Metro Employee Bill of Rights

METRO EMPLOYEE BILL OF RIGHTS

Fair Raises for Metro’s Non-Union Employees, and a Floor of Rights for Every Metro Employee

Expands the Metro Employee Compensation Plan (Version 2.0, October 2025). Part I focuses that plan on salary raises for non-union employees, moves the largest raise to the first year, and costs them from Metro’s own payroll budget; Part II is new.

$16.9 Million Year 1 Investment in Louisville Metro’s Workforce
$93.8 Million Four-Year Total Commitment

THE PROBLEM

Louisville Metro Government has a two-tier workforce: union employees with strong contracts that secured raises through bargaining, and non-union employees receiving a 2% raise this year (Louisville Metro adopted budget FY2026-27, Exhibit A). This creates:

❌ Inequality and resentment among non-union employees
❌ Difficulty recruiting for non-union positions
❌ High turnover in administrative, technical, and professional roles
❌ Morale problems undermining service quality
❌ Inability to compete with the private sector and other cities
❌ Rights — grievance, organizing, pay transparency — that exist in a contract for some employees and in a handbook for the rest

Current Reality: Public safety unions secured raises through their contracts. Non-union employees got a 2% raise this year (Louisville Metro adopted budget FY2026-27). Your rights depend on which side of that line you sit.
Our Solution: A raise schedule for the employees who have no contract, every benefit Metro gives today unchanged, and one floor of rights for every Metro employee.
Impact: Equity, fairness, competitive compensation — and a city government that meets the standard it asks of everyone else.

PART I — COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

(Built on the Metro Employee Compensation Plan, Version 2.0.)

WHAT THE PLAN GUARANTEES — FOR NON-UNION EMPLOYEES

Union members’ raises come through their collective bargaining contracts, and they keep every right in Part II.

✓ Salary raises of 11%, then 3%, then 3%: 17.8% compounded over three years, the largest raise first
✓ Every benefit Metro gives its employees today, unchanged: health, dental and vision coverage; the CERS pension and a 457(b) plan; paid holidays, vacation, sick leave and 12 weeks of paid parental leave; life and long-term disability insurance at no cost; tuition assistance; and the Employee Assistance Program
✓ Workplace protections — grievance procedures, anti-discrimination policies, whistleblower protection

COMPENSATION STRUCTURE

Base Wage Increases

For non-union career employees (the mayor’s appointees are not included): FY2027-28: 11% · FY2028-29: 3% · FY2029-30: 3% · FY2030-31: no new raise — 17.8% compounded, the largest raise first.

At $52,000 today: $57,720 after Year 1 → $61,235 after Year 3 (+$9,235)
At $42,000: $46,620 → $49,459 (+$7,459)
At $32,000: $35,520 → $37,683 (+$5,683)

HEALTHCARE BENEFITS

Every benefit from here through Additional Benefits is one Metro gives its employees today. This plan doesn’t change them.

Medical Coverage:

• A choice of medical plans for employees and their families

Employee Wellness Centers:

• $5 copay per visit (Louisville Metro recruitment flier, 2022)
• Medical, physical therapy, behavioral health
• Certain generic medications at no cost, when prescribed there
• Extended hours at multiple locations

Dental and Vision:

• Dental and vision plans for employees and their families

RETIREMENT & FINANCIAL SECURITY

CERS Pension:

• Employer contributions: 17.43% (nonhazardous) or 34.72% (hazardous) in 2026-27 (Kentucky Public Pension Authority, CERS 2025 Actuarial Valuation)
• Employees contribute 5% (nonhazardous) or 8% (hazardous) of pay toward the pension, plus an insurance contribution (Kentucky Public Pension Authority, CERS 2025 Actuarial Valuation)

Supplemental Retirement:

• Voluntary 457(b) plan available
• Financial education provided

PAID TIME OFF

11 Paid Holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and Christmas, plus 2 floating holidays

Generous Vacation:

• Start: 10 days, one more day for each year of service, up to 25 days
• Up to 70 days can be banked
• Unused vacation paid out on leaving Metro, up to 40 days

Sick Leave:

• 12 days annually with unlimited accrual
• Sick days above 80 can be sold back each December, two for one, up to five days’ pay a year

Paid Parental Leave:

• 12 weeks for birth or adoption, as Metro has offered every regular employee since 2021 (Metro Code § 35.014)
• 2 weeks (80 hours) for foster placement

