All leaves are to be granted upon the employees understanding that if he or she does not return to active employment for a period of at least six months at the end of the leave period he or she will be required to reimburse the Town of Nutter Fort for any health care premiums paid by the Town of Nutter Fort while the employee was on leave.
(a) Sick leave; permanent, full-time employees only.
(1) Accrued sick leave with pay may be taken by permanent, full-time employees when they are unable to perform their duties due to sickness, injury, or confinement due to contagious disease. Sick leave will not be paid at the same time as workers’ compensation benefits.
(2) An employee must report his or her absence to the department supervisor or the supervisor’s designee prior to the start of the workday or within the first 30 minutes of the employee’s starting time.
(3) Sick leave shall be cumulative at the rate of one and one-fourth days per month of service, or major portion thereof. An employee who has not worked the equivalent of 80 hours per each month’s service shall not be entitled to earn sick leave, unless the employee is scheduled off and receiving paid benefits. Paid benefits shall be counted as hours worked.
(4) An employee may be required to furnish a certificate from an attending physician for all consecutive days of sick leave beyond three days. Employees shall be allowed to use no more than ten sick days in any one calendar year without the support of a medical excuse.
(5) Sick leave shall not be taken before it is earned, and shall not be granted to part-time, temporary, emergency, or probationary employees.
(6) The minimum charge against sick leave shall be one-half day. Sick leave is to be used as protection against unexpected illness and is not to be used as a substitute for vacation time. When employment is terminated, no compensation of any sort will be granted for unused sick leave time.
(7) Employees who have completed their probationary period and are off due to sickness or compensable injury will be permitted to accrue seniority for a period up to three years and have insurance premiums paid for by the Town of Nutter Fort until their return to work on an active basis or until they are judged disabled and not competent to return to work by a proper medical authority.
(8) As a means of rewarding those employees who have used only a small amount of sick time, any permanent, full-time employee who uses less than six days sick leave will be paid two-thirds of a day’s wages for each day under six days used in a calendar year.
(b) Parental/family leave.
(1) An employee shall be entitled to a maximum of 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave, following the exhaustion of all his or her sick and vacation leave, during any 12-month period. The unpaid leave shall be granted to an employee for any of the following reasons:
(a) Because of the birth of a son or daughter of the employee;
(b) Because of the placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption;
(c) In order to care for the employee’s son, daughter, spouse, parent or dependent who has a serious health condition; or
(d) Because of a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job.
(2) In the case of a son, daughter, spouse, parent or dependent that has a serious health condition, such family leave may be taken intermittently when medically necessary.
(3) An employee may take family leave on a part-time basis and on a part-time leave schedule, but the period during which the number of workweeks of leave may be taken may not exceed 12 consecutive months, and such leave shall be scheduled so as not to unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.
(4) If a leave because of birth or adoption is foreseeable, the employee shall provide the Town of Nutter Fort with two weeks’ written notice. If a leave under this section is foreseeable because of planned medical treatment or supervision, the employee shall make a reasonable effort to schedule the leave so as not to disrupt the operations of the employer, subject to the approval of the health care provider.
(5) If an employee requests family leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition as authorized in this article, the Town of Nutter Fort may require the employee to provide certification by a health care provider of the health condition. The certification shall be sufficient if it contains the following:
(a) That the child, dependent, parent or employee has a serious health condition;
(b) The date the serious health condition commenced and its probable duration; and
(c) The medical facts regarding the serious health condition.
(6) The position held by the employee immediately before the leave is commenced shall be held upon a period not to exceed the 12-week period of the parental leave and the employee shall be returned to that position, provided, that the Town of Nutter Fort may employ a temporary employee or temporary employees to fill said position for the period of the parental leave.
(c) Medical disability leave.
(1) A permanent, full-time employee with at least one year of town service will be allowed to take up to 12 months of unpaid leave for recovery from a medical disability, if the disability prohibits the employee from performing the necessary tasks and functions of the position. An employee taking such leave must first exhaust all sick leave days.
