(a) Sick Leave.
(1) Accumulation and Use. Each full time employee of the Village shall be entitled to two and five-tenths hours of sick leave for every forty (40) hours of credited service. Sick leave shall be charged in minimum units of one-half hour and shall be paid in accordance with the employee's base pay for each one-half hour charged for absence from previously scheduled work. Sick leave may be accumulated without limit.
(2) Notification. An employee who is unable to report for work and who is not on previously approved day of vacation, sick leave, personal leave or leave of absence, shall be responsible for notifying the Department Supervisor and/or Village Administrator that they will be unable to report for work. The time required for such notification shall be established by each Department's Supervisor and may be amended from time to time, both with the concurrence and approval of the Village Administrator.
(3) Use of Sick Leave. Employees may use sick leave for the following reasons:
A. Illness, injury or pregnancy related conditions of the employee;
B. Exposure of the employee to a contagious disease which could be communicated to other employees;
C. Medical examination of the employee, including medical, psychological, dental or optical examination by an appropriate practitioner;
D. Death of a member of the employee's immediate family, however, such absence from work shall not exceed five (5) days, unless otherwise approved by the Department's Supervisor and Village Administrator;
E. Illness, injury or pregnancy related condition of a member of the employee's immediate family;
F. Medical examination, including medical, psychological, dental or optical examination of a member of the employee's immediate family;
G. Immediate family as used in this section shall include father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife and child; and in subsections (a)(3)D and E hereof shall also include stepchild, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, stepmother, stepfather, grandparents, grandchild or other persons, in the opinion of the Village Administrator, who hold a significant place in the life of the employee.
(4) Evidence of Use. Employees may be required to furnish a satisfactory written, signed statement by appropriate practitioner to justify use of sick leave. For extended sick leave, exceeding three consecutive work days, the employee shall provide a physician's statement specifying the employee's inability to report for work and the probable day of recovery or return to duty with any appropriate restrictions. The Village as required by law will attempt reasonable accommodations on a return to duty. Provided, however the Village shall not be obligated to create a light duty position, nor any new position of employment to accommodate a limited return to duty.
(5) Repeated Use of Sick Leave. When an employee repeatedly takes one day of sick leave, the day before or the day after said employee's day(s) off, without statement of inability to work by an appropriate practitioner, and when the accumulation of such day(s) taken the day before or the day after the employee's day(s) off exceed five (5) days within a calendar year, the employee shall not be granted sick leave for any additional day(s) the day before or the day after the employee day(s) off unless certification of inability to work is presented to the Village Administrator by a duly licensed physician or medical authority, or previously approved by the Department Supervisor and the Village Administrator.
(6) Abuse. Any employee who fails to comply with the sick leave policies set out within this chapter, or who applies for sick leave with the intent to defraud the Village, shall not be granted sick leave credit against the accumulated sick leave for such absence from regularly scheduled work.
(7) Payment for Unused Sick Leave.
A. Upon an employee's death, disability retirement, service retirement or permanent separation from service with the Village, provided such employee has ten (10) or more years of service accumulated with the Village, the State or any political subdivision, the Village of Golf Manor shall pay up to one-fourth of the accumulated and unused sick leave, not to exceed a payment for three hundred sixty (360) hours of base pay, based upon one thousand four hundred forty (1,440) hours of accumulated sick leave.
B. If an employee should leave the services of the Village for any reason and is paid for the unused sick leave as stated above, and such employee is reinstated into the services of the Village, then previous sick leave credit accumulated and not paid prior to such separation from service shall not be reinstated and the employee shall begin with a zero accumulated sick leave unless otherwise approved by the Village Administrator and Village Council as an offer of re-employment.
(b) Personal Leave. Each full time employee of the Village shall be eligible for personal leave as follows:
(1) Each employee employed as of the first of the year shall be entitled to thirty-two (32) hours of personal leave for the year. Employees hired after the first of the year shall be entitled to thirty-two (32) hours of personal leave, less nine-tenths (0.9) of one hour for each two (2) week period past the first of the year when employment begins.
(2) Personal leave shall be charged in the minimum units of one-half (½) hour per one-half (½) hour's absence from regularly scheduled employment for personal leave paid at the employee's base pay rate.
(3) Notification. With exception of emergencies, use of personal leave shall be approved by appropriate Department Supervisor and Village Administrator with reasonable notice in advance as set by the policies and procedures of the Department.
(4) Use of Personal Leave. Employees may use personal leave for the following:
A. Personal Court Appearance;
B. Legal or business matters;
C. Family emergencies;
D. Unusual family obligations;
E. Religious holidays; or
F. Any matter of a personal nature.
(5) Unused Personal Leave. Employees having accumulated personal leave at year's end, being the final day of the last pay period of the calendar year, shall either:
A. Carry forward the balance of personal leave;
B. Convert the balance of personal leave to accumulated sick leave on an hour for hour basis;
C. Receive a cash payment for unused personal leave at the rate of one hour base pay for every two (2) hours accumulated personal leave; or
D. Gift such personal leave to the Employee Donation Bank as permitted herein.
The employee will state the option chosen in writing and present it to the Village Administrator no later than the final day of the last pay period of the calendar year.
