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(A) All full time employees are eligible for paid vacation based on the length of continuous service with the County. Certain eligibility requirements and guidelines apply.
(B) The County provides two schedules for earning vacation:
(1) Employees hired on or before 6/10/2003
(2) Employees hired after 6/10/2003
(C) Earning Vacation - Vacation is earned based on the length of service of the employee and his/her anniversary date.
(D) Vacation Hired On or Before 6/10/2003
(1) First vacation: During the first year of service, an employee earns one vacation day for each full month of service up to a maximum of 5 (five) days. These days will accumulate for use in the following calendar year and after the employee's anniversary date. Employees may not use vacation during their first year of service.
(2) Vacation in subsequent years:
(a) Beginning with the second full year of employment (January 1st of that year), an employee will be eligible for vacation based on the following schedule to a maximum of 30 (thirty) days.
(b) Beginning with an employee's:
1. Second through five years of employment: Ten (10) days per calendar year
2. Sixth year of employment: Fifteen (15) days per calendar year
3. Seventh year of employment: Sixteen days (16) days per calendar year
4. Eighth year of employment: Seventeen days (17) days per calendar year
5. Ninth year of employment: Eighteen days (18) days per calendar year
6. Tenth year of employment: Nineteen days (19) days per calendar year
7. Eleventh year of employment: Twenty days (20) days per calendar year
8. Twelfth year of employment: Twenty-one days (21) days per calendar year
9. Thirteenth year of employment: Twenty-two days (22) days per calendar year
10. Fourteenth year of employment: Twenty-three days (23) days per calendar year
11. Fifteenth year of employment: Twenty-four days (24) days per calendar year
12. Sixteenth year of employment: Twenty-five days (25) days per calendar year
13. Seventeenth year of employment: Twenty-six days (26) days per calendar year
14. Eighteenth year of employment: Twenty-seven days (27) days per calendar year
15. Nineteenth year of employment: Twenty-eight days (28) days per calendar year
16. Twentieth year of employment: Twenty-nine days (29) days per calendar year
17. Twenty-first year of employment: Thirty days (30) days per calendar year
(E) Vacation Hired After 6/10/2003
(1) First vacation: During the first year of service, an employee earns one vacation day for each full month of service up to a maximum of 5 (five) days. These days will accumulate for use in the following calendar year after the employee's anniversary date. Employees may not use vacation during their first year of service.
(2) Vacation in subsequent years:
(a) Beginning with the second full year of employment (January 1st of that year), an employee will be eligible for vacation based on the following schedule to a maximum of 25 (twenty-five) days.
(b) Beginning with an employee's:
1. Second through five years of employment: Ten (10) days per calendar year
2. Sixth year of employment: Eleven (11) days per calendar year
3. Seventh year of employment: Twelve days (12) days per calendar year
4. Eighth year of employment: Thirteen days (13) days per calendar year
5. Ninth year of employment: Fourteen days (14) days per calendar year
6. Tenth year of employment: Fifteen days (15) days per calendar year
7. Eleventh year of employment: Sixteen days (16) days per calendar year
8. Twelfth year of employment: Seventeen days (17) days per calendar year
9. Thirteenth year of employment: Eighteen days (18) days per calendar year
10. Fourteenth year of employment: Nineteen days (19) days per calendar year
11. Fifteenth year of employment: Twenty days (20) days per calendar year
12. Sixteenth year of employment: Twenty-One days (21) days per calendar year
13. Seventeenth year of employment: Twenty-Two days (22) days per calendar year
14. Eighteenth year of employment: Twenty-Three days (23) days per calendar year
15. Nineteenth year of employment: Twenty-Four days (24) days per calendar year
16. Twentieth year of employment: Twenty-Five days (25) days per calendar year
17. Twenty-first year of employment: Twenty-Five days (25) days per calendar year
(3) Forced consolidation. This policy shall affect only those employees who are hired by the County due a transfer of responsibility from a municipality to the County and required by State law, the following provisions shall apply:
(a) Employees with less than two (2) years of service with an existing municipality shall be subject to the regular vacation policy of Lake County Government.
(b) Employees with at least two (2) years but less than five (5) years of service with an existing municipality shall receive ten (10) days of vacation after ninety (90) days of service and pro-rated during the first year of service. The employee’s vacation earnings shall transfer to the county’s regular vacation schedule beginning with January of the employee’s sixth (6th) year of service.
(c) Employees with at least five (5) years of service less than ten (10) years of service with an existing municipality shall receive twelve (12) days of vacation after ninety (90) days of service and pro-rated during the first year of service. The employee’s vacation endings shall transfer to the county’s regular vacation schedule beginning with January of the employee’s eighth (8th) year of service.
