(a) Accumulation.
(1) A full-time employee (except an elected official) shall accumulate sick leave without limit at the rate of 4.6 hours each biweekly payroll period.
(2) A part-time employee (except an elected official) shall accumulate sick leave without limit at the rate of .0575 hours for each paid hour of work.
(b) Usage.
(1) Sick leave shall be charged at a minimum of one hour, exact time for anything over an hour, and eight hours for one work day.
(2) An employee shall be charged for sick leave only for days upon which he or she would otherwise have been scheduled to work.
(3) Sick leave may be granted for the following reasons:
A. Illness, pregnancy and/or childbirth, injury of the employee or a member of the employee's immediate family which requires the employee's presence;
B. Death of a member of the employee's immediate family (see Section 165.08(b) for provisions regarding bereavement leave);
C. Medical, dental or optical examination or treatment of an employee or a member of the employee's immediate family, which requires the employee's presence and which cannot be scheduled during nonworking hours; or
D. Contagious disease of an immediate family member which requires the care and attendance of the employee, or if, through exposure to the contagious disease, the presence of the employee at work would jeopardize the health of others.
(Ord. 89-6. Passed 1-3-89.)
(4) Sick leave benefits shall not be available for use by employees during their probationary period, which shall be sixty days for full-time employees and ninety days for part-time employees.
(Ord. 92-110. Passed 5-18-92.)
(c) Employer's Rights.
(1) The City may require the employee to furnish a standard written statement on a form provided by the City to justify the use of sick leave.
(2) The City may require the employee to present a certificate stating the nature of the illness from a licensed physician, dentist or chiropractor, for any illness of more than three days duration.
(3) In addition to the other provisions of this subsection, when an employee misses work because of an injury or disability, whether job related or not, the employee may be required to provide the employer with a physician's statement that the employee is not physically fit to perform the duties of the employee's job.
(4) When sick leave is requested to care for a member of the employee's immediate family, the employer may require a physician's statement to the effect that the presence of the employee is necessary to care for the ill person.
(d) Payment.
(1) Payment of sick leave shall be at the employee's base rate, plus longevity.
(Ord. 89-6. Passed 1-3-89.)
(2) Unused sick leave payments shall be made for the following reasons: death, permanent disability, retirement, illness (including members of the immediate family), or termination after ten years of continuous service.
A. If an employee was hired by the City before July 1, 1985, the employee shall receive pay for up to 105 days, plus fifty percent of days exceeding 105 of unused sick leave.
B. An employee hired by the City on or after July 1, 1985, shall receive pay for one-third the value of accumulated but unused sick leave. No such employee shall receive more than 70 full days pay.
(Ord. 97-300. Passed 12-15-97.)
(3) Payments made to an employee shall be made within one year after the employee's last day of regular employment. Such payments shall be made in one or more installments and shall not be less frequent than quarterly. Payments for accumulated sick time shall not bear interest.
(4) An employee who transfers in from another public agency within the State shall be credited with earned but unused sick leave to a maximum of 480 hours.
(5) An employee who transfers employment to another public agency or is re-employed by another public agency within thirty days after termination of employment with the City for any reason shall transfer the unused balance of the employee's accumulated sick leave credits to the public agency to which the employee transfers. The employee shall be paid for any time not eligible for transfer if he or she has been employed by the City for ten years.
(Ord. 89-6. Passed 1-3-89.)
(6) (EDITOR'S NOTE: Division (d)(6) of this section was repealed by Ordinance 2007-162, passed December 17, 2007.)
(e) Sick Leave Sell-Back.
(1) Any full-time employee who has accumulated and not used a minimum of 65% of the employee’s earned sick leave shall be eligible to sell back to the City not more than two weeks of accumulated and unused sick leave per year. Any employee who is eligible to sell back sick leave under this section shall notify the City Finance Director by December 1 of each calendar year as to how much accumulated and unused sick leave, if any, the employee desires to sell back. The compensation for any such sick leave sold back to the City shall be paid to the employee by January 30 of the following year. The maximum amount of sick leave sold that can be considered earnable salary and therefore pensionable is the amount of sick leave the employee earns in one calendar year, less any amounts taken during the same calendar year. Sick Leave Sell Back payments must meet the requirements of Ohio Revised Code (ORC) and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) in order to be considered earnable salary and pensionable.
(2) Any employee who subscribes to the sick leave sell-back plan as provided in division (e)(1) of this section shall have their accumulated days of unused sick leave for which they would be entitled to be paid under division (d) of this section reduced for each day of sick leave they sell back to the City under division (e)(1) of this section.
(3) Any full-time employee who during the employee’s career was off on sick leave due to an extended illness or injury, may make a request to the Safety-Service Director to not consider sick leave time used for any such extended illness or injury against the employee’s percentage of earned sick leave, for the purposes of division (e)(1) of this section.
(f) Sick Leave Incentive.
(1) Any full-time employee who has accumulated and not used at least the minimum percentage of earned sick leave as stated in divisions (f)(1)A. through D. shall be eligible to sell back the employee’s unused vacation as provided in divisions (f)(1)A. through D.:
A. Employees accruing vacation at a rate of 80 hours per year with the City, minimum accumulated in unused sick leave required: 80%, maximum vacation sell-back: one week; and
B. Employees accruing vacation at a rate of 120 hours per year with the City, minimum accumulated in unused sick leave required: 78%, maximum vacation sell back: two weeks; and
C. Employees accruing vacation at a rate of 160 hours per year with the City, minimum accumulated in unused sick leave required: 74% maximum vacation sell- back: three weeks; and
D. Employees accruing vacation at a rate of 200 hours per year or more with the City, minimum accumulated in unused sick leave required: 70%, maximum vacation sell-back: four weeks; and
(2) The maximum amount of vacation leave sold that can be considered earnable salary and therefore pensionable is the amount of vacation leave the employee earns in one calendar year, less any amounts taken during the same calendar year. Sick Leave Incentive payments must meet the requirement of Ohio Revised Code (ORC) and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) in order to be considered earnable salary and pensionable.
(Ord. 97-300. Passed 12-15-97; Ord. 2006-156. Passed 11-6-06; Ord. 2007-162, passed 12-17-07; Ord. 2014-106. passed 10-20-14.)