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Grove City Overview
Grove City, Ohio Code of Ordinances
Codified Ordinances of the City of Grove City, Ohio
PRELIMINARY UNIT
GENERAL INDEX
COMPARATIVE SECTION TABLE
TABLES OF SPECIAL ORDINANCES
CHARTER of the CITY OF GROVE CITY, OHIO
PART ONE - ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
TITLE ONE - General Provisions
TITLE THREE - Legislative
TITLE FIVE - Administrative
TITLE SEVEN - Judicial
TITLE NINE - Taxation
PART THREE - TRAFFIC CODE
PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE
PART SEVEN - BUSINESS REGULATION CODE
PART NINE - STREETS, UTILITIES AND PUBLIC SERVICES CODE
PART ELEVEN - PLANNING AND ZONING CODE
PART THIRTEEN - BUILDING CODE
PART FOURTEEN - HOUSING CODE
PART FIFTEEN - FIRE PREVENTION CODE
CHAPTER 161
Employment Provisions for City Employees
161.01   Employment Provisions and Compensation Plan.
161.02   Pay Periods, Workday & Pension Pick-up.
161.03   Overtime and Compensatory Time.
161.04   Longevity Bonus.
161.05   Holidays.
161.06   Vacation Leave
161.07   Sick Leave.
161.08   Leaves of Absence.
161.09   Fringe Benefits.
161.10   Employee Status, Number of Employees Per Department, Pay Grades.
161.11   Tuition Reimbursement Program.
161.12   Discipline.
161.13   Family and Medical Leave Act.
161.14   Workplace Violence Prevention.
161.15   Discrimination and Harassment Prohibited.
161.16   Employment at-Will.
161.17   Paid Birth Leave.
161.99   Definitions and Application of City Employment Provisions.
CROSS REFERENCES
   Civil Service - see Ohio Const., Art. XV, Sec. 10; CHTR. § 4.04; ADM. Ch. 155
   Worker's compensation - see Ohio Const., Art. II, Sec. 35; Ohio R.C. Ch. 4123
   Official bond - see CHTR. § 9.02; Ohio R.C. 3.06; ADM. 159.01
   Contract interest - see CHTR. § 9.03; ADM. 159.02; GEN. OFF. 525.10
   Deductions for dues and savings - see Ohio R.C. 9.41, 9.43
   Deductions for municipal income tax - see Ohio R.C. 9.42
   Vacation credit - see Ohio R.C. 9.44
   Sick leave - see Ohio R.C. 124.38
   Public Employees Retirement System - see Ohio R.C. Ch. 145
   Expenses for attendance of conference or convention - see Ohio R.C. 733.79
   Strikes by public employees - see Ohio R.C. Ch. 4117
161.01   EMPLOYMENT PROVISIONS AND COMPENSATION PLAN.
   (a)   Structure and Entrance Salary.
      (1)   The Compensation Plan is organized into nine (9) pay grades for non-executive personnel and two (2) pay grades for executive personnel. In the non-executive pay grades, each grade is composed of one (1) probationary and twenty (20) steps. The use of steps provides opportunity for personnel to move through the step system within grade for growth and development. The differentials between steps vary from step to step. Increments are higher in the early steps, recognizing that learning occurs more rapidly in the early stages of an employee’s tenure as the employee develops mastery of the skills, knowledge and abilities required for effective performance of a job. The executive personnel pay grade uses a minimum-maximum pay range system. For non- executive pay grades, the initial employment salary will be set at the appropriate step as determined by the City Administrator, based on demonstrated skills, knowledge or ability developed in prior employment or education.
      (2)    Where an employee is promoted to a higher pay grade, the new rate shall be set at the appropriate step as determined by the City Administrator (Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13.)
      (3)   Any employee who leaves or has left the City service to enter the active service of the armed forces of the United States and who seeks reinstatement shall be addressed pursuant to City policy and procedure as well as the Ohio Revised Code and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.
   (b)   Probation and Advancement within the Compensation Plan.
      (1)   After initial appointment or promotion to a new grade, the first one (1) year of service in the position to which appointed or promoted shall be considered a period of probation. In the event that the employee does not satisfactorily complete his or her probationary period, he or she shall be separated from the service except that, in the case of promotion from a lower grade he or she shall revert to such position, if such position remains available. Probationary employees, both classified and unclassified, may be removed or demoted at any time after completion of a written evaluation and notice to the employee by the City Administrator indicating that the employee's performance is not satisfactory. Such removals or demotions shall not be subject to appeal.
      (2)   As indicated in (a)(1) above, for non-executive personnel, a new hire shall be placed at the appropriate step as determined by the City Administrator within the pay grade, depending on the demonstrated skills, knowledge and ability developed in prior employment or education. Movement through steps within the pay grade is based on performance assessment results. A review will be conducted no sooner than four (4) months but at least after twelve (12) months of service. Recommendation to the City Administrator from the department head for advancement is required. Advancement through steps within the pay grade is undertaken in annual increases based on performance assessment and longevity. An employee moves to the next higher step within the pay grade after twelve (12) months served in the immediate prior step unless a performance assessment identifies areas needing improvement. The performance assessment results together with a plan for improvement will be submitted to the City Administrator by the department head. A review of performance and progress will be conducted after four (4) months. If improvements have been made, the incumbent moves to the next higher step at that time with the next consideration for a step increase being twelve (12) months thereafter. If at the four (4) month review the performance problem persists, appropriate disciplinary action may be considered. The employee shall be advanced to higher steps until the employee has reached the maximum rate of the pay grade. All step increases shall be effective on the next regular pay period date after having been approved by the City Administrator. For executive personnel, advancement through the pay grade system shall be based upon performance assessment results conducted annually by the City Administrator, his or her designee or the appropriate appointing authority. Executive personnel may be subject to a development plan to assess shortcomings in performance. The amount of the annual advances in pay shall be made on a discretionary basis by the City Administrator or appropriate appointing authority consistent with this and other applicable Chapters. (C127-05. Passed 12-19-05; Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13.)
   (c)   Recommendations for Award. If, based on the performance assessment, an employee has achieved levels of performance well above those necessary for adequate fulfillment of job duties, the City Administrator, upon documented recommendation from the employee's department head or designated individual, may issue a one (1) time performance award in the sole discretion of the City Administrator. This award, which does not change the employee's basic pay grade or step within the pay grade, would be a one (1) time payment of up to two percent (2%) of the employee's base wage at the time of the award. This award should be used only for the most exceptional situations and may only be used once per employee within a twelve (12) month period.
   (d)   Requirements as to Continuity of Service. Service requirements for advancement within the compensation schedule, Longevity Bonus and for other purposes as specified in this Chapter shall require continuous service defined as employment in the City service without break or interruption. Leaves of absence of less than thirty (30) days shall not be construed to mean interruption of continuous service. Approved absence with or without pay, in excess of thirty (30) days, except for service with the armed forces of the United States or the State of Ohio and approved FMLA leave, shall be deducted in computing total service but shall not serve to interrupt continuous service.
