Ever since November 7, the last day that Melissa Landin (Zamora) the Cameron County District Attorney Office's Public Information Officer was at work before the birth of her child, tongues have been wagging at the courthouse.
Recent mothers and mother-to-be wanted to know how it was that Landin has been able to be away from her workplace with pay when they requested time off and were denied.
Well, the county rumor mill being what it is, words like "favoritism" and "preference" soon laced the missives sent electronically and otherwise from the county.
We have been unable to get much information since her absence almost a month ago. But we can confirm that she has been getting her regular paycheck while she has been away, and that, apparently, she has crossed her "t"s and dotted her "i"s..
But we have been able to ascertain this much. To date, Melly has been gone (as of December 4) for a total of 136 hours. As far as we can tell, she has been able to collect her pay for 120 hours using a combination of vacation time, hours previously worked, and sick time.
As far as we have been able to determine, she has gotten paid for 56 hours of vacation time. The county's vacation time is fairly liberal in comparison with other public entities. According to the county employee policy handbook, a county employee accrues 10 days, or 80 hours, of vacation time after having worked zero through the completion of 5 years. By that measure, perhaps she had used vacation time in the past year and was limited to the 56 hours.
She was also credited with 44 hours of sick leave and paid for another 20 hours she had logged in before she left.
According to the county's policy manual, a full-time employee accrues sick leave benefits at the rate of 6.67 hours per month beginning at the date of employment, but not to exceed more than ten (10) days per year.
Sick leave not used during the year in which it accrues, accumulated and is available for use in succeeding years. The maximum allowable accumulation of sick leave is sixty (60) days(480) hours.
Landin (Zamora) also has been granted leave without pay for another 16 hours, which brings her right up to date.
Now, some of those county employees who called to inquire how Melly could get such nice treatment from her boss (D.A. Luis Saenz) probably didn't get the same treatment from their department head, well, all we can say is that perhaps Melly is somewhat special. She was, after all, a city commissioner and elected officials tend to stick together and extend professional courtesies to each other. But they may be right, it's not the same treatment given to others. Oh, well.
We have no idea when the new mama will return to work, but even then, the county affords the department heads (in this case Saenz) the leeway to extend the leave without pay up to sixty (60) workdays during any 12-month period, for family and medical reasons.
Under the section titled, 10.09 REASONS FOR LEAVE OF ABSENCE, the policy manual states that: A leave of absence for family and medical reasons is appropriate for one or more of the
following reasons: 1. Family, because of the birth of a son or daughter of the employee and in order
to bond with son or daughter.
We kn ow now that Melly has applied for protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act that entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.
Eligible employees are entitled to: Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for: the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
Under certain conditions, employees may choose, or employers may require employees, to "substitute" (run concurrently) accrued paid leave, such as sick or vacation leave, to cover some or all of the FMLA leave period.
We understand that Gaby Garza is now covering for Melly and took photos during the presentation of a resolution for conjunto legend Frutty Villarreal at the commissioners court meeting today.
What's more, the FMLA protects mothers like Melly by not even requiring them to file.
"When an employee seeks leave for a FMLA-qualifying reason for the first time, the employee need not expressly assert FMLA rights or even mention the FMLA. If an employee later requests additional leave for the same qualifying condition, the employee must specifically reference either the qualifying reason for leave or the need for FMLA leave."
14 comments:
If she dotted her i's, crossed her t's and earned the sick, vacation, and fmla, what's the problem? Oh right -- Zeke Silva paid you to write this story. Many expectant mothers at the county take equal or more time off that they too deserve. But yet again, the interest comes from none other than the disgruntled former DA employee. Your Praise God chants no longer mask the venom running through your veins, Zeke.
Lame post...deserves a lame comment
Juan O'Leery
Thank you Juan for exposing these crooks who use the system to steal tax payers hard earned money. Melissa hasn't earned her vacation or sick leave she just got on her knees for Luis during one of the early morning 8 liner raids when all of a sudden Luis's mustache curled up and Melissa got more days off with pay. For us that have to work with a DA that is worst than a Bi-Polar person have no choice but to keep our mouth shut because we are in danger of getting fired. We no longer have faith in our DA to lead us. He has either fired the good personnel or they have quit. A lot of good hard working employees, ADA's, paralegals, etc, have resigned because of Melissa and Luis, the ones that saw the writing on the wall left as soon as they could. We no longer trust or confide in our DA Luis Saenz. To be honest we prefer Armando Villalobos over Luis Saenz any day, we are hoping Carlos Masso wins come 2016. ABL.
