Amendments to the Albany County Employee Rules and Regulations include updated procedures regarding an employee’s time and attendance.

On Monday, April 11, the Albany County Legislature unanimously approved the amendments including a clause for time keeping practices that outlines a written procedure for how employees record their time, how supervisors approve time and how time entries will be maintained for record keeping purposes.

There is also the addition of a clause specifying an employee’s responsibility to perform their duties as assigned, and clarifies that no personal business can be conducted during County work hours including, but not limited to, “political campaign work, non-county authorized work and the non-incidental use of personal devices.”

While employees were already subject to disciplinary action for infractions of the rules, the Legislature clarifies that termination can be an option.

The changes also broaden the list of allowable relationships for the purposes of determining paid leaves of absence and amends language related to insurance benefits to better represent the different types of familial structures.

“We unanimously passed the first of many changes that will be coming to this document,” said Deputy Majority Leader Lynne Lekakis, chairwoman of the Rules Review and Legislative Modernization Special Committee. “Thanks to the collaborative effort with staff and the Legislature we are one step closer to ensuring that policy clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of employees. I look forward to our work moving forward.”

“Through the leadership shown by Lynne to reform the County’s rules and regulations, we are well on our way to bringing this document into modern times and having a policy that reflects the changes that impact the workplace currently,” said Legislature Chairman Andrew Joyce.