(a) Definitions. The following words used in this section shall be construed as defined herein:
(1) "Catastrophic Illness" shall mean a non-work-related catastrophic illness/injury or life-threatening disease of an Employee or an Employee's Family Member where other types of monetary benefits are not reasonably available, as determined by the Personnel Department's Employee Benefits Division.
(2) "City" shall mean the City of Los Angeles.
(3) "Charter" shall the charter of the City of Los Angles.
(4) "Employee" shall mean all City employees who are eligible members of civilian benefit programs under the responsibility of the Personnel Department and the Joint Labor-Management Benefits Committee (JLMBC) as provided under Article 5 of Chapter 7 of Division 4 of the LAAC, except as regard to employees covered by MOUs 29, 31, or 32, and Ordinance No. 181,014.
(5) "Employee Benefits Division" shall mean the division within the Personnel Department that administers the City's benefits program under this article.
(6) "Family Member" shall have the same meaning as provided in the applicable MOU of an Employee or as defined under Section 4.127 of Article 10 of Chapter 2 of Division 4 of the LAAC.
(7) "JLMBC" shall mean the Joint Labor-Management Benefits Committee established under Section 4.303 of this article.
(8) "LAAC" shall mean the City of Los Angeles Administrative Code.
(9) "Leave Program" shall mean the Catastrophic Illness Leave Program described under this section.
(10) "MOU" shall mean the Memorandum of Understanding that is applicable to the Employee.
(11) "Personnel Department" shall mean department created under Section 540 of the Charter.
(b) Purpose. The Leave Program is designed to provide Employees who are experiencing or suffering from Catastrophic Illness or caring for a Family Member who is experiencing or suffering from a Catastrophic Illness additional compensated leave to continue meeting the minimum eligibility criteria required to continue receiving benefits provided through the civilian benefit programs, as administered and overseen by the Personnel Department and the JLMBC.
(c) Eligibility and Rules for Leave Program. An Employee shall be eligible to participate in the Leave Program after submitting an application to the Employee Benefits Division, provided the Employee has met all the following applicable conditions:
(1) Passed probation and be a permanently employed full-time or half-time employee;
(2) On active payroll status;
(3) Exhausted all monetary benefits such as sick leave, vacation hours, floating holiday(s), and accrued compensatory time-off;
(4) Experiencing or suffering from Catastrophic Illness or caring for a Family Member(s) who is experiencing or suffering from Catastrophic Illness;
(5) Executed a signed attestation that discloses the pertinent medical information related to the Catastrophic Illness described under Subdivisions (3) and/or (4) of this subsection to the Employee Benefits Office;
(6) Exhausted all enrolled disability insurance benefits offered by civilian benefit programs under the responsibility of the Personnel Department and the JLMBC with respect to the same Catastrophic Illness for which the Leave Program is being requested; and
(7) Not currently receiving disability insurance benefits from any other disability insurance program.
(d) Compensated Leave.
(1) An Employee, who meets the eligibility provision described under Subsection (c), may be compensated up to an aggregate maximum of 480 hours during the Employee's employment with the City without regard to any break in service with the City, to be paid as authorized by the Employee Benefits Division and to be funded within the budgeted funds of the employing City department, office, or bureau.
(2) The amount of compensation received by the Employee from the Leave Program will be equivalent to the number of hours claimed by the Employee or as otherwise authorized by the Employee Benefits Division under the Leave Program at such Employee's rate of pay.
(3) An Employee cannot receive compensation through the Leave Program concurrently with other compensatory time; use of compensation through the Leave Program shall be at the direction of the Employee Benefits Division.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 187,929, Eff. 7-7-23.