(a) Generally. For purposes of vacation, each full-time employee of the city shall be entitled to vacation pursuant to this section based upon his or her total years of service with the city. Eligibility for vacation shall commence no sooner than one year from an employee’s date of hire as a full-time employee, provided that such employee has worked a minimum of 1,040 hours in the preceding 12 months of his or her anniversary date.
(b) Calculation of prior service. For purposes of computing an employee’s service time for vacation entitlement, those employees hired prior to July 5, 1987 shall be given credit for service time with the state or any of its political subdivisions. For those employees hired on or after July 5, 1987, they shall be entitled to service time with the city only, except for the following:
(1) The Mayor may grant service credit in a negotiated amount not to exceed the years of prior similar service, either public or private, to newly hired department heads with the title of Director or Chief. Independent documentation of prior service from a previous employer must be provided to the Mayor and Finance Department before such vacation time is added to the employee’s vacation entitlement.
(2) In instances where full-time employees had prior service credit with the city on a part-time basis, credit shall be given for such part-time service with the city based upon the number of hours actually worked as a part-time employee in relation to 2,080 hours for a full year of credit.
(c) Eligibility.
(1) A. Effective January 1, 1998, and thereafter, each eligible full-time employee of the city shall be entitled to vacation based upon his or her total years of service on the anniversary date of hire, provided that the employee has worked or was paid compensated absence time for a full year prior to his or her anniversary date, as follows:
Years of Service | Vacation Time (Weeks) |
Years of Service | Vacation Time (Weeks) |
1 to 4 | 2 |
5 to 11 | 3 |
12 to 14 | 4 |
15 to 16 | 4 and 1 additional day |
17 to 18 | 4 and 2 additional days |
19 to 20 | 4 and 3 additional days |
21 to 22 | 4 and 4 additional days |
23 to 25 | 5 |
26 to 30 | 5 and 1 additional day for each year from 26-30 years* |
30 or more | 6 |
*effective on the anniversary date of each individual employee beginning in 2016 calendar year
B. If an employee was not paid for a full year prior to his or her vacation anniversary date, and was on unpaid leave of absence, he or she shall not earn or accrue vacation time during their unpaid leave. An employee that has unpaid leave shall have his or her vacation entitlement adjusted accordingly on his or her following vacation anniversary date only, and not future vacation anniversary dates following a fully paid year.
(2) The Mayor may, however, grant vacation time to a newly hired department head to be used between the date of hire and the date the new department head would first be credited with a full two weeks (ten days), or an annual complement of vacation time under the existing vacation system. The amount of vacation time granted to the new department head for this purpose shall not exceed ten days of vacation, and shall not be used until after three full months of employment with the city. No payments shall be made for any unused portion of this vacation time if and when the new department head resigns.
(3) The position of Mayor shall receive three weeks of vacation per year during the first term in office, and four weeks vacation per year for each term thereafter.
(d) Unused vacation. All vacation shall be taken during the 12-month period following the employee’s anniversary date of hire, and shall be forfeited if not used by the next anniversary date, unless the Mayor approves the carryover of unused vacation time. The request to carryover unused vacation time must be made to the Mayor’s office prior to the anniversary date on which it would have been forfeited. City Council shall be informed annually of employees who had vacation carryover approved and the amount.
(e) Vacation due upon termination. In the event of termination of employment with the city for any reason except disciplinary discharge, each full-time employee of the city shall be entitled to payment for unused and accrued vacation in proportion to the days actually worked if he or she had been continuously employed.
(Ord. 1998-25, passed 5-18-1998; Ord. 2001-17, passed 2-5-2001; Ord. 2001-126, passed 5-7-2001; Ord. 2002-102, passed 7-1-2002; Ord. 2007-74, passed 4-16-2007; Ord. 2015-215, passed 10-5-2015)