(a) Effective with the initial date of employment or January 1, 1949, whichever is later, every classified civil service employee shall be granted ten (10) hours sick leave credit for each completed calendar month of service. Newly hired employees, however, shall, for the first month of employment only, be granted sick leave credit at the prorated rate of two and one-half (2½) hours for each full week of service. Such sick leave may be accumulated to a maximum of seventy-five (75) working days (six hundred (600) hours). Employees having accumulated the maximum of sick leave credit shall continue to accumulate such credit, but shall be paid for such excess accumulation, each calendar year, at the employee's then current pay rate computed on an hourly basis.
(b) Sick leave credit may be utilized by employees in any increment when they are incapacitated for the performance of duty due to sickness or injury, when they are quarantined, for doctor's appointments, and for a period not to exceed three (3) days in the case of death in the employee's immediate family, whenever the bereavement leave provided for in section 21-35 is exhausted. The immediate family for this purpose shall be deemed to include the parents, spouse, qualified adult, spouse's parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents and grandchildren. Employees may also utilize sick leave in the event of serious illness of parents, spouses, qualified adults, children, grandparents, spouse's or qualified adult's children, parents and grandparents, any relative for whom an employee is legally responsible or relatives who are residing with and are under the care of an employee during the relative's prolonged illness or incapacitation. However, sick leave will not be granted in excess of sick leave credit earned by service prior to the starting date of leave.
(c) All foreseeable leave for such purposes shall require specific prior approval of the supervisor and, except in extenuating circumstances, sick leave shall be requested prior to the beginning of the work shift on the day of the absence. No sick leave compensation may commence until or unless the employee, either personally or through some member of his family or other person, gives such notice including the reasons for the absence (i.e. ill or injured) from duty and where the employee can be located, subject to the approval of the supervisor.
(d) When a sick leave absence exceeds three (3) consecutive working days or where there is a suspected abuse of sick leave, such as in the case of chronic absenteeism, the supervisor or director shall notify the employee of their rights and responsibilities under the Family and Medical Leave Act, as required by the Act. Failure of the employee to comply with any such request shall authorize disallowance of sick leave compensation and may be deemed to be absence without permission within the meaning of section 21-43.
(e) In the case of long-term sick leave absences, medical certification may also be required both periodically and again when the employee returns to work under the same terms and conditions as set forth in subsection (d). The employee is under a duty to notify the supervisor of his intention to return to work as soon as his recovery is foreseeable.
(f) Except as provided in the leave bank program created in section 21-37.2, the sick leave provided by this section is personal in nature and shall not be transferable from one (1) employee to another for any purpose.
(Ord. No. 139-78, § 1(21-34), 6-29-78; Ord. No. 22-91, § 3, 2-21-91; Ord. No. 138-97, §§ 1, 2, 6-26-97; Ord. No. 33-2001, § 2, 2-22-01; Ord. No. 70-2006, §§ 1, 2, 3-23-06; Ord. No. 69-2009, § 2, 5-7-09; Ord. No. 059-2022 , § 26, 7-5-2022)