(d) Employees with at least ten (10) years of service with an existing municipality shall receive fifteen (15) days of vacation after ninety (90) days of service and pro-rated during the greater of service and pro-rated during the first year of service. The employee’s vacation earnings shall transfer to the county’s regular vacation schedule beginning with January of the employee’s eleventh (11th) year of service.
(e) Employees with at least fifteen (15) years of service with an existing municipality shall receive seventeen (17) days of vacation after ninety (90) days of service and pro-rated during the first year of service. The employee’s vacation endings shall transfer to the county’s regular vacation schedule beginning with January of the employee’s thirteenth (13th) year of service.
(f) Employees covered by this policy shall not advance (outside of this policy) in the regular county vacation policy until completing the years of service as noted above at which time, the employee will be converted to the regular vacation schedule.
(g) The aforementioned vacation shall be selected by the employee’s start date with the county. No other consideration for seniority shall be granted. Vacation shall be scheduled accordingly by the Department head.
(F) General Guidelines
(1) Vacation time is not granted until earned. Vacations shall be scheduled within each department pursuant to the needs of the department and the ability of the remaining staff to do the work in a proper manner. Vacation should be taken in no more than one week increments unless approved by the department head and appropriate elected official. A vacation may be split into blocks of time less than one week providing that such a schedule does not hamper office functions. A scheduled vacation may be changed in case of an emergency.
(2) Department heads shall have the authority to designate certain time periods in the year during which no vacations may be taken if the prohibition is based upon the necessity of operations.
(3) Generally, vacation time must be taken in the year that it was provided. However, an employee, with the approval of their department head, may carryover up to one week of vacation provided that the time is used prior to April 30th of the following year.
(4) Time of service by the employee is transferable between County departments and/or County divisions. The value of a vacation is determined at the time of use, rather than when the vacation was earned.
(5) Whenever a holiday falls during an employee's scheduled week of vacation, he/she does not need to use a vacation day for that holiday.
(6) If an employee becomes ill or injured while on vacation, the scheduled vacation time shall be counted as vacation days rather than sick days. If the illness/disability continues beyond the scheduled vacation time, the sick leave allowances (if any) shall begin on the first scheduled working day after the scheduled vacation.
(7) If an employee is terminated for any reason, all unused vacation will be paid to the employee (or in the event of an employee death, to the survivor).
(G) Use of Vacation In the Event of Illness/Disability
(1) In the event that an employee exhausts all of his/her short term disability benefits, FMLA leave or sick or personal leave, that employee must then utilize any unused vacation. Upon exhausting any unused vacation, the employee may become eligible for COBRA benefits.
(2) During a non-paid leave of absence, vacation time will not accrue. For each full month an employee is on a leave of absence, the employee will not earn vacation days which would otherwise be taken the following year. The following schedule shall be applied when calculating vacation time for an employee who was on a non-paid leave of absence.
Amount Eligible To Earn
|
Amount Deducted For Each Full Month Absent
|
Two weeks | .5 day |
Three weeks | 1.0 day |
Four weeks | 1.5 days |
Five weeks | 2.0 days |
Six weeks | 2.5 days |
(3) This provision does not affect vacation time previously earned.
(H) Conversion to Flexible Schedule - If an employee is assigned to a compressed or flexible schedule (a schedule where an employee normally works more than eight hours a day or fewer than five workdays per week), that employee's vacation days are converted to hours rather than days. For example, an employee who has earned two weeks of vacation is entitled to eighty (80) hours of paid vacation time.
(A) When any employee, regardless of status (full, part, temporary, seasonal, etc.) is injured on the job, he/she must immediately notify his/her supervisor. He/she will be directed to the medical provider assigned by the County's insurance department for treatment and must obtain a release to return to work from the same provider before returning to work. Employees may not receive treatment from his/her own physician for treatment of a work-related injury.
(B) If an employee is injured or disabled while working (at his/her County position) and must, due to that injury or disability, miss work (a physician has certified that the employee is unable to work) the employee will not be paid during a five (5) calendar day waiting period that begins on the first day of incapacity. After the waiting period, he/she will be paid at the rate set for an employee on worker's compensation. During the five day waiting period an employee may use any available sick/personal or vacation time.
(C) When an employee is injured on the job, he/she is not entitled to receive both full pay from the County (by the use of sick/vacation days) and benefits from worker compensation for the same period of time. Although the actual length and amount of worker compensation coverage varies, a maximum limit of 500 weeks of compensation is set by state statute.
(D) Additional Provisions
(1) When he/she returns to work after sick leave (Leave of Absence) from an on-the-job injury, he/she will again begin to earn sick days.
(2) If an employee misses work for an on-the-job injury for which worker compensation pays benefits, the County shall continue insurance benefits (as they were when the employee was working). The employee is responsible for making his/her normal contribution. Once such worker compensation benefits end, the employee must obtain and maintain his/her own insurance (at a cost equal to the COBRA rate).