For us that have to work with a DA that is worst than a Bi-Polar person have no choice but to keep our mouth shut because we are in danger of getting fired.
So, this commenter admits to being a former employee of DA Saenz. Because 99 percent of the more than 100 DA employees (present and former) are educated to highly educated, this very poorly-written comment could not have been penned by any one of them. Very poor grammar, sentence structure and the signature vulgarity clearly exposes, yet again, the disgruntled, illiterate, uneducated, former DA employee (and felon) Zeke.
Let's not forget the comment is laced with his signature woman-hating propaganda.
What is worst (by the way, you used "worst" incorrectly) is that you continue to proclaim your undying friendship with the DA when your ostrich boot-wearing ass hides behind a screen posting comments defaming and libeling him.
Give it a rest, and redirect the time and energy chismeando into something positive.
Hey Juan...Have you ever noticed that Melissa nor Luis never ever deny your stories they entirely focus on who leaked inside information and immediately blame Zeke Silva(which by the way has no clue why he is getting blamed) instead of seeking justice, fairness to the County Employees. May we remind you Mr. DA that this is not you are an Elected Official.Luis Saenz accused the previous administration of having favorites branding his character of one of integrity without favoritism towards any one person or employee. Yea Right, as soon as he got elected he turned into Mr. Jekyll and Hyde.
Here you go again stalking people Melissa just like you stalked Mark Clive when I was dating him. What you need to do is worry about your new husband (who probably thinks the baby is his)and quit posting on Facebook and blogs. You need psychiatric help Melissa...you Phsyco.
Carlos Masso is a a CROOK he does not stand a chance we know what he is and who pulls his strings... NUNCA
Compared to who Masso? C'mon. Dime con quien te juntas y te dire quien eres.. Masso continues to hang around Abel Gomez and his friend Junior. Masso and Abel worked with Villalobos. I am sure the pockets got lots of cash. Abel Gomez misses that Cash. Lets Vote for anyone else other than Abel Gomez for Constable in 2016.
Since we know you are slow Mellissa Zamora I will try and teach you basic grammar skills with forthright understanding that you have gotten where you are at on your knees and back stabbing men and women.
When the previous writer said " For us that have to work with a DA that is worst than a Bi-Polar person have no choice but to keep our mouth shut because we are in danger of getting fired".
The word HAVE is present tense. Once you understand how to form the past tense of regular verbs, you shouldn't find it difficult to use verbs in the present-perfect. All you'll need to add is an auxiliary verb (also known as a helping verb)--has or have.
I hope you consider taking Grammar Classes before typing away like a scorned Scarlet who got busted stealing from the tax payers hard earned money by making false accusations.
The same goes to you Luis. C'mon. Dime con quien te juntas y te dire quien eres???? You were best friends with Junior Andralde and Lucino Rosenbaum two of the biggest 8 liner owners that contributed highly to your campaign. You still upset Abel Gomez beat you fair and square provoking you to use county investigators and resources to try and pin anything on him with to no avail.
It is SAD when the District Attorney uses a woman (Melissa) to attack men on the blogs forcing her to be used as a shield for punches directed to you.
Hilarious attempt at justifying your poor grammar ...
wow. it seems to me the Feds should look into Abel Gomez, Junior Andrade etc.. I bet the pockets are full of cash as they were when Villalobos was there. Vote for Pete Avila 2016!!!
During Villalobos years Abel Gomez and others were going around the county closing 8-liners. You have to wonder how much money was pocketed by him and purposely done to aid his partners in crime Junior Andrade and Carlos Masso maybe.mmmmmmmm
Melissa had sick time and vacation time accumulated. and you haven't considered the possibility that she had optional short-term disability coverage, which pays you a FULL paycheck if you're out, among other reasons, for FMLA. You people need to get a life instead of attacking public servants. It's pathetic and the reason Brownsville doesn't advance to the next level as McAllen and other surrounding cities have.
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