(a) Vacation Leaves.
(1) All non-bargaining employees who, as of their anniversary date every year, attain the years of continuous service with the City as set forth below, shall earn vacation hours with pay as follows:
From the date of entry to the last day of year seven - 80 hours yearly at 3.08 hours per pay period.
From the first day of year eight to the last day of year thirteen - 120 hours yearly at 4.62 hours per pay period.
From the first day of year fourteen to the last day of year nineteen - 160 hours yearly at 6.15 hours per pay period.
From the first day of year twenty forward - 200 hours per year at 7.69 hours per pay period.
An employee hired in 2015 shall continue to earn eight paid vacation hours per each complete month of work for the City, until such time as he or she has earned a total of eighty paid vacation hours. He or she shall then cease to accrue any additional paid vacation hours until his or her one year anniversary date in calendar year 2016, at which time he or she shall begin the accrual method for paid vacation hours as stated above.
Part-time permanent employees shall earn vacation and holiday pay on a pro-rated basis to that of a full-time employee.
*On the effective date of this change, each employee shall be credited with the amount of vacation on a pro-rata basis since their last anniversary date.
(2) Absence on account of sickness, injury or disability in excess of that hereinafter authorized for such purpose may, at the request of the employee and within the discretion of the department head, be charged against vacation leave allowance. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to override or be in conflict with the City’s FMLA policy.
(3) Each department or office head shall keep records of vacation leave allowances and shall schedule vacation leaves with particular regard to the seniority of employees, to accord with operating requirements and, insofar as possible, with the request of the employee.
(4) During the vacation herein provided for, the employee shall be entitled to full pay for such period at the regular rate of compensation, provided, however, that hourly employees shall be compensated on the basis of straight time for eight hours per day, forty hours per week, and no vacation benefits shall be paid on the basis of time and one-half.
(5) In the event that a paid legal holiday as prescribed in this chapter falls during the vacation period herein provided for, the vacation period shall be extended one working day.
(6) Employees covered under this chapter shall cease accruing vacation hours once they reach five weeks (200 hours) unused vacation and the employee shall not accrue or earn any additional paid vacation hours until said employee's total of unused paid vacation hours is less than the said five weeks (200 hours) limitation with the following exceptions:
A. The Fire Department sworn personnel covered by a collective bargaining agreement shall refer to the agreement regarding applicable vacation hours and maximum accrual of vacation hours. Any Fire Department employee who, by reason of promotion to a non-bargaining position, the rank of Deputy Chief or higher, has accumulated an amount of vacation in excess of 200 hours, will be allowed 12 months from the date of promotion to reduce the vacation accumulation to 200 hours. All vacation hours remaining above 200 hours at the conclusion of the 12 month period will then be paid out at the employee's regular hourly rate of pay. Any Fire Department employee, previously promoted to a non-bargaining position, the rank of Deputy Chief or higher, with a vacation accumulation exceeding 200 hours, shall in the calendar year 2020, reduce the vacation accumulation to 200 hours. All vacation hours remaining above 200 hours at the conclusion of the calendar year will then be paid to the employee at the employee's regular hourly rate of rate. Thereafter, the employee shall cease accruing vacation hours upon reaching five weeks (200 hours) unused vacation.
B. The Police Department sworn personnel covered by a collective bargaining agreement shall refer to the agreement regarding applicable vacation hours and maximum accrual of vacation hours. Any Police Department employee who, by reason of promotion to a non-bargaining position, the rank of Lieutenant or higher, has accumulated an amount of vacation in excess of 200 hours, will be allowed 12 months from the date of promotion to reduce the vacation accumulation to 200 hours. All vacation hours remaining above 200 hours at the conclusion of the 12 month period will then be paid out at the employee's regular hourly rate of pay. Any Police Department employee, previously promoted to a non-bargaining position, the rank of Lieutenant or higher, with a vacation accumulation exceeding 200 hours, shall in the calendar year 2020, reduce the vacation accumulation to 200 hours. All vacation hours remaining above 200 hours at the conclusion of the calendar year will then be paid to the employee at the employee's regular hourly rate of rate. Thereafter, the employee shall cease accruing vacation hours upon reaching five weeks (200 hours) unused vacation.
(b) Sick Leave.
(1) All employees covered by this chapter, except temporary and seasonal employees, shall be entitled to sick leave with pay. Sick leave credit shall accrue for full-time employees at the rate of one work day with pay for each completed month. Sick leave credit shall accrue for permanent part-time employees on a pro-rated basis to that of a full-time employee.
(2) Unused sick leave credit may be accumulated up to a maximum of 1,300 hours. For present employees who have accumulated more than 1,300 hours of sick leave credit, no sick leave credit shall accrue until such employee's sick leave credit shall have been reduced by the use of authorized sick leave.
(3) Employees absent from work because of legal holidays, sick leave, vacations, disability arising from injuries sustained in the course of their employment, authorized leaves of absence with pay, and authorized leaves without pay for not more than ten days in any one calendar year, shall continue to accumulate sick leave at the regularly prescribed rate during such absence as though they were on duty, subject to the maximum limitation provided herein.
