Public Employee Policy Changes Approved

On June 5, the Lincolnton City Council voted to adopt four new policies pertaining to public employees. 

Lincolnton has introduced the NC Public Employee Deferred Compensation Plan to public employees in Lincolnton. The NC457, as it is referred to in the Internal Revenue Code, is a voluntary retirement savings plan that allows participants to invest a portion of their income in a professionally managed portfolio to be withdrawn, tax-free, upon retirement.  

The city has also approved a revision to the current Personnel Policy. Currently, Article VI Section 14 allows public employees up to eight hours of paid time off for, as the policy states, “the participation of city employees in the educational process of their children.” This is to stay the same; however, the city is discussing the possibility of college level institutions being included in the directive. 

Lincolnton has extended the probationary period of new general public employees to twelve months as opposed to the prior six months for general employees. The benefits of the act is to give new employees and the city time to assess whether the job is a good fit, and to create consistency across all departments as public safety employees have a twelve month probationary period. 

Finally, the city has increased the vacation time for all public employees. The reasoning for this, as stated by Tanya Osborne the human resources director, is to remain competitive in recruiting. In comparison to the county prior to the change, the city employees received eight to sixteen fewer hours of vacation time. With the new policy, however, the Lincolnton employees receive an average of the same vacation hours as the Lincoln County employees.

The agenda from the June 5th meeting has more information! Check it out here: City Council • Agendas & Minutes • CivicClerk