(a) Municipal officials and employees shall accrue, accumulate and be permitted to use sick leave in the manner provided by Ohio R.C. 124.38 as presently enacted or hereafter amended. Sick leave accrued in the service of the State or a political subdivision of the State other than the City of Defiance shall not be available for use unless all sick leave accrued by an individual in the service of the City has been exhausted. The first three days of sick leave used due to the occurrence of a death in an employee's immediate family shall be allowed without deduction from the employee's sick leave balance.
(b) At the time of retirement, a Municipal official or employee with ten or more years of service with the City, the State of Ohio, another political subdivision of the State of Ohio or any combination thereof, may elect to be paid in cash for one-half the value of the unused sick leave accrued to the employee's credit while in the service of the City to a maximum accumulation of 960 hours of unused sick leave. The payment shall be based on the employee's rate of pay at the time of retirement and eliminates all accrued but unused sick leave credit to the date payment is made. Sick leave accumulations in excess of 960 hours shall not be compensable except as provided by subsection (c) hereof.
(c) A Municipal official or employee employed by the City on January 1, 1998, who has an accumulated balance of more than 960 hours of accrued but unused sick leave standing to his or her credit on the date of his or her retirement shall, at the time of retirement, receive a sum in addition to that payable under subsection (b) hereof that is equal to one hour's wage for each seven hours of accumulated unused sick leave standing to the employee's credit in excess of 960 hours.
(d) Except as expressly provided by subsections (b) and (c) hereof, the entitlement to exercise sick leave with pay shall not be convertible to pay, to cash or to any equivalent of cash.
(Ord. 6910. Passed 3-4-08.)