§ 35.16 SICK LEAVE.
   (A)   Each employee shall be granted one day of sick leave time at the beginning of each month. Employees hired during the first half of any month will be granted one sick day for that month. Employees hired during the last half of the month will be granted one-half sick day that month. Any reference to days or parts of days in this section shall be converted to hours in the same manner as described in § 35.15(B).
   (B)   For bookkeeping purposes employees will be credited with a certain number of hours of sick leave each year multiplied by the number of days of sick leave they earn each year.
   (C)   For those employees that work a normal eight-hour shift, they will be credited with eight hours of sick leave times 12 days or 96 hours annually.
   (D)   For those employees that work a 12-hour shift during the workweek will be credited with 12 hours of sick leave times 12 days or 144 hours annually.
   (E)   Sick leave can be used only for sickness or non-work related injury and no other reason. The minimum increment of time that can be used for sick leave is one-half day.
   (F)   The City Clerk shall keep all records of sick leave time, and these records will be the official records of the city. In the case of disputes arising over number of sick leave time used or accumulated, the City Clerk's records shall be final. Each employee shall be responsible for keeping his or her own personal records of sick leave time.
   (G)   Any employee who fails to report sick leave time or falsely reports him or herself ill or injured, will be subject to discipline, including dismissal, by his or her supervisor, the Commissioner in charge of his or her department, or the City Council. Any employee, who is using sick leave time, must report his or her absence to his or her immediate supervisor, or the Commissioner in charge of his or her department.
   (H)   Any employee who retires and has unused accumulated sick leave may use this sick leave for additional IMRF service credit. One month of service is credited for every 20 days or fraction thereof of unpaid unused sick leave not to exceed 120 days (one-half year). The effective date of the pension must be within 60 days of termination (retirement). Converted sick leave cannot be used to meet the minimum of eight years service for a pension or 35 years for a non-discounted pension under age 60.
   (I)   Since the city accumulates sick leave time in hours, the accumulated hours will be divided by eight for those employees that normally work an eight hour shift and by 12 for those employees that work a 12 hour shift during the work week. The product will be reported to IMRF in days and fraction days. IMRF credits one month of service for each 20 days or fraction thereof of unused, unpaid sick leave.
   (J)   An employee who retires and has unused accumulated sick leave time and is not covered under a pension plan or is covered under a pension plan that does not allow for unused and unpaid sick leave to be used for additional service credit will be paid $5 per hour for each accumulated and unused hour of sick leave time.
   (K)   An employee that leaves the employment of the city for any reason other than retirement will not be paid for any accumulated and unused sick leave time.
   (L)    An employee may be required to use sick leave in conjunction with or in addition to disability pay (see § 35.24). The minimum increment of time may be reduced when disability pay applies.
   (M)   Each employee may accumulate a maximum of 180 sick days.
   (N)   An employee may take four days sick leave per fiscal year without a doctor's excuse. No more than two days sick leave may be taken consecutively without returning to work with a doctor's excuse.
(Ord. 1254, passed 7-19-06; Am. Ord. 1348, passed 8-20-08; Am. Ord. 1358, passed 12-3-08; Am. Ord. 1410, passed 6-2-10; Am. Ord. 1456, passed 10-19-11; Am. Ord. 1465, passed 1-18-12)