City adopts consolidated employee handbook with new drug‑test and retirement rules

The Michigan City Board of Public Works and Safety on July 6 approved a consolidated employee handbook intended to create consistent personnel policies across city departments.

Melissa Henderson, the city’s director of human resources, told the board a committee of department representatives had spent months combining separate manuals into a single handbook to treat employees uniformly outside of collective bargaining agreements. “We have spent probably the last eight months as a committee working on a handbook to go across all departments for the city of Michigan City,” Henderson said.

Key changes outlined by Henderson and committee members include: requiring post‑accident drug and alcohol tests for employees involved in workplace accidents (regardless of dollar thresholds used previously); removing a second probationary period for promoted or transferred employees; adding retirement‑eligibility language so employees must meet a minimum service threshold or the “rule of 85” to receive certain payouts; and establishing a mandatory callback payment policy so employees who are called back to work receive consistent compensation.

Committee members said the handbook modernizes appearance rules and consolidates previously divergent department policies. The board discussed implementation and next steps for managerial training so supervisors apply the new handbook consistently across departments.

Public commenters and one board member praised the consolidation as a pro‑worker update that also clarifies city procedures. The board voted unanimously to approve the handbook; staff said the document will be distributed to all city employees and shared with boards that previously had separate handbooks (parks and sanitation). Revisions can be proposed and returned to the board for amendment.