(3) When an employee misses work due to an on-the-job injury, he/she must submit a statement from the County's medical provider estimating how long it will be before he/she may return to work. If the employee is not able to return to work pursuant to the provider's estimate, he/she must obtain and submit an additional statement from the medical provider, extending that leave. When returning to work, an employee must bring a medical release to return to work.
(4) The County provides “light duty” in those cases where the department has that type of work available and a physician has authorized such work. The release should state how long the “light duty” could be expected to be in effect. If the department does not have any “light duty” available, the employee must be cleared by the County's medical provider before returning to work.
(A) These benefits apply to all County and Utility employees not covered under the Police or Fire Pension plans:
(1) Social Security - Provides benefits for death, disability and retirement. For a full description of this benefit, please contact the local Social Security Office.
(2) Medicare - Provides limited health insurance coverage to retired employees and those who are disabled. For a full description of this benefit, please contact Medicare.
(3) Worker Compensation - Injuries or illnesses incurred on the job are compensable under provisions of State law. This includes payment of medical expenses resulting from such an injury or illness and limited liability for death, dismemberment and disability. These benefits are provided on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the Insurance Department for additional information.
(4) Unemployment Insurance - This benefit provides compensation to full-time employees in accordance with State laws in cases of involuntary termination based on a lack of work or other good cause. Please check with the Indiana Employment Security Office regarding this benefit.
(5) Public Employment Fund (PERF)
(a) PERF is available to all full time employees except those who are part of an emergency service, part-time employees, and seasonal employees or in a fee paid position with the County. All full time employees are required to participate upon employment. The County contributes the employee's share (equal to 3% of the employee's pay) as well as the employer's share of PERF. A new employee may not waive participation in the Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERF). If the employee leaves the employment of the County and is not qualified for retirement, he/she may apply for a cash refund of a portion of all monies contributed plus interest accumulated.
(b) Eligibility for a PERF pensions depends on the years of service and age:
1. Full Benefit:
a. Age 65 with 10 year of service
b. Age 60 with 15 years of service
c. Rule of 85 - Have at least 10 years of service, be at least age 55 and have a combination of age and years of service that totals 85.
2. Partial (or reduced) Benefit: Age 50 - 59 with at least 15 years of service
(c) State law governs eligibility for PERF retirement benefits and all rules and regulations regarding PERF are established and modified by the State of Indiana. An employee interested in additional information regarding his/her PERF benefits should contact the County Auditor's Office.
(B) Benefit at Retirement
(1) The amount of benefits at retirement is affected by such factors as:
(a) Service credit,
(b) Military service,
(c) Prior service,
(d) Leave of absence,
(e) Membership service,
(f) Average salary, and
(g) Age of retirement.
(2) A retiring employee should contact the Public Employees retirement Fund at least six (6) months prior to retirement and the Insurance Department and the Auditor's Office six (6) weeks prior to his/her retirement date to assure a smooth transition.
(A) Employees who have twenty (20) or more years of service with the County and are under the age of 65, or fifteen (15) years of service and over the age of 65, are entitled to health insurance benefits upon retirement, subject to the retiree contribution. Employees who have twenty five (25) years of service shall receive health insurance benefits at no cost (after age 65).
(B) Elected officials with at least twelve (12) years of service in a County position and are at least 65 years of age level are also eligible for coverage upon retirement.
(A) The County offers its employees a series of supplemental benefits. The selection of these benefits is voluntary and the cost is paid by the employee.
(1) 457 Account - This account allows government employees to invest pre-tax dollars for retirement in a variety of mutual funds and securities. The funds are portable and can be rolled over to another qualified plan. The 457 Plan is provided through several reputable financial services firms.
(2) Supplemental Life - Additional life insurance may be purchased by an employee of the County. The maximum amount of additional insurance is $100,000.00. An employee may also purchase additional life insurance through several insurance companies with reduced rate plans for County employees.
(3) Supplemental Disability - The County offers disability coverage through AFLAC, or CONSECO. The terms and conditions of these plans are determined by the provider.
(4) Supplemental Catastrophic Care Coverage - This policy covers an employee in the event of certain catastrophic medical illnesses.
(B) Additional information for the aforementioned benefits can be obtained from the Insurance Department.
