Board upholds denial of employee's sick leave payout

Other Committee · Meeting of August 12, 2026

CONCORD — The Concord Personnel Board voted unanimously to uphold the town's denial of a sick leave buyback for a retiring 38-year recreation employee identified as Ms. Hill. Hill argued her 1988 hire date should qualify her under Personnel Policy and Procedure 11's pre-July 1992 cutoff despite being classified as temporary from 1988 to 2014.

The town's attorney said the policy covers only employees who were "regular status" by that date, calling the sick leave buyback "an expensive benefit" after one past payout reached roughly $50,000. Human resources staff presented fiscal 2017 and 2020 payroll records showing no sick leave approval on file for Hill. Her husband, retired Department of Public Works business manager Robert Hill, told the board the policy disproportionately affected women in the recreation department and said he would consider pursuing litigation.

The board also approved a new full-time assistant director position in the recreation department and accepted a revised Personnel Board charge from the Select Board.

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Source: the Other Committee meeting of August 12, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.