(6) Employees who leave the services of the Village during the year shall not be eligible for payment of accumulated, unused personal leave.
(c) Occupational Injury Leave.
(1) In most situations, the Village utilizes pay continuation along with Worker's Compensation administration to ensure an employee's continuity of income during an occupational injury. When necessary, each full-time employee shall be entitled to Occupational Injury Leave ("OIL") to a maximum of one hundred twenty (120) calendar days for each qualifying injury. OIL may be granted to an employee who suffers an on-the-job injury from an identifiable incident that occurred in the course of performance of the employee's official duties within the scope of employment with the Village, or where such injury directly results from an exposure to a hazard and who is off word due to said injury for a continuous period of five (5) working days. The Village may decide to waive the requirement to use sick leave during the initial five day period.
(2) In the event of a service connected injury incurred in the active discharge of duty, particular to police work and not characteristic of other occupations, which injury is not the result of negligence, recklessness, self-infliction, or "horseplay" by the employee, the Village shall grant the employee full pay for a period not to exceed one hundred twenty (120) calendar days. This time shall not be charged to the employee's sick time. Upon written request of the employee, the Village may grant a thirty (30) day extension of the OIL.
(3) An employee applying for OIL hereunder, shall authorize the release to the Village of all medical information pertinent only to the occupational injury possessed by the employee's treating physician(s) and the treatment facility(ies) if so requested by the Village or its designee, and/or shall agree to be examined by a licensed medical practitioner selected and paid for by the Village.
(4) Any employee claiming an occupational injury under this section shall file an injury claim with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation ("OBWC") as soon as possible. Upon approval of the claim by OBWC, an OIL granted after the fifth (5th) day of absence shall be made retroactive to the first (1st) day of absence, and any sick leave or vacation used by the employee during the first five (5) days of absence shall be restored to the employee's credit. The employee shall remit to the Village all income benefits paid by OBWC for the period during which the employee received full pay from the Village while on OIL. In the event the claim is denied by OBWC, the employee shall revert to sick leave status, and shall be charged with sick leave and/or vacation leave for all time paid by the Village for OIL.
(5) It is understood and agreed that the Village's obligation under this section is only the difference between the employee's regular rate of pay and the amount of income benefits paid to the employee by OBWC, and that OIL is not in lieu of OBWC benefits.
(6) In lieu of granting OIL, the Village may assign the employee to light duty with the approval of, and within the limitations set by, the employee's treating physician or physician selected and paid for by the Village. It is strictly the management right of the Village to determine if light duty work is available.
(7) No entitlement to OIL shall arise from a personal injury sustained while an employee is engaged in private employment of any nature whether or not such private employment is a peace officer guard, or other law enforcement related field, and whether or not such private employment was secured through the Village.
(8) Before an employee on injury leave will be permitted to return to duty, the employee shall submit to the Village Administrator a physician's statement and any other required documentation concerning the injury, demonstrating the employee's physical ability to satisfactorily perform the duties of the employee's position. Additionally, the Village Administrator may require the employee to submit to an examination by a physician selected and paid by the Village if there is any question about the employee's ability to return to duty.
(d) Employee Donation Bank.
(1) It is acknowledged that from time to time employees may suffer from serious medical conditions preventing them from working for extended periods of time, and the employee has no means of support because the employee has exhausted all available paid leave and the employee's temporary total disability is not work related and covered by Ohio Worker's Compensation law. As a result, there is hereby created the Employee Donation Bank.
(2) Employees from time to time may donate accumulated but unused sick, vacation or personal leave or compensatory time to the Employee Donation Bank to be credited for use only by an employee actively drawing from such Employee Donation Bank at the time of such donation.
(3) An employee who is (1) unable to work due to an injury or illness, (2) who has exhausted his/her available sick leave, vacation leave, and personal time during a calendar year, and who is not receiving Worker's Compensation Benefits related to such leave, is eligible to request continuing payment of his/her regular pay from the Employee Donation Bank. If an employee is determined to be eligible to draw from the Bank, as determined by the Department Supervisor and the Village Administrator, such employee shall be paid his/her regular compensation for each eligible hour that the employee is absent which has been donated in advance of such day of absence to the Employee Donation Bank designated for the benefit of such employee. If sufficient hours have not been donated for such employee in advance, such employee shall be paid only those hours credited as donations within the Bank for such employee. An eligible employee may only draw up to a total of four hundred eighty (480) hours from the Employee Donation Bank during his/her term of employment with the Village, unless otherwise approved by Council. Such hours, up to the total of four hundred eighty (480), may be drawn on intermittent basis.
(Ord. 2019-9. Passed 7-15-19.)