(2) The employee will be required to submit a letter in writing from a certified physician to support the need for medical disability leave. The Town of Nutter Fort has the option of requesting a second medical opinion on the situation. Requests for leaves of this nature must be made in writing to the Mayor for his or her approval. Requests must include the employee’s name, department of employment, job title, nature of medical disability, anticipated length of leave needed, and the certification of a physician. Leave of this type is excluded from workers’ compensation cases.
(3) An employee on medical disability leave will not accumulate sick leave unless he or she works the required number of hours or shifts. The employee will continue to receive coverage under the town’s health care insurance plan. He or she may not receive sick leave pay during the leave period if the disability resulted from a job-related injury covered by worker’s compensation. An employee planning to return to work after a medical leave must provide the Town of Nutter Fort with a letter from his or her physician certifying that the employee is capable of performing the tasks and functions of the position.
(4) An employee taking unpaid leave beyond a 12-month period will automatically become classified as an inactive employee. An inactive employee will not receive any town benefits or health insurance. Inactive employees shall automatically be terminated after the sixth month of inactive status.
(d) Bereavement leave.
(1) Upon the death of an immediate family member, a permanent, full-time employee will be allowed up to three days off from work with pay. The following are considered immediate family: spouse, mother, father, stepfather, stepmother, sister, stepsister, brother, stepbrother, son, stepson, daughter, stepdaughter, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, employee’s grandparents and grandchildren. If an aunt or uncle resides with the employee, such relative is also considered a part of the employee’s immediate family.
(2) The leave will not be charged against the employee’s sick or vacation leave. Employees must contact their supervisor or the supervisor’s designee before the commencement of the first day on which the employee needs to be absent.
(e) Educational leave.
(1) The Mayor may approve permanent, full-time employee leave without pay for a period not to exceed four calendar months for purposes of an instructional or learning nature. Such leave might include the participation of the employee in course work, seminars, briefing seminars, briefing sessions, or conferences intended to improve the skills or professional abilities of the employee.
(2) The employee must submit a written request to the Mayor for the approval of such leave. The request must include the employee’s name, department of employment, job title, nature of leave, anticipated length of leave needed, and any supporting literature.
(3) Any employee permitted to utilize such leave shall not be allowed to accumulate sick leave for any month in which they do not work the necessary hours or shifts.
(4) Employees on such leave will still be covered by the town’s health insurance.
(f) Military leave.
(1) Any permanent, full-time employee of the Town of Nutter Fort who shall be a member of the National Guard or any military reserve unit of the United States Armed Service, shall be entitled to a leave of absence from his or her respective offices or employment without loss of pay, status or efficiency rating, on the days during which the employee shall be engaged in drills, parades or other duty, during business hours ordered by proper authority, or for field training or active service of the state for a maximum period of ten days in any one calendar year.
(2) The term “without loss of pay” means that the employee shall continue to receive his or her normal salary or compensation, not withstanding the fact that such employee may have received other compensation from federal or state sources during the same period. Benefits of this section shall not accrue for individuals ordered or called to active duty by the President. A copy of the employee’s orders must be produced for extra duty.
(3) Effective March 10, 2005, new regulations relating to USERRA are.
(a) Employees have a right to be reinstated under certain conditions.
(b) They have a right to continue their company health benefits while on military leave for up to 24 months and/or to be immediately reinstated upon return and that they have a right to be free from discrimination and retaliation in initial employment, reemployment, retention, promotion or “any benefit of employment.”
(g) Uncompensated leave of absence.
(1) Permanent, full-time employees are eligible for a leave of absence without pay after one year of employment with the town. A request must be submitted in writing to the employee’s immediate supervisor stating the reason for the request and the approximate amount of time needed.
(2) The leave of absence must be approved by Town Council.
(3) All benefits shall be suspended until the employee’s return to work.
(4) Uncompensated leaves shall not exceed 12 months in duration unless an extension is granted by Town Council. An employee who does not report to work within the maximum allowable time period awarded shall be terminated.