(a) Definitions.
ABSENCE WITHOUT LEAVE. Means unexcused absence from work.
APPOINTING AUTHORITY. Means the official or body having the power of appointment to, or removal from, positions in any village office or department.
ASSISTANT. Means the employee who aids and assists the appointing authority in the discharge or performance of duties which are of a confidential and fiduciary character and which involve the responsibility of his or her principal.
BREAK IN SERVICE. Means termination of employment for more than 30 days for any reason other than layoff or approved leave.
CONTINUOUS SERVICE. Means the uninterrupted service of an employee with the village.
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE. Means a drug, compound, mixture, preparation, or substance included in schedule I, II, III, IV, or V of R.C. § 3719.41.
DAY. Means calendar day unless specified otherwise.
DEMOTION. Means placement of an employee in a position which carries a lower salary range than that previously held.
DEPARTMENT. Means a village organizational unit directed and controlled by a department head and charged with a specific public service function.
DEPARTMENT HEAD. Means the director or manager of a department.
DISHONESTY. Means the disposition to lie, cheat or defraud; untrustworthiness; lack of integrity.
DISTRIBUTION. Means delivering goods, materials and/or written materials.
EMPLOYEE. Means any person holding a position subject to appointment, removal, promotion, or reduction by an appointing authority.
EXCUSED ABSENCE. Means being absent from work with the approval of the appointing authority or designee.
FIRE CHIEF. Means the Chief of the Fire Department.
FULL TIME EMPLOYEE. Means an employee who has completed the applicable probationary period and occupies an authorized position scheduled to work 40 hours per work week or hourly employees for the Police Department who have completed the applicable probationary period and occupy an authorized position scheduled to work 84 hours during their 14-day work period.
GENDER. Means whenever the pronouns he or she or the derivatives thereof are used in this manual they will be interpreted as referring to both sexes.
IMMORAL CONDUCT. Means conduct which is willful, flagrant, or shameless, and which shows a moral indifference to the opinions of the community.
INSUBORDINATION. Means the state of being unwilling to perform duties and responsibilities required of an employee. Refusal to obey an order issued by an employee's supervisor.
NEGLECT. Means to omit or fail to comply with an order that can be done. The absence of care or attention in the doing. An omission of a given act. A designed refusal or unwillingness to perform one's duty.
ORAL REPRIMAND. Means the discussion a supervisor holds with an employee in which he or she disciplines the employee for his or her conduct and impresses upon him or her the need for improvement. This method of discipline can eliminate misunderstandings immediately and set and maintain desired standards of conduct and performance. A notation of the date, time and reason for an oral reprimand shall be kept in the employee's personnel file.
PART-TIME EMPLOYEE CLASS A EMPLOYEE. An employee of the village who is expected to or actually does average at least 30 hours per week, but who works less than 40 hours per week. Averages are to be determined on a semi-annual basis and will not include sick, vacation, or other paid time off.
PART-TIME CLASS B EMPLOYEE. An employee of the village who is expected to or actually does average less than 30 hours per week. Averages are to be determined on a semiannual basis and will not include sick, vacation, or other paid time off.
PAY RANGE. Means the division of a salary schedule to which a classification or position is assigned.
POLICE CHIEF. Means the Chief of the Police Department.
POSITION. Means the group of job duties intended to be performed by an individual as assigned by the appointing authority.
PROBATIONARY PERIOD. Means the period of time at the beginning of an original appointment, hiring or promotion which lasts for six
months. During this period an employee may be terminated or reduced to a lower classification without cause.
PROMOTION. Means the act of placing an employee in a position which carries a higher salary range than that previously held.
PRORATED. To make an arrangement on a basis of proportional distribution. Example: If an employee who works 40 hours a week is entitled to eight hours pay for a holiday, then an employee who works 32 hours a week is entitled to 6.4 hours of pay for that same holiday. 40/32 = 8/x hours worked = 6.4 hours of entitlement.
REDUCTION. Means the change of the classification held by an employee to one having a lower base pay range, a change to a lower step within a salary range, or any decrease in compensation for an employee. For purposes of layoff, a "reduced employee" is one serving in a classification lower than the one from which the employee was laid off or displaced.
REMOVAL. Means the termination of an employee's employment.
RESIGNATION. Means the voluntary separation from the village by the employee.
SCHEDULED HOURS OF WORK. The hours an employee is assigned to work by their supervisor in any given work week. Changes to these scheduled hours need to be communicated to the employee at least a week ahead of time.
SENIORITY.
A. For purposes of all matters such as vacation scheduling and other internal matters affected by SENIORITY and not dictated by law or policy, seniority means the uninterrupted length of continuous service with the village. An authorized leave of absence does not constitute a break in service. SENIORITY continues to accumulate during the term
of the leave, provided the employee complies with the rules and regulations governing his or her leave of absence.
