There could be changes to banked vacation pay allowances at the Thompson Nicola Regional District, after its former CAO was paid out more than $111,000 for banked vacation days.
Sukh Gill was paid out for 139.75 vacation days, which totaled $111,389.89.
He was forced to retire in February, for reasons that the TNRD says it cannot say legally. A legal settlement also requires the TNRD to call Gill’s departure a retirement.
Board chair Ken Gillis tells NL News that Gill’s banked vacation time was increased to 180 days in November. That was approved during a public board meeting.
“Mr. Gill had asked for that extension specifically as an exemption to what the existing maximum was at the time. It was for Mr. Gill’s benefit only, it didn’t extend to any other employees,” Gillis says. “But I think you’re right on the money when you say that it’s going to lead to some sort of review.”
The limit for banked vacation days for TNRD staff is 120 days, which can be carried over to future years.
“We will be reviewing that policy. It will probably end up with some existing employees being grandfathered into what the earlier policy is,” Gillis says.
“I’m sure that the board will be reviewing the standard policy for all employees. And I would think that after a certain number of days, employees will be required to take their vacation time in terms of days off, or else be required to accept a payout of those vacation days on a yearly basis.
“So this is not going to happen again.”
Gillis says it’s not yet clear exactly when a review of vacation payout rules will happen.
In total, Gill’s severance totaled more than $520,000.
Apart from his vacation day payout, Gill received $346,723.44 as a 20-month salary continuance, plus benefits.
“The benefits are not completely quantifiable, but I can confirm for you that they are in the area of $55,675 dollars. And a large portion of that would be pension contributions,” Gillis says.
Gill also received a new cell phone, and was allowed to keep his work laptop once it was purged of all TNRD data. Gill also had his legal expenses covered in his settlement, which totaled about $3,000.