(a) When death occurs in the employee’s immediate family, i.e., spouse, parents, stepparents, children and stepchildren, the employee, upon request, will be granted bereavement leave for the first five scheduled working days immediately following the date of death.
(b) When death occurs of any of the employee’s parents-in-law, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, grandchildren or other relatives permanently residing in the employee’s home, the employee, upon request, will be granted bereavement leave for the first three scheduled working days immediately following the date of death, provided they attend the appropriate death related service. The supervisor may require evidence of such attendance in the form of a sympathy card or obituary notice.
(c) In the event the employee is notified of the death during his or her scheduled work shift and requests to be excused immediately, the employee shall be released as soon as possible and shall have the option of having the remainder of his or her shift charged to his or her accrued annual leave or having that day counted as the first day of the bereavement leave to which he or she may be entitled.
(d) If a death occurs under these provisions while an employee is on annual leave, upon notice his or her status shall be changed from annual leave to bereavement leave.
(e) Employees granted bereavement leave under this section shall, after making written request for this leave and submitting proof of relationship, receive the amount of wages they would have earned by working during straight time hours on such scheduled days of work for which they are on bereavement leave.
(f) Employees may be granted additional time off for travel or otherwise by use of earned annual leave upon approval of their supervisor or department head. The decision of the supervisor or department head relative to the use of annual leave for that purpose, shall not be arbitrary.
(Ord. 2444, passed 7-1-1974; Ord. 2583, passed 1-17-1977; Ord. 2699, passed 2-26-1979)