All full-time employees of the Police Division and the Fire Division shall receive vacations with pay, in accordance with the following:
(a) Years of Service Defined. "Years of service," for the purposes of this section, means continuous uninterrupted full-time service, except that military service, authorized sick leave and vacation leave shall not be considered an interruption of service.
(b) Amount of Vacation Pay. The amount of vacation pay in the case of salaried employees shall be the regular compensation fixed for such position.
(1) In the case of hourly paid personnel, excluding shift employees in the Department of Fire, the weekly vacation pay shall be compensation at the rate of a 40-hour work week.
(2) In the event of difficulty in the interpretation of this division, the decision of the Mayor shall be final.
(c) Vacation Scheduling. Vacations shall be taken, subject to operational and staffing needs, at a time scheduled and approved by the official to whom the employee reports, who shall be responsible for the reporting of authorized vacations or leaves to the Director of Finance. Vacation requests shall normally be submitted at least 14 calendar days in advance of the date(s) being requested. The 14-day requirement may be waived at the discretion of the Chief. In the event of a conflict with another employee requesting the same dates, the employee with the most seniority shall prevail, except that requests encompassing a full calendar week (e.g., Sunday through Saturday) or more will be given preference irrespective of seniority.
(d) Computation. Vacations shall be taken as follows:
(1) One day will be given for each full calendar month worked during the first 5 continuous years of service, to a maximum of 10 days.
(2) After 5 years of continuous service, 15 days will be given; after 10 years of continuous service, 20 days will be given; after 20 years of continuous service, 25 days will be given.
(3) Vacations earned shall be taken within one year from the vacation calculation date, except that each employee shall be able to bank 5 days of vacation time which must be used during the following calendar year.
(4) The vacation calculation date shall be December 31 of each year. All vacations earned in the current year will be calculated on the basis of the months or years of continuous service completed by December 31 of the preceding year.
(5) In the event of termination of employment by an employee, provided that the employee was employed by the City on December 31 of the preceding year, vacation credit shall be calculated in accordance with this division for the year in which the employment is terminated, based upon the actual time in the employment of the City during the termination year, and the employee shall be paid as of the termination date in lieu thereof.
(6) If, for any reason, an employee wishes to work rather than take a vacation, there shall be no double pay allowed.
(7) No vacation leave credit will be given an employee for his or her part-time employment service with the City. Employees are eligible for prior service credit for full-time service with the State of Ohio, county, or another Ohio city. It is the responsibility of the employee to obtain and submit documentation from previous employers. Prior service credit will commence within the calendar year acceptable documentation is submitted.
(8) "Day," as used herein, means 8 hours, except for shift employees within the Department of Fire, where it means 10.6 hours.
(Ord. 27-85. Passed 6-10-85; Ord. 113-03. Passed 7-14-03.)