Except for part-time elected officials and all less than full-time employees including regular part-time, seasonal or temporary employees, and those employees covered under a collective bargaining agreement, each full-time employee of the City shall be provided with vacation leave, sick leave and holidays as follows:
(a) Vacation Leave. Each full-time City employee shall be entitled to paid vacation leave on his or her anniversary date as follows:
(1) After completion of one year and up to five years of continuous service, two weeks with pay;
(2) After completion of five years and up to ten years of continuous service, three weeks;
(3) After completion of ten years and up to fifteen years of continuous service, four weeks;
(4) After completion of fifteen years and up to twenty years of continuous service, five weeks;
(5) After completion of twenty or more years of continuous service, six weeks;
(6) Compensation in lieu of vacation must receive prior written approval of the Mayor.
(7) The City, may at the sole discretion of the Mayor, award a non-collectively bargained employee who, at the time of being hired by the City, and having prior public service experience, additional vacation upon hire in recognition of the newly-hired employee’s prior years of public service credit. The effective date of this amendment shall be retroactive to January 1, 2022.
(8) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section 266.03(a), the City may, at the sole discretion of the Mayor, award a non-collectively bargained employee who retires from the City and is re-hired by the City, not more than ten (10) days of vacation leave in the employee’s first year after being re-hired. After the first year, the re-hired non-collectively bargained employee shall be entitled to vacation leave as set forth in Sections 266.03(a)(1) - (5).
(Ord. 2022-146. Passed 10-3-22.)
(b) Sick Leave. Each full-time City employee shall be entitled to sick leave with pay as follows:
(1) Sick leave credit shall be earned at the rate of 4.60 hours for each eighty hours of service, up to a maximum of 120 hours per year. Sick leave credit shall be prorated to the hours of completed service in each pay period. Unused sick leave shall accumulate without limit.
(2) Previously accumulated and documented sick leave of an employee who has been separated from the public service as defined in Ohio Revised Code Section 124.38 shall be placed to his/her credit upon employment with the City, provided that such employment takes place within ten years of the date on which the employee was last terminated from public service.
(3) An employee shall be charged for sick leave only for days which he/she would otherwise have been scheduled to work. Sick leave payment shall not exceed the normal scheduled work day or work week earnings.
(4) Sick leave shall be granted to an employee, upon approval of the Mayor or designee, for the following reasons:
A. Illness or injury of the employee;
B. Death of a member of his/her immediate family;
C. Medical, dental or optical examination or treatment of the employee, where the treatment may not be scheduled during non- work hours;
D. If a member of the immediate family is afflicted with a contagious disease and