A. GENERALLY:
Violation of City rules governing the safety, health and/or conduct of staff members covered by this Personnel Policy shall be among the causes for separation from employment or other disciplinary action. Separation from employment or other disciplinary action may be subject to the Dispute Settlement Procedure under this Personnel Policy for staff members below the level of Executive or Senior Administrative Staff provided the staff member has completed his/her probation period.
B. MAJOR VIOLATION:
A violation of major City rules governing safety, conduct and/or health of staff members may be among the causes for involuntary separation from employment. Major violations by way of example and not by way of limitation, may be falsification of any documents required by the City; unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential information such as tax returns; being under the influence of and/or the unauthorized possession, sale or purchase of alcohol or illicit drugs during working hours; physical violence; engaging in gross insubordination; conviction of a felony; embezzlement of public funds; theft, pilferage or unauthorized possession of property; engaging in conduct or encouraging others to engage in conduct in violation of this Personnel Policy, including but not limited to, the no strike provision; or any offense involving gross misconduct.
C. LESSER VIOLATIONS:
With respect to non-probationary staff members below the level of Executive or Senior Administrative Staff level, for violations of lesser City rules governing safety, conduct and/or health of staff members, progressive discipline will be used, consistent with the seriousness of the offense and the work record of the staff member.
D. NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION:
Every counselling memo, suspension notice or separation from employment notice shall be in writing and shall contain at a minimum the date given, the name of the individual issuing it, the name of the staff member receiving the warning, the nature of the alleged violation and the date or dates upon which the alleged violation occurred. A non-probationary staff member shall receive a copy within five (5) days of the City's gaining knowledge of the infraction unless the nature of the infraction requires additional investigation time to be determined by the City. The investigation time shall be reasonable. A copy shall be retained by the City in the staff member's personnel file. Executive or Senior Administrative Staff Members will have a verbal discussion with Management in cases of discipline short of suspension of employment, although the file documentation will be similar to the formal method described above.
E. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Former subsection E. was repealed by Ordinance 13-2021, passed February 16, 2021.)
F. HEARING:
No staff member will be involuntarily separated from employment or suspended for more than three (3) days from employment with the City without first being given the opportunity for a hearing before the Mayor or the Mayor's designee. The burden shall be on the City in all involuntary separation cases, except those where the staff member is considered separated for overstaying a leave of absence or for being absent for three (3) consecutive work days without reporting such absence to the City or for failure to report or work within five (5) working days after receipt of a certified letter notifying the staff member of a recall to work following a layoff.
The City and the staff member shall have the right to support of their respective positions. All public records pertinent to the proceedings shall be made available unless disclosure is prohibited by law. The City shall issue its final determination to the affected staff member within seven (7) calendar days following the close of the hearing. If the employment separation or suspension is sustained as a result of the hearing, the staff member shall have three (3) work days following the date of the City's final determination in which to file a dispute at Step 4 of the dispute settlement procedure.
G. VOLUNTARY SEPARATION IN LIEU OF INVOLUNTARY SEPARATION:
A staff member may resign at any time prior to a final employment separation decision and his/her personnel file shall show a voluntary separation from employment. If a staff member resigns in accordance with this provision, the staff member shall not thereafter file for unemployment compensation in a manner which will cause the City liability; and if the staff member does so, the City will have the right to contend before the OBES that the staff member was involuntarily separated from employment.
(Ord. 13-2021. Passed 2-16-21.)