B. For the purpose of layoff, SENIORITY means continuous service with the village. Service may be transferred from one village department to another without loss of SENIORITY as long as no break in service occurs.
C. Employees who are reinstated from layoff within one year of the layoff date retain previously accumulated SENIORITY, but will not be credited with SENIORITY for the time spent on layoff.
D. SENIORITY for the purposes of vacation accrual means the total number of years of service with the village. However, the completion of a total of one year service with the village is required before eligibility for any vacation leave is established.
E. SENIORITY for the purposes of determining retirement benefits is defined by the provisions of the retirement system in which the employee participates.
F. For all other purposes, SENIORITY shall be defined as set forth in the provisions of the Ohio Revised Code.
SHALL. Means mandatory.
SOLICITATION. Means an act of requesting an individual to purchase goods, materials, or services, or a plea for financial contribution or a plea for support of any cause.
SPECIFICATION. Means a general description of job duties including examples of the kinds of tasks performed in positions allocated to a classification. Specifications may include class title, a statement of job functions, a grouping of task statements by job duties (ranked by importance), and a summary of required worker characteristics, behaviors and minimum qualifications for employment in the classification.
STATUS. Means the type of appointment such as: probational, full time, part time, or seasonal/temporary.
SUPERVISOR. Means an individual authorized to oversee, manage, or direct the work of lower level employees.
SUSPENSION. Means the relieving of an employee from duty without pay, usually for a short period of time (i.e., one to 50 days) as a disciplinary measure aimed at improving the employee's conduct.
TARDINESS. Means arriving at or reporting to work after the usual, proper or appointed
time.
TRANSFER. Means the movement of an employee from one position to another within the village having the same rate of pay and similar duties.
WORK AREA. Means any office, building, physical location, vehicles where official village business is transacted and/or operations of the village being conducted. This includes any public or private area where employees are engaged in work activities.
WORK TIME. Means all the time when an employee must engage in work tasks.
WORK UNIT. Means a division of a department, usually directed by a supervisor in charge
with a specific work function.
WORK WEEK. The seven consecutive 24 hour periods from Monday 12:00 a.m., to Sunday 11:59 p.m. (Note of justification: This is consistent with past practice, matches the state time interval for PERS, and coincides with the printed time cards).
WORK PERIOD. For purposes of hourly employees of the Police Department, the term work period shall mean the 14-day work period established by the village as authorized pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 207(k) and 29 C.F.R. § 553.230(c).
WRITTEN WARNING. Means a written record of disciplinary action, usually issued after an oral reprimand has failed to improve an employee's conduct.
(b) Chain-of-command. No employee of the village will have more than one supervisor to which he or she directly reports. The chain of command will be as follows, starting with the highest authority.
(1) Mayor -> Village Administrator -> department supervisor -> employee.
(2) Mayor -> Police Chief -> Deputy Chief -> officers.
(3) Mayor -> Fire Chief -> 1st assistant -> 2nd assistants -> Captain -> Lieutenant -> fire fighter.
(c) Merit system. Employees shall be evaluated solely on merit without regard to race, gender, disability, or any other factor precluded by law.
(1) Recruiting, selecting, and advancing employees on the basis of their relative ability, knowledge, and skills.
(2) Paying every employee according to the wage ordinance.
(3) Offering training and seminars that are directly related to work to assure high quality performance.
(4) Retaining and correcting performance with due process per the Ohio Revised Code.
(5) Assuring fair treatment of all employees.
(6) Assuring that employees are protected against coercion from partisan or political purposes.
(d) Disclaimer. These policies are not to be considered an employment contract with an employee. Information included in this chapter is not to be considered a contract and may be changed by the Council with notification.
(e) Saving clause. If any article or section of this chapter or any amendments shall be held invalid by operation of law or by a tribunal of competent jurisdiction, or compliance with or enforcement of any article or section of this chapter shall be restrained by such tribunal, the remainder of this chapter and amendments shall not be affected and shall remain in full force and effect.
(f) Repealer. Any prior ordinance or resolutions in conflict with this chapter are hereby invalid and repealed.
(g) Ethics. All village employees are expected to maintain the highest possible ethical and moral standards and to perform within the laws of the United States, of the state, and other rules and regulations as may be set forth by the village. It is important to remember that the compensation of all employees is paid through taxes or user fees. Therefore, each village employee assumes responsibility to serve the public in an honest, effective and cheerful manner.
(Ord. 3050, passed 12-19-16; Ord. 3098, passed - -18; Ord. 3249, passed 12-20-21)