(Ord. 1285B, passed 3-13-2007; Ord. 1285B-2, passed 3-11-2008; Ord. 1285B-3, passed 3-11-2008; Ord. 1285B-4, passed 6-10-2008; Ord. 1285B-5, passed 8-12-2008; Ord. 1285B-6, passed 8-26-2008; Ord. 1285B-7, passed 9-9-2008; Ord. 1285B-8, passed 10-14-2008; Ord. 1285B-9, passed 5-12-2009; Ord. 1285B-10, passed 6-9-2009; Ord. 1285B-11, passed 1-12-2010; Ord. 1285B-12, passed 2-23-2010; Ord. 1285B-13, passed 7-13-2010; Ord. 1285B-14, passed 9-22-2010; Ord. 1285B-16, passed 5-15-2012; Ord. 1356C, passed 1-8-2013; Ord. 1356C-1, passed 9-9-2014; Ord. 1356C-2, passed 5-12-2015; Ord. 1356C-4, passed 8-8-2017)
Notwithstanding Lake County’s Family and Medical Leave Act Policy (FMLA), § 4.3 Family and Medical Leave, the following Parental Leave Policy shall be established:
(A) Lake County shall offer four weeks of 100% paid parental leave to eligible full-time employees to provide parental care after birth or adoption of an employee’s child. Paid parental leave is intended to give new parents additional flexibility and time to bond with their new child, adjust to their new family situation, and balance their professional obligations.
(B) Eligibility.
(1) Parental leave is available to all full-time and benefit-eligible employees who have been employed with the county for at least 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period preceding the leave.
(2) Parental leave may only be taken following the birth of an employee’s child of for adoption of a minor child (under age 18). An individual who adopts a spouse’s child is not eligible for parental leave.
(3) Parental leave is available only to employees whom are primary caregivers of the newborn or adopted child. Both parents may be primary caregivers.
(4) Human Resources is responsible for administering this policy and determining eligibility for parental leave.
(C) Benefit Provisions.
(1) Parental leave is compensated at 100 % of the employee’s regular, straight-time weekly pay and is paid on a bi-weekly basis on regularly scheduled pay dates. Parental leave does not reduce an eligible employee’s balance of any other paid leave such as sick, vacation, or floating holiday.
(2) Paid parental leave is a benefit of employment and will not be considered as a negative factor in employment actions, such as hiring, promotions, and disciplinary actions.
(3) Parental leave may be taken continuously or in one-week increments within the first six months following the birth or adoption of a minor child. Parents who choose to take parental leave incrementally must consult with his or her supervisor and make a reasonable effort to schedule incremental parental leave so as not to unduly disrupt the department’s operations.
(4) As with other forms of paid leave, benefits will remain the same while an employee is on parental leave. For example, vacation and sick leave benefits will continue to accrue, the county will continue to pay its share of the cost of an employee’s group health insurance and the employee’s share of the premium will continue to be deducted from the employee’s pay. Similarly, all deductions from income will continue during parental leave.
(5) If a county recognized holiday occurs during parental leave, the holiday will be paid. Use of holiday pay, however, does not extend the length of parental leave.
(6) Parental leave runs concurrently with any available FMLA leave for the same qualifying birth/adoption, so any leave taken under this policy that also qualifies as FMLA will count toward the 12 weeks of available FMLA in a 12-month period. Employees on parental leave are ineligible to work alternative employment.
(7) lf an employee on parental leave is eligible for short term disability benefits, her/his short-term disability will offset, and are not in addition to, the salary continuation provided under this policy.
(8) lf both parents are employed by the County of Lake, they may take the parental leave concurrently or at separate times, according to their preference.
(9) Parental leave is only available to an employee once in a 12-month period.
(10) Any unused paid parental leave will be forfeited at the end of the six-month time frame. Upon termination, or upon a change in employment status to position that is not eligible for benefits (e.g., transition from full-time to part-time), unused paid parental leave will not be paid.
(D) Request Parental Leave. Eligible employees interested in parental leave must provide their supervisor and Human Resources with notice from a physician of the anticipated leave at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of the leave (or if the leave is not foreseeable, as soon as possible).
(Ord. 1285B, passed 3-13-2007; Ord. 1285B-2, passed 3-11-2008; Ord. 1285B-3, passed 3-11-2008; Ord. 1285B-4, passed 6-10-2008; Ord. 1285B-5, passed 8-12-2008; Ord. 1285B-6, passed 8-26-2008; Ord. 1285B-7, passed 9-9-2008; Ord. 1285B-8, passed 10-14-2008; Ord. 1285B-9, passed 5-12-2009; Ord. 1285B-10, passed 6-9-2009; Ord. 1285B-11, passed 1-12-2010; Ord. 1285B-12, passed 2-23-2010; Ord. 1285B-13, passed 7-13-2010; Ord. 1285B-14, passed 9-22-2010; Ord. 1285B-16, passed 5-15-2012; Ord. 1356C, passed 1-8-2013; Ord. 1356C-1, passed 9-9-2014; Ord. 1356C-2, passed 5-12-2015; Ord. 1356C-4, passed 8-8-2017; Ord. 1356C-5, passed 1-24-2018; Ord. 1356C-6, passed 3-12-2019; Ord. 1356C-7, passed 5-14-2019; Ord. 1356C-8, passed 10-8-19; Ord. 1356C-9, passed 12-10-2019)