(Ord. C10-87. Passed 3-16-87; Ord. C10-09. Passed 2-17-09; Ord. C40-22. Passed 6-20-22.)
   (e)   Eligibility Requirements for Employee Benefits. All full-time classified and unclassified employees, excluding members of Council, the Mayor, the Director of Law, and employees whose benefits are established by an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, may be eligible to receive the benefits described in this chapter - except that the members of Council and Mayor shall be eligible for insurance benefits described in this chapter. (Ord. C114-90. Passed 1-7-91; Ord. C04-14. Passed 4-21-14.)
   (f)   Performance Measures and Personnel Forms.
      (1)   Performance Assessment. In cooperation with department directors, the City Administrator shall establish a performance evaluation system to determine employee performance as indicated throughout this Chapter. Employee performance measures shall include quality and quantity of work, attendance and attainment of departmental or divisional objectives and any other evaluations and/or measures as the City Administrator or Director so determines.
   The performance evaluation ratings shall be considered in determining salary increases and decreases within the limits fixed by the compensation plan and as a factor in determining the demotion or dismissal or an employee. Performance evaluation forms shall be reviewed with the employee being evaluated.
      (2)   Forms. The City Administrator shall prescribe the necessary procedure for personnel reports, leave authorizations, employee status and pay and performance evaluation. All departments shall utilize the procedure prescribed, unless approved by the City Administrator.
(Ord. C10-87. Passed 3-16-87; Ord. C47-01. Passed 8-6-01; Ord. C10-09. Passed 2-17-09; Ord. C23-15. Passed 4-20-15; Ord. C10-21. Passed 3-1-21; Ord. C40-22. Passed 6-20-22.)
161.02   PAY PERIODS, WORKDAY & PENSION PICK-UP.
   (a)   Pay Periods. Compensation shall be paid to every eligible employee of the City on a biweekly basis. Disbursements of pay checks shall be on alternate Fridays at which time the employee shall be paid compensation for the 80-hour period ending on midnight of the Friday that precedes the pay day Friday. The Director of Finance shall calculate the compensation earned by employees on an annual, monthly or hourly salary by dividing the salary of such employee, as nearly as possible, into equal biweekly amounts. (Ord. C05-12. Passed 2-6-12.)
   (b)   Regular Workday. For all employees except Police Dispatch and Division of Police employees, as well as employees governed by a collective agreement, a regular workday is an eight (8) or ten (10) hour work period as determined and designated by the City Administrator. Employees may be assigned varying work periods, as determined and designated by the City Administrator. (Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13; Ord. C40-22. Passed 6-20-22.)
   (c)   Represented Employee Work Schedule. A regular work schedule for employees represented by a union shall be according to the City’s agreement with such respective union.
   (d)   Regular Work Week. For each employee, not covered by a collective bargaining agreement or other exception determined by the City Administrator, whose designated workday is eight (8) or more working hours, a regular work week consists of five (5) consecutive workdays in any seven (7) day period followed by two (2) consecutive days off. A work week for all employees consists of forty (40) hours of time regularly worked on behalf of the City. An employee excused from the performance of duties for observance of a holiday for which the employee is entitled to compensation shall receive credit for the number of hours in the employee’s regular workday in computing whether such employee completed a regular work week. (Ord. C40-22. Passed 6-20-22)
   (e)   Pension Pick-Up (Salary Reduction Method). The full amount of the statutorily required employee contribution to the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) or the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund (OPFPF) shall be withheld from the gross pay of employees. This amount shall be “picked-up” by the City, pursuant to the Salary Reduction Method, and shall be designated as public employee contributions and shall be in lieu of contributions to PERS or OPFPF by each such employee. No employee subject to this “pick-up” shall have the option of choosing to receive the statutorily required employee contribution to PERS or OPFPF instead of having it “picked-up” by the City or of being excluded from the “pick-up”. The City will not incur any additional costs in the deferment of such federal and State income taxes. Should the rules and regulations of the Internal Revenue Service or PERS or OPFPF change, making this procedure unworkable, the City will return to the former contribution method.
(Ord. C10-09. Passed 2-17-09; Ord. C23-10. Passed 5-3-10; Ord. C40-22. Passed 6-20-22; Ord. C06-24. Passed 2-20-24.)
161.03   OVERTIME AND COMPENSATORY TIME.
   (a)   Overtime Eligibility. Non-exempt employees, as determined under the Fair Labor Standards Act, required to work more than forty hours in any regular work week shall be compensated for such overtime worked at one and one-half (1-1/2) times the employee’s base rate of pay for each hour of overtime. Approved or scheduled sick leave shall not be considered as hours worked for the purpose of earning overtime. Such compensation for overtime work shall be paid at the same time the employee receives a regularly scheduled paycheck for the time period in which the overtime hours were worked. With approval of the City Administrator, a non-exempt associate may receive the same overtime calculation as a collective bargaining unit member. (Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13; Ord. C15-18, passed 3-20-18.)
   (b)   Work Week. For purposes of calculating overtime liability, the work week shall be defined as the period of time starting at 12:00 a.m. Saturday and ending at 11:59 p.m. Friday. The use of this standard work week may be altered for specific positions with approval from the City Administrator and notice to the affected employees at least one week before the changes take effect. (Ord. C23-10. Passed 5-3-10.)
   (c)   Compensatory Time. If the City Administrator provides prior approval, non-exempt employees may be granted compensatory time in lieu of payment of overtime, for any time worked in excess of forty (40) hours in one work week. Compensatory time will be granted at the rate of one and one-half (1-1/2) hours of compensatory time for each hour of overtime worked. The City retains the sole discretion as to whether or not compensatory time will be granted in-lieu of payment for overtime worked.
   (d)   Compensatory Time Accrual Limitation. At no time shall compensatory time accrue in excess of forty-five (45) hours per year. The City Administrator may require the use of compensatory time by employees as provided by law.
   (e)   Carry Over. Compensatory time shall not be carried over from year to year. At any time during the calendar year, an employee may request to be paid for any accumulated but unused compensatory time at the employee’s most recent base hourly rate. All remaining unused compensatory time shall be paid out at the employee’s-base hourly rate at the end of the calendar year. Such payments shall be made by January 31 of the next calendar year. Upon separation from employment those employees eligible and awarded compensatory time shall be entitled to compensation at their then current rate of pay for accrued and unused compensatory time. (Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13.)
(Ord. C4-89. Passed 2-6-89; Ord. C47-01. Passed 8-6-01; Ord. C-06-08. Passed 2-4-08; Ord. C10-09. Passed 2-17-09; Ord. C06-24. Passed 2-20-24.)
161.04   LONGEVITY BONUS.
   (a)   All eligible employees, as defined in Section 161.01(e), after the completion of five (5) years of full-time service with the City, shall receive a longevity bonus pursuant to the following schedule (unless an employee is covered under a collective bargaining agreement):
 
