Make tax season less taxing with My Secure Advantage
For many of us, filing your taxes can cause anxiety. Using your financial wellness benefit, My Secure Advantage (MSA), there are several ways to take the stress out of this tax season:
- Consult an MSA tax specialist – Have tax-related questions? Talk with an MSA Money Coach to get answers and talk through your options. Call 1-888-724-2326 to schedule an appointment. King County employees get 90 days of free money coaching every year.
- Assisted tax prep – Taxes can be confusing and time-consuming, so why not have a tax professional handle your tax prep for you? See MSA Assisted Tax Prep for more details and information on the 25% discount available to you.
- Do It Yourself (DIY) tax prep – If you like to complete your own taxes, make it quick, easy and cost-effective with MSA’s 25% discount on do-it-yourself online tax filing services. See MSA DIY Tax Prep to get started.
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Reminder: Leave donation programs revised
King County recently replaced the employee donated leave programs with two similar programs that better comply with IRS tax requirements: The Employee-to-Employee Medical Leave Donation Program allows you to donate your accrued leave directly to another employee. The Emergency Medical Leave Fund makes permanent the emergency leave fund started during the pandemic and allows you to donate accrued leave and request donations from a central fund. Read more.
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From professional chef to heavy-duty field mechanic: A ride-along with Brian Becker
Crossposted from the DES Express
Brian Becker spent the first 16 years of his career as a professional chef. Now he’s got nearly that much experience as a mechanic. Becker sees many similarities between the two careers. Plus, his dad was a mechanic and he grew up tinkering with cars, so it seemed like a natural transition.
Becker has been a heavy-duty mechanic at Fleet Services for about four years, and is one of six field mechanics there. His job is to service all sorts of vehicles and equipment at the wastewater treatment plants at West Point, South (in Renton) and Vashon Island, as well as respond to “road calls,” emergencies that come up. He’s also a backup mechanic for King County International Airport – Boeing Field. Read more.
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Nominations are now open for the Executive’s Performance Excellence Awards
The Executive’s Performance Excellence Awards recognize individual employees and workgroups whose innovations and improvements are delivering excellence for our customers, our organization, and our region.
This year, the awards will honor Executive branch employees and teams for their exceptional contributions in leadership, innovation, and Lean maturity in the past 12 months. There are three award categories:
- Innovation Awards: People, Cost, Service, Equity and Social Justice, Climate and Environmental Stewardship
- Leadership Excellence Awards: People Leader, Individual Contributor, Fred Jarrett Award
- Road to Excellence Awards: Divisions that achieve Stabilization Level or higher on all categories of the Lean Maturity Model
The nomination period is now open through Feb. 20, 2023, and anyone can nominate employees or teams for the Innovation and Leadership Awards. Review the nomination criteria here.
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Reminder: Leave donation programs revised
King County recently replaced the employee donated leave programs with two similar programs that better comply with IRS tax requirements: The Employee-to-Employee Medical Leave Donation Program allows you to donate your accrued leave directly to another employee. The Emergency Medical Leave Fund makes permanent the emergency leave fund started during the pandemic and allows you to donate accrued leave and request donations from a central fund.
Donating leave
Employee-to-Employee Medical Donated Leave Program: You can donate leave to another comprehensive leave-eligible employee as follows: Any amount of your accrued vacation time and up to 25 hours of your sick leave per year, as long as you have 100 hours or more of sick leave remaining.
Emergency Medical Leave Fund: You can donate up to 80 hours of accrued vacation and 25 hours of accrued sick leave each calendar year. Donations go to a leave bank and will be distributed to recipients with a qualifying reason.
Receiving leave
- Donated leave must be used for a qualifying FMLA/KCFML reason, such as a serious health condition for yourself or an eligible family member, or to bond with a new child. These family and medical reasons are specified under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the King County Family and Medical Leave (KCFML) benefit.
- Requests for hours from the Emergency Medical Leave Fund go through the Department of Human Resources and are capped at 80 hours annually (prorated to reflect the employee’s normal work week) and are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
- You can only use donated leave after you have exhausted all of your own accrued leaves.
- Donated time must first be used for a prolonged absence (three or more consecutive days) and then can be used intermittently.
- Donations from the Emergency Medical Leave Fund must be used within 60 calendar days or the donated hours will be returned to the fund.
- If an employee had remaining donated leave hours from the previous employee-to-employee leave donation program, unused balances were transferred to a new Employee-to-Employee Medical Donated Leave bank effective Jan. 7, 2023.
More information
- Note: These changes were previously communicated to all employees in November and December of last year.
- More details can be found in the FAQ.
- New program forms and procedures are posted on the Taking leave
- If you have questions about the new donated leave programs, contact the Benefits Team 206-684-1556 or KC Benefits.
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Bus fleet update: Manufacturer replacement parts allow repairs to continue
Crossposted from Metro Matters
With guidance and replacement parts supplied by bus manufacturer New Flyer, King County Metro has repaired and restored dozens of buses that were sidelined in December when a steering issue was identified. We appreciate the patience and support of riders as we focus on addressing this safety issue. Read more.
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Leesa Manion sworn in as King County prosecuting attorney
Crossposted from The Seattle Times
Prosecuting violent crimes and sexual assaults, providing culturally responsive victim services, and intervening in the lives of young people, especially those most at risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of gun violence, are among the priorities incoming King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion touched on before taking her oath of office Monday, Jan. 9, 2023.
She called her swearing-in ceremony before a packed courtroom in the King County Courthouse “a celebration,” saying that being the first woman and the first person of color to hold the office was the honor of her life.
Manion, 53, was recognized by the Korean Prosecutors Association, whose executive director, Jerry Baik, flew to Seattle from Los Angeles to attend the ceremony and present Manion with a plaque honoring her as the country’s first Korean American woman to be elected prosecuting attorney. Read more.
View her swearing in ceremony below, from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Facebook page.
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King County partnering with community-based organizations to create a 40,000-square-foot food hub, better connecting local farmers to hunger relief organizations
King County is partnering with Food Lifeline to convert their 40,000-square-foot warehouse into the new South Seattle Community Food hub, providing much-needed shared space for storing, packing, and distributing fresh produce and goods to people and families experiencing hunger.
Read more in the official press release.
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Employee Assistance Program
There are many mental health resources at your fingertips as a King County employee, including the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). EAP is a confidential counseling service for work-related issues. EAP can help with:
- Workplace stress
- Counseling and coaching for work-related issues
- Conflict with coworkers
- Supervisor Support
Call 206-263-8733 to make an appointment. For more information email HRDEAP@kingcounty.gov.
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Look up immunization rates at your neighborhood school and in King County
Crossposted from Public Health Insider
What percentage of children in your child’s school are vaccinated against measles? How does your school district compare to others in King County? How have student immunization rates changed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic? Find this and more on Public Health’s School Immunizations Data Dashboard, recently updated to include data for the 2021-22 school year.
Using interactive data visualizations, you can view local school, school district, county, and state immunization completion and exemption data. Read more.
Employee News 