(a) Definitions.
An employee’s Benefit Year shall mean the anniversary of the employee’s full-time hire date in any given year to the day preceding the anniversary date in the following year. Benefit Years shall thus vary from employee to employee, depending on hire date.
Paid Time Off (PTO) replaces vacation time, sick time and holidays. PTO shall mean time off with pay that shall be used for holidays and can otherwise be used at an employee's discretion and with the approval of the employee's supervisor.
(b) PTO bank.
(1) Accruals.
a) PTO shall accrue according to the following schedule:
Years 0-5
(date of hire through end of year 5) 9.50 hours per pay period
(date of hire through end of year 5) 9.50 hours per pay period
Years 6-12
(beginning of year 6 through end of year 12) 11.25 hours per pay period
(beginning of year 6 through end of year 12) 11.25 hours per pay period
Years 13-20
(beginning of year 13 through end of year 20) 12.00 hours per pay period
(beginning of year 13 through end of year 20) 12.00 hours per pay period
Years 21+
(beginning of year 21 through date of separation) 13.00 hours per pay period
(beginning of year 21 through date of separation) 13.00 hours per pay period
b) The City may, in its sole discretion, elect to accrue PTO at time intervals other than bi-weekly (e.g., monthly, quarterly, biannually or annually). The conversion to a different accrual interval shall result in accruals essentially equivalent (with allowance for rounding), on a prorated basis, to the bi-weekly amounts stated above.
c) An employee must work and/or be on paid leave an entire pay period in order to accrue PTO for that pay period. Any employee who is paid for fewer than 75 hours in a pay period (80 hours for golf course employees) shall not accrue PTO for that period. An exception shall be made for a new employee within the first two full pay periods of his or her employment. If one or more holidays are the only reason the employee is not paid 75 hours for the first two full pay periods, the employee shall accrue PTO for those pay periods.
(3) New employees.
a) A new employee shall accrue PTO beginning with his or her first full pay period, but shall not be entitled to use discretionary accrued leave until he or she has completed three months of full-time employment. During this period the employee is required to use non-discretionary PTO for holidays unless he or she works the holiday.
b) Should an employee separate from the City and then be re-employed within 100 or fewer calendar days, the employee shall be entitled to full credit for service prior to the separation. After a separation of more than 100 calendar days, a returning employee shall be treated as a new employee for purposes of calculating PTO accruals and shall not receive credit for prior service.
(4) Transfer/termination.
a) The balance in an employee's PTO bank is transferable between any City departments. The employee's new department is responsible for all PTO time the employee brings with him.
b) An employee is eligible to be paid for unused PTO upon leaving the City's employment. However, an employee's termination date may not be extended to use up the PTO bank balance. The employee's termination date shall always be the last day worked.
(5) Use of PTO bank.
a) Non-discretio nary: Employees shall be required to use PTO time for holidays they would be scheduled to work but for the holiday. An employee does not have discretion to work the holiday rather than take PTO. Any employee who does not have sufficient time accrued for a holiday shall take the time off without pay. Discretionary: For all discretionary time off, supervisors shall make every effort to honor the paid time off requests of employees, consistent with the needs of the department.
b) An employee will be allowed to use only that paid leave that has been credited to his PTO bank. PTO cannot be taken in advance of, or during, the pay period in which it is accrued.
c) PTO may be used in increments of 15 minutes.
d) Employees are expected to meet the minimum notification standards established by the City. All PTO requests and/or notifications must be made in a manner consistent with each department's documented reporting procedures.
e) Use of PTO with less than 24 hours notice is referred to herein as unscheduled PTO. A supervisor may require proof of illness, injury or other emergency when an employee uses unscheduled PTO. An employee using unscheduled PTO shall not be paid for the absence unless he or she has provided notification before the commencement of each work day (unless an emergency makes notification impossible).
f) An employee using PTO for his own illness, injury or health condition shall not engage in outside employment during the period of leave.
g) Subject to the minimum requirements of this ordinance, each department head may establish additional guidelines for administration
of the PTO program. Such guidelines must be in writing, distributed to each employee and posted in the workplace. Failure to follow established procedures may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
(6) Minimum staffing.
a) Every department shall establish minimum staffing requirements for each of its operations. PTO shall not be granted, except in case of illness or approved FMLA leave, when it will cause the staffing to fall below minimum requirements.
b) Unless the department has established a different policy, time off requests shall be granted on a first come, first served basis.