Years of Service
Annual Longevity Bonus
5th through and including 10th
$1,075
11th through and including 15th
$1,325
16th through and including 20th
$1,550
21st through and including 24th
$1,900
25th and thereafter
$2,250
 
(Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13; Ord. C40-22. Passed 6-20-22.)
   (b)   The longevity payment shall be made, in accordance with the above schedule, in a separate lump-sum payment on the first pay period ending after each anniversary date of each year. Upon termination for any reason, members who are eligible for longevity pay under this section (or, in the event of death, the estate of the deceased) shall be paid, as part of their terminal pay, the final partial year of longevity pay, prorated to the number of hours worked during such partial year since the member's last anniversary date. The Director of Finance shall establish the rules and regulations for the distribution of this bonus.
(Ord. C4-89. Passed 2-6-89; Ord. C7-96. Passed 2-5-96; Ord. C86-00. Passed 10-16-00; Ord. C47-01. Passed 8-6-01; Ord. C10-09. Passed 2-17-09.)
161.05   HOLIDAYS.
   (a)   All eligible employees, as referred to in Section 161.01(e), shall receive eight (8) hours of compensation at base rate for the following holidays:
New Year’s Day
January 1
Martin Luther King Day
3rd Monday in January
President’s Day
3rd Monday in February
Memorial Day
Last Monday in May
Juneteenth
June 19
Independence Day
July 4
Labor Day
1st Monday in September
Columbus Day
2nd Monday in October
Veteran’s Day
November 11
Thanksgiving Day
4th Thursday in November
Friday after Thanksgiving Day
4th Friday in November
Christmas Eve Day
December 24
Christmas Day
December 25
Employee’s birthday
 
