(a) Notwithstanding any other ordinances that may be at variance herewith, there is hereby established an Optional Retirement Benefit Payout Program, available to City employees not covered by a labor agreement at the employee's option and upon the employee's initiative, as follows.
(b) Any City employee not covered by a labor agreement may elect to receive payout of his/her accumulated lump-sum benefits over the two-year or three-year period immediately preceding his/her retirement, inclusive of the year of actual retirement, by means of the following procedure and in accordance with the following terms and conditions:
(l) The employee shall submit a Letter of Resignation to the City Auditor on a form to be provided by the City Auditor upon request. A copy of the letter shall also be submitted to the City Treasurer, the Director of Public Service, the Director of Public Safety, the Chair of the Council Finance Committee and the Law Director. In the letter, the employee shall:
A. Provide a definite retirement date (month, day, and year);
B. Indicate whether s/he is seeking a two-year or a three-year payout;
C. State the two or three years in which s/he desires to receive installment payments; and
D. State whether the employee desires to receive the payments preceding the final payment in the form of check or deposit to a Deferred Compensation Account or combination of the two.
(2) The letter shall be received by the City Auditor at least sixty days prior to the date upon which the employee expects to receive the first installment of his retirement benefits. (Example - Employee submits a Letter of Resignation with a resignation date of June 10, 1995 and requests a three-year payout over 1993, 1994 and 1995. Employee wants to receive his first payment of December 31, 1993. Auditor shall receive the letter by no later than October 31, 1993.)
(3) In order to be eligible to participate in this program, the City Auditor's records shall reflect that the employee has accumulated the equivalent of at least one full year of unused benefits. This determination is to be made as of the day the Letter of Resignation is actually submitted.
(4) A final adjustment shall be made by the City Auditor in the final year of payout, upon the employee's actual separation from service. This adjustment serves to cover any pay increase or other circumstance that may have affected the total amount to be paid out.
(5) Within thirty days of receipt of the employee's Letter of Resignation, the City Auditor shall calculate the amount the employee has accumulated in unused vacation leave, holidays, hourly reduction days (HRDs or "Kelly Days"), compensatory time, if applicable, to which the employee may be entitled. The City Auditor shall make a separate calculation which constitutes two-thirds of the employee's unused sick leave. The City Auditor shall then submit these itemized figures to the employee and meet with the employee to establish a specific payout schedule for that employee.
(6) Since unused sick leave benefits are payable only to employees whose separation from service is "under honorable conditions", and this cannot be determined to a certainty until the employee's actual retirement date, unused sick leave benefits shall be deemed the last benefit paid. Any employee electing to participate in this program is required to agree, in writing, to return any and all benefits paid to him in advance of actual retirement that are attributed as unused sick leave benefits in the event that the employee ultimately separates from service under conditions other than "honorable". A form for this agreement shall be provided by the Auditor. No employee is eligible to receive retirement benefit payments in advance of his/her actual retirement unless s/he signs such agreement.
(7) The resignation date supplied by the employee in his/her Letter of Resignation shall be legally binding upon the employee from the time that s/he accepts the first payment of separation benefits. The employee may not later renege and refuse to leave employment with the City on the date the employee has stated in the Letter of Resignation, and his/her position with the City shall be deemed vacant on such date.
(Ord. 65-1988. Passed 12-6-88.)