(4) An employee eligible for sick leave with pay may use such sick leave, upon approval of his or her department or office head, for the employee’s own personal medical needs, and also for the illness, injury or medical appointments for members of the employee’s immediate family. An employee on sick leave shall inform his or her immediate supervisor of the fact and the reason therefor as soon as possible, and failure to do so within a reasonable time may be cause for denial of pay for the period of absence. The department head may require a doctor's certificate before approving sick leave with pay, and he or she shall require a doctor's certificate if the absence from work exceeds five working days. The illness or injury, as the terms are used in this paragraph, which will make an employee eligible for sick leave shall be construed to mean any physical or mental impairment which makes an employee unable to perform the duties of any position which might reasonably be assigned to him or her by the department head. The term "immediate family," as used in this paragraph, shall mean the spouse, domestic partner, child, mother, father, stepmother, stepfather, sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, and grandparent of the employee. Use of sick leave with pay for absence due to illness in the employee's immediate family shall be limited to an amount not less than the personal sick leave that would be accrued during six months at the employee’s then current rate of entitlement and the department head shall have the authority to adopt rules and regulations to implement this provision to guard against abuse of the use of sick leave for this purpose. This sick leave policy shall be enforced in such a way as to not interfere with or contradict the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 or any of its amendments.
(5) Absences for a fraction or part of a day that are chargeable to sick leave in accordance with this subsection shall be charged proportionately in an amount not smaller than one hour.
(6) Fire Department personnel on the platoon system schedule shall accumulate sick leave on the basis of one day for each month of service, provided that sick leave shall be charged at the rate of two days for each twenty-four hour shift missed. If only part of a twenty-four hour shift is missed, the employee shall be charged in proportion to the time missed in amounts not smaller than one-half day of sick leave.
(7) Upon the retirement of an employee with twenty or more years of employment with the City, reimbursement to said employee shall be paid at fifty percent of the unused sick time accumulated during the employee's tenure of service with the City. Reimbursement shall be at a rate of twelve dollars ($12.00) per eight hours of sick leave benefit remaining.
(8) Whenever an employee in the City service is injured or contracts an occupational disease while acting in the course of his or her employment, resulting in time lost from work, that portion of the time so lost which is compensable under the Illinois Worker's Compensation Act or the Illinois Occupational Disease Act shall not be charged against any sick leave to which he or she is entitled under the terms of this subsection.
(c) Special Leaves; Jury Duty and Court Appearances. In addition to leaves authorized in this section, the City Manager may authorize special leaves of absences with or without pay for personal, educational or other reasons. An employee must make prior written request, and, if the leave is granted, the authorization for leave shall be in writing and shall specify the beginning and ending days. The City Manager may grant paid leave of absence and unpaid leave. An employee may be absent for jury service and attending court as a witness, and the City shall pay such employee the difference between his or her regular City pay and the payment he or she receives for jury service or attending court as a witness.
(d) Absence Without Leave. Any employee who is absent from duty shall report the reason therefor to his or her supervisor prior to the start of his or her shift. All unauthorized and unreported absences shall be considered absence without leave, and deduction of pay shall be made for the period of absence. Such absence may be made the grounds for disciplinary action.
(e) Bereavement Leave. In the event of death in an employee's immediate family, the employee shall receive three days leave with pay following the date of death, but not beyond a day after the funeral, provided that the employee attends the funeral. Pay shall be eight hours at the employee's straight-time for each day of leave. Immediate family is defined as the employee's spouse, child, parent, brother, sister, stepchildren and current mother- in-law or father-in-law. (For additional child bereavement leave, refer to subsection (f) below.) The City may require a substantiation of death and the employee's attendance at the funeral, if so requested. An employee shall receive two days leave with pay under the terms of this subsection in the event of the death of the employee's grandparent, spouse's grandparent, grandchildren, stepfather, stepmother, brother-in-law or sister-in-law.
(f) Child Bereavement Leave. Pursuant to Public Act 099-0703, a City employee is entitled to a maximum of two work weeks (ten work days) of unpaid bereavement time following the death of a child. A City employee shall be entitled to a maximum of six weeks of bereavement time in the event of the death of more than one child during a twelve-month period.
A City employee shall utilize this child bereavement leave only to attend the funeral or alternative to a funeral of the child, to make arrangements necessitated by the death of the child, or to grieve the death of the child. The child bereavement leave shall be completed within sixty days after the date that the City employee receives notice of the death of the child. The City shall be entitled to forty-eight hours of notice before the commencement of the child bereavement leave, unless such notice is not practicable. The City may require documentation from the City employee to verify the necessity of the bereavement leave.
A City employee is eligible for the child bereavement leave after 1,250 hours of service with the City during the prior twelve month period. Child bereavement leave shall not be taken in addition to unpaid leave permitted under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.("FMLA"), and shall not exceed unpaid leave time allowed under that law (FMLA).
(g) Executive Leave. All of the department head employees and many management and professional employees are routinely required to attend meetings or work on projects outside of the normal working hours of the City. In recognition of the significant hours spent in the evenings and weekends, all department head employees and those management employees designated by the City Manager shall receive five days of executive leave each calendar year. This time must be used on an annual basis or shall be forfeited. Any department head hired after the start of the year shall have his or her executive leave prorated in accordance with the hire date for the first year of employment. Requests to use executive leave shall be submitted to the City Manager for approval prior to use.
(1977 Code §23-107; Ord. 81-55. Passed 8-17-81; Ord. 90-34B. Passed 6-18-90; Ord. 96-40. Passed 6-17-96; Ord. 2015-53-B. Passed 1-19-16; Ord. 2017-06. Passed 1-17-17; Ord. 2017-07. Passed 1-17-17; Ord. 2017-56. Passed 7-17-17; Ord. 2020-07. Passed 2-3-20.)