(7) Employee responsibilities. The City's goal in creating a PTO policy is to allow employees maximum flexibility in the scheduling and use of paid time off, while at the same time ensuring that City operations are not adversely affected by the use of the privilege. Thus, the entitlement to paid time off under this policy carries a corresponding duty on the part of each employee to use his time responsibly. Using PTO in a manner that is detrimental to department operations will be considered a breach of the employee's duty and will be subject to disciplinary action.
(8) Carryover. An employee will be allowed to carry over a maximum of 150 hours from one benefit year to the next. Any excess time left in the PTO bank at the end of any benefit year will be transferred to the employee's sick leave bank, subject to the 300 hour maximum accumulation in the sick leave bank. Hours that exceed the sick leave bank maximum shall be forfeited.
(c) Sick leave bank.
(1) Initial funding. Sick leave accrued by an employee prior to June 27, 2009, will be maintained in a sick leave bank and may only be used for the employee's own medical needs, or as otherwise allowed under the City's family and medical leave policy.
(2) Annual deposits.
a) Any time in excess of 150 hours remaining in an employee's PTO bank at the end of any benefit year will be transferred to the sick leave bank, up to the maximum stated below.
b) An employee who has 150 or fewer hours in his PTO bank at the end of any benefit year will not have a deposit into his sick leave bank for that year.
(3) Use of sick leave bank.
a) The sick leave bank is intended for use when:
i. An employee is medically unable to work due to an illness, injury or health condition, and is not otherwise compensated by the City or by worker's compensation or disability benefits; or
ii. An employee qualifies for family and medical leave to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious medical condition.
b) The sick leave bank cannot be used:
i. Until the balance in the employee's PTO bank is 75 hours or less (although an employee may choose to deplete his PTO bank before using time from his sick leave bank); and/or
ii. For illnesses of family members, unless such illnesses qualify for leave under the City's family and medical leave policy.
c) The sick leave bank may be used in increments of 15 minutes.
d) An employee using time from his sick leave bank for his own illness, injury or health condition shall not engage in outside employment during the period of leave.
e) A supervisor may require a doctor's statement or other proof of illness if the employee's use of the sick leave bank indicates misuse, or any time after an absence of three or more work days.
f) Use of the sick leave bank contrary to the guidelines listed in this section may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
(4) Maximum accumulation. No employee can carry over more than 300 hours in his sick leave bank from one benefit year to the next. Any time in excess of 300 hours will be forfeited.
(5) Transfer/termination.
a) The balance in an employee's sick leave bank is transferable between any City departments. The employee's new department is responsible for all sick time the employee brings with him.
b) An employee's sick leave bank balance will not be paid out upon termination of employment. An employee's termination date may not be extended to use up the sick leave bank balance. The employee's termination date shall always be the last day worked.
(d) Coordination with disability benefits. An employee is required to use all but 75 hours in his PTO bank and all time in his sick leave bank before receiving disability benefits. An employee may elect to use any remaining PTO balance before receiving disability benefits.
(e) Additional leave.
(1) An employee who uses all the accrued time in his PTO bank and sick leave bank is not eligible for additional paid time off, unless the absence falls into another category of paid leave for which the employee is eligible. Even if additional unpaid leave is granted, the employee may be subject to disciplinary action for misuse of the PTO program.
(2) An employee who is in need of additional extended leave may apply for unpaid leave as provided by the City's leaves of absence policy.
(Ord. D-1939-09, As Amended, § 4, 6-1-09; Ord. D-1975-09, 12-7-09; Ord. D-2036-11, 5-16-11; Ord. D- 2052-11, 9-19-11; Ord. D-2067-11, 11-7-11; Ord. D-2138-13, As Amended, 5-20-13; Ord. D-2428-18, § 2, 6-18-18; Ord. D-2490-19, 10-21-19)