 
   (b)   All other eligible employees whose regularly scheduled days off are Saturday and Sunday shall observe holidays falling on Saturday or Sunday on the day on which such holiday is nationally observed. All employees shall be excused from work on the day provided herein for observation of the holiday with the exception of the employee’s birthday, if feasible. If any of the above holidays fall on a Sunday, the holiday is observed on the following Monday; if it falls on Saturday, it is observed on the preceding Friday. If a recognized holiday occurs during a member’s vacation, that day is not charged as vacation used. Members required to work on a recognized holiday shall receive one and a half (1-1/2) times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in addition to their regular compensation.
   (c)   The employee birthday holiday shall be observed on a day mutually advantageous to the employee and the City within the calendar year. This holiday cannot be carried forward to the next calendar year. (Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13.)
(Ord. C10-87. Passed 3-16-87; Ord. C86-00. Passed 10-16-00; Ord. C47-01. Passed 8-6-01; Ord. C7-03. Passed 2-18-03; Ord. C10-09. Passed 2-17-09; Ord. C23-15. Passed 4-20-15; Ord. C06-24. Passed 2-20-24.)
161.06   VACATION.
   (a)   All eligible employees, as defined in Section 161.01(e), shall be entitled to the following vacation with pay annually after one (1) year of service with the City.
 
Years of Service
Paid Vacation Hours Per Year
Vacation Hours
Per Pay Period
1 through and including 3
80
3.0769
4 through and including 8
120
4.6153
9 through and including 13
160
6.1538
14 through and including 17
200
7.6923
18 and more
240
9.2307
 
   (b)   Vacation leave shall be scheduled by the director of each department in a manner most advantageous for the service and the interest of the City. Upon separation from employment with the City, the employee shall be entitled compensation at the employee's then current rate of pay for all accrued and unused vacation leave at the time of separation from the City's service.
   (c)   All employees, as described in subsection (a) hereof, shall be allowed to accrue vacation hours up to a maximum number of hours according to service with the City as follows:
 
Years of Service
Maximum Accrual
of Vacation Hours
1 through and including 3
240
4 through and including 8
360
9 through and including 13
480
14 through and including 17
600
18 and more
720
 
   (d)   At any time during the calendar year, an employee may request to be paid for any vacation
balance in excess of eighty (80) hours at the employee's most recent base hourly rate. At the end of each calendar year, each employee shall be paid for any vacation balances in excess of the maximums fixed by this section at the employee's base hourly rate at the end of the calendar year. Such payments shall be made by January 31 of the next calendar year. (Ord. C25-13. Passed 5-6-13.)
   (e)   Any eligible employee who is to be separated from the City service through removal, resignation, retirement or lay-off and who has unused vacation leave, shall be paid in a lump sum for such unused vacation leave at the employee's most recent base hourly rate.
   (f)   When an eligible employee dies, the City shall certify the unused vacation leave balance. This balance shall be paid in a lump sum, with appropriate taxes withheld, to the estate of the deceased at the employee's most recent base hourly rate.
   (g)   With the approval of the City Administrator, the City may recognize previous public service employment for earning vacation benefits. To be eligible for consideration, evidence of prior service must be submitted within 90 days of the start of employment with the City.
(Ord. C10-87. Passed 3-16-87; Ord. C47-01. Passed 8-6-01; Ord. C10-09. Passed 2-17-09; Ord. C23-15. Passed 4-20-15; Ord. C33-16. Passed 5-2-16; Ord. C40-22. Passed 6-20-22.)
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