed messages from the township as to the availability of the employee sick bank program and the status of apparent changes to the policy, according to information she shared with The Sentinel.

In November, Brackbill was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment. But at a certain point in her chemotherapy, she was advised by her oncologist to avoid prolonged periods of public contact due to her compromised immune system, leaving her unable to work.

After exhausting all of her paid time off, Brackbill said she began using the township's employee sick bank, which allows employees to donate unused sick, personal and vacation days as a mutual aid effort.

Those days can be used by other employees who are suffering from an extended illness, childbirth, family emergency, or other circumstances, according to a copy of the township's written policy provided by Brackbill.

On March 15, however, Brackbill said she was told by Township Manager Theresa Eberly and Assistant Township Manager Ray Palmer that, following discussions with the township's Board of Supervisors, the sick bank program was being eliminated and that, as of March 31, she would be placed on a short-term disability insurance policy.

That policy would involve a cut in pay of roughly 40 percent, versus receiving her normal salary by using sick bank time, Brackbill said.

"I don't understand how they can cut off a program in the middle of someone using it," Brackbill said. "It's an agreement. I used all of my vacation time up front with the understanding that I would be able to use the benefit."

Brackbill appeared at the March 27 supervisors' meeting to plead her case, where she said that other employees were willing to give time into the bank to keep her fully paid past March 31.

The township was unable to confirm if time was in the bank, or what would happen to that time if the program was cut.

"I don't know that I can say. I haven't done an audit of it," Eberly said.

But following the meeting, township solicitor Sean Schultz said the township supervisors "did not vote to terminate the policy." If Brackbill was told that she would be unable to use sick bank time past March 31, that assertion is clearly "not accurate," Schultz said.

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Subsequently, on March 29, Brackbill received a letter from Eberly recapping her case and informing her that the township was extending the timeline.

"While the township has permitted you to anticipate your leave and has permitted you use of the sick leave bank, it cannot continue to do so indefinitely," the letter states. "However, in consideration of your requests as well as its staffing needs, the township is inclined at this juncture to allow you to use the sick leave bank until either April 30, 2019, or when the short-term disability policy is approved and starts paying, whichever date is sooner."

The township's written sick bank policy, however, does not give the township discretion to permit or deny employees use of their sick bank based on circumstances such as staffing; employees are entitled to whatever time is available as long as they meet the medical qualifications for leave, according to the document.

Brackbill has provided the township with multiple verifications from her doctors regarding her treatment and ability to work, she said.

Eberly did not respond to inquiries regarding whose decisions were being represented by "the township" in her March 29 letter.

Further, when Brackbill was told on March 15 that the sick bank would cease to exist after March 31, Palmer asserted that the board of supervisors had allowed Brackbill to use sick time for the first 90 days of her treatment, according to Brackbill's details of the conversation.

No provision in the township's policy specifies that sick bank benefits are limited to 90 days or are approved on a 90-day basis.

This has left Brackbill wondering how the township can change its personnel policies, seemingly on a daily basis, without any elected officials voting to do so. Schultz confirmed on April 2 that the supervisors had not yet voted to modify or eliminate the sick bank policy.

While her initial prognosis had her able to return to work at the end of March, Brackbill said, she was subsequently told that she would need additional treatment, including radiation, pushing the timeline back at least another month.

The lack of clarity as to how long sick bank assistance will last has put her family in a precarious position, Brackbill said.

While she was told that the township had bought a short-term disability policy for situations like hers, Brackbill said, there seemed to be a lack of understanding by township management that such a program was more cost-efficient for the township because its benefit payout was less than employees' base pay.

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