Sec. 237 In-service merit system program.
   The Commission shall effect by rules or regulations an in-service merit system program; provided that this program shall be designed to insure uniform treatment of all employees in the City classified service and to include at least:
   (a)   Salary and wages. The Commission shall from time to time make studies of salaries and wages and make recommendations to the Mayor and Council as to the amount of wages and salaries to be paid to the employees. These recommendations should include longevity increases as arrived at by the Commission.
   (b)   Authority to pay or stop payment of wages. The Civil Service Commission is hereby vested with the authority that at any time for proper cause, they may direct a department head to pay or stop payment of wages, whichever the situation might demand, for any employee.
   (c)   Service ratings. The Commission shall prepare or cause to have prepared, installed and maintained a service rating system whereby department heads will report at least annually on the performance of all employees in the classified service. The service rating system shall be one of the factors used in determining the basis for personnel changes in the classified service.
   (d)   Transfers. Transfers of employees from one position to another in the classified service, without change of pay, shall be made only for the good of the service and only with the approval and consent of the employee and the appointing officer of the department to which such employee is being transferred.
   (e)   Promotions. Promotional lists shall be used in filling higher grade vacancies as provided for in Section 235(f), provided that no employee shall be eligible for promotion until he has completed one year of service dating from the first day of original appointment as a probationary employee, and provided, further, that the Commission may recruit for other than entrance level positions from outside the classified service whenever it is deemed to be in the best interest of the service.
   (f)   Annual leave and sick leave. The Commission shall provide by rules or regulations for annual leave (vacations) and sick leave for employees in the classified service, and for the accumulation of such unused leave, subject to approval by the Council.
      It is provided further that the leaves provided for may be temporarily suspended during any period of emergency by resolution of the Council.