Bereavement & Personal Days:

• Up to 3 days of paid funeral leave for family, including grandparents, grandchildren and in-laws
• Up to 3 personal days a year, earned by not using sick leave

EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS

Tuition Assistance: reimbursement toward tuition, fees and required textbooks, with a higher limit for lower-income employees

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Life & Disability Insurance:

• Basic life insurance and accidental death coverage at no cost
• Long-term disability coverage at no cost
• Supplemental life insurance available

Transit:

• Free TARC rides

Employee Assistance Program:

• Free, confidential counseling for employees and their families
• Substance use, family, financial and other personal problems
• First 5 sessions free

HOW WE PAY FOR IT

Total Four-Year Cost: $93.8 Million — Year 1 $16.9M (1.5% of the $1.13B budget) · Year 2 $22.1M (2.0%) · Year 3 $27.4M (2.4%) · Year 4 $27.4M (2.4%)

We costed the raises from Metro’s own 2026-27 payroll budget, for Metro’s non-union employees, with the Social Security and pension contributions that rise with their pay. About two-thirds of Metro’s full-time employees are represented by unions; their raises come through their contracts and are not in these figures. Year 4 has no new raise, so it costs the same as Year 3. The benefits above are ones Metro already pays for, so they add no new cost.

Funding Sources (no new broad-based taxes):

• Administration, $12.5M annually: part of the $14M our budget plan saves on administration in the Office of Management & Budget
• Revenue enhancements, $8.2M annually: occupational license compliance $3.5M · property tax delinquency collections $2.1M · parking modernization $1.4M · parks/rec non-resident fees $1.2M
• Purchasing, $6.7M annually: part of the $12M Facilities & Fleet saves on purchasing, technology and operations

$12.5M + $8.2M + $6.7M = $27.4M a year. That covers the raises in every year: it leaves $10.5M to spare in Year 1 and $5.3M in Year 2, and from Year 3 the raises use nearly all of it. Our payroll figures are estimates, so Year 3’s raise is set to fit the $27.4M once Metro’s own payroll figures are in. The $12.5M and the $6.7M are money Metro already spends, on administration and on purchasing; our budget plan moves them into a $19.2M raise pool, held by the Office of Management & Budget until a pay plan sets each department’s share. The $8.2M comes from collecting what Metro is owed and from parking and park fees: new money, not a new tax.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Lower turnover, easier recruiting and better service pay part of this back, and money paid to Metro employees is spent in Louisville. The annual report will measure it.

PART II — RIGHTS

Metro is the employer here, so the rights below are matters of Metro policy and Council appropriation — not state preemption. Where a collective bargaining agreement already covers a subject, the agreement governs; nothing here supersedes a contract.

THE FLOOR, APPLIED TO OURSELVES FIRST

The Worker Bill of Rights sets three rights for every worker in Louisville and reaches private employers through the tools the city legally holds. Louisville Metro Government is the employer the mayor can move first, with the Council’s appropriation. So it goes first.

Right 1 — Paid what you earned

✓ Every Metro employee has access to the Labor Standards Office complaint process for unpaid overtime, misclassification, or withheld pay — the same office private-sector workers use
✓ Timekeeping and overtime rules published in plain language, per department
✓ Back pay resolved within 60 days of a substantiated complaint

Right 2 — Free to organize, safe from retaliation

✓ Metro Government is neutral on organizing in every department, union and non-union alike
✓ No retaliation for a complaint, a grievance, an investigation, or organizing — enforced through the existing four-step grievance procedure with an independent final step
✓ Whistleblower protection for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, or illegal activity (carried from Version 2.0)
✓ Anonymous reporting hotline (carried from Version 2.0)

Right 3 — Pay you can see

✓ A pay range in every Metro job posting, internal and external, from Year 1
✓ A published equal-pay audit of Louisville Metro Government in Year 2, by department, with a plan and a date to close every gap it finds
✓ Annual public reporting of Metro pay by classification against the Kentucky Homeownership Wage Index

Right 4 — Scheduling, safety, and time you can count on

(The schedule-change premium is a real cost and must be estimated by Human Resources before adoption; nothing else in this Right carries a cost beyond administration.)
✓ Two weeks’ advance notice of schedules for hourly Metro employees, with premium pay for changes inside that window
✓ Paid rest breaks built into every shift, for field crews and office staff alike
✓ Heat, cold, and hazard standards for outdoor and field crews — Public Works, Parks, Codes, Solid Waste — with the right to refuse unsafe work (carried from Version 2.0)
✓ Sick leave, parental leave, and bereavement as set in Part I, with no requirement to disclose a diagnosis to use them

METRO AND THE HOMEOWNERSHIP WAGE INDEX

The Kentucky Homeownership Wage Index is the hourly wage at which a full-time worker can carry a mortgage on the median Kentucky home, with the formula and current figure published on the Index page. Metro will not pretend every position meets it, and this plan does not promise a date by which every position will. Metro will:

• Publish, every January alongside the index, the share of Metro positions at or above it — by department and classification
• Report, in the Year 2 equal-pay audit, what closing the gap for the lowest classifications would cost, so the Council can decide with a number in front of it
• Measure every raise cycle and every new classification against the index before it is approved

The gap is real. Part I raises every non-union salary 17.8% over three years, and union pay moves through each contract; the annual report says, in public, how much of the gap remains after that.

WORKPLACE PROTECTIONS (carried from Version 2.0)

Non-Discrimination · Harassment-Free Workplace with anonymous reporting · Four-Step Grievance Procedure without retaliation · Whistleblower Protection · Workplace Safety (OSHA compliance, right to refuse unsafe work, required training)

WHO THIS HELPS

Every Louisville Metro employee. Union members: contracts honored, not superseded; your raises through your contracts; benefits intact; every right in Part II; your precedent protects your non-union colleagues. Non-union employees: the Part I raises, for administrative and professional staff, technical specialists, analysts and every other non-represented career employee, in every department. The mayor’s appointees are not included.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

This plan IS: paid for through reallocations and targeted revenue, $27.4M a year, enough for the raises in every year · sustainable — built into the base budget · fair — a raise schedule for the employees with no contract to bargain one · competitive with peer cities · smart — reduces costs through lower turnover · equitable — narrows the union/non-union gap · transparent — quarterly public reporting.
This plan is NOT: new broad-based taxes · deficit spending · a political gimmick · an attack on unions · a reduction of existing benefits.

Part II adds administration, not programs. Pay ranges in postings, neutrality, an equal-pay audit and an annual report are administered by the Labor Standards Office and Human Resources within budgets already stated here and in the Worker Bill of Rights. The one exception is Right 4’s schedule-change premium, which is costed before it is adopted or not adopted at all.

ADDRESSING CONCERNS

Q: Can we afford this? Yes. The raises cost $16.9M in Year 1, 1.5% of the annual budget, and $27.4M a year from Year 3, 2.4%. The $27.4M a year named above pays for them in every year, from money Metro already spends and from new collections and fees, not new taxes. Lower turnover saves money too.
Q: Why are the raises for non-union employees only? Because EVERYONE deserves fair pay, and non-union employees have no contract to win it. Union members’ raises come through their contracts, which this plan honors. Current inequality hurts morale and service quality.
Q: Will this make union contracts more expensive? We want to compete for the best employees, so we have to at least put our money where our mouth is.
Q: Why not just pay everyone the Homeownership Wage now? Because a promise Metro cannot fund is worth less than a gap Metro reports honestly and closes on a schedule. Part I’s 17.8% is the first step on that schedule.
Q: How do we measure success? Turnover, recruitment quality, employee satisfaction, service quality, and — new — the equal-pay audit and the share of positions at the index. Quarterly public reports from the Oversight Committee.

THE CHOICE

Current approach: union raises through contracts · non-union 2% this year · inequality and resentment · turnover costing millions · unable to compete for talent · rights by contract for some, by handbook for the rest.
Our approach: non-union employees 11%, 3% and 3% raises, 17.8% in all · union contracts honored · every benefit Metro gives today unchanged · one floor of rights for everyone · Metro measured, in public, against the wage it takes to buy a home.

OUR PROMISE

To Metro employees: You matter. Your service deserves fair compensation and real rights. Union or non-union, you’ll be treated equitably — and the standard we set for the city, we meet ourselves.
To Louisville residents: Better compensation = better service. No new taxes. Fiscally responsible.
To everyone: This is about building a Louisville where public service is valued, respected, and fairly compensated — and where City Hall goes first.

DAVE BIGGERS FOR MAYOR
Fair Pay. Fair Benefits. Fair Treatment. For Everyone.

Related policies: Worker Bill of Rights (the citywide floor) · Kentucky Homeownership Wage Index · Economic Development & Jobs