Bellevue Council is being asked to amend the borough’s personnel code to give newly-hired employees paid vacations before they have worked a full year.

Director of administrative services Doug Sample told council members at their Tuesday work session that the borough had hired three new full-time employees recently, all of whom “expressed displeasure” that they would not be able to take paid vacations this summer.

Sample’s requested amendment to the personnel code not only would change the time for vacation from a year to six months of full-time employment, but also would give part-time employees who are hired full-time credit for their part-time hours. Once an employee has accrued 1,040 hours of continuous employment with the borough, he would be eligible for one week of paid vacation, Sample said. Council member Susan Viscusi noted that this meant that someone who had worked part-time for a couple years would be eligible for a vacation immediately upon being hired full-time.

Sample said that Bellevue’s practice of making employees wait a full year to get a vacation was “archaic.” Under his plan, employees would get one week of paid vacation after six months, and two weeks of vacation after one year. Viscusi said that the proposal seemed to give employees an additional week of paid vacation.

Council voted 5-2 to hold a public hearing on the proposed amendment. Opposed were Jane Braunlich and Linda Woshner. Mark Panichella and Lisa Blaney-Stewart were absent.