The B.C. government is offering partially paid leave to its 30,000 public servants if they volunteer for the 2010 Olympics. As part of the plan, B.C. government employees who are accepted by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) as volunteers will be able to claim part of the time as vacation time, and the other part as paid leave, said Colin Hansen, the minister responsible for the Olympics. No extra money will be spent on the program and all government ministries will have to work out arrangements with employees on a case-by-case basis within their normal operating budgets, Hansen told CBC News on Thursday morning."Only in rare circumstances will someone be hired to replace them [while they are volunteering]," said Hansen. But those civil servants who do volunteer will get a vacation time bonus — for every two days they volunteer, they will only be deducted one day of vacation time, said Hansen. The rest will be made up as paid leave. Hansen denied suggestions it would be inappropriate to pay people who choose to volunteer, because the volunteers would be using up their own vacation time while working for the Games.
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