(A) (1) The town provides paid sick leave benefits to eligible employees for periods of temporary absence due to illnesses or injuries, to attend to required medical examinations for medical, psychological, dental, and optical conditions of the employee or immediate family member of the employee, as defined as any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.
(2) Eligible employee classification(s): regular full-time employees.
(B) The amount of paid sick leave benefits employees earn each anniversary year increases with their length of employment as follows:
(1) Twenty-four hours of sick leave after the first 90 days of employment.
(2) Forty-eight hours of sick leave after the first full year of employment, and an additional four hours for each month thereafter.
(C) Paid sick leave benefits may be used in minimum increments of one hour. An eligible employee may only use sick leave benefits for an absence due to his or her own illness or injury, and that of a qualifying household member.
(D) Employees who are unable to report to work due to illness or injury should notify their department head before the scheduled start of their workday, if possible. The department head must also be contacted on each additional day of an absence.
(E) A maximum of 480 hours of sick leave may be accumulated from year-to-year. Upon voluntary termination of employment, 240 hours of earned but unused sick leave benefits will be paid out. Upon involuntary termination of employment, sick leave benefits will be forfeited.
(F) Sick leave benefits will be calculated based on the employee’s base pay rate at the time of absence and will not include overtime, or any special forms of compensation, such as incentives, commissions, bonuses, or shift differentials.
(G) Sick leave donation bank.
(1) A full-time employee on an approved unpaid personal leave is eligible to receive a maximum of 480 donated sick leave hours from other full-time employees. Refer to Policy #600—Personal Leave (§ 35.130) for additional information.
(2) To become eligible for donated sick leave hours, the employee must have exhausted all accrued paid time off benefits, e.g. vacation, sick leave benefits, personal hour benefits, and compensatory time. The department head of the affected employee, the Town Manager, Clerk-Treasurer, and the Town Council President are authorized to oversee the transfer and use of sick leave donations.
(Ord. 2020-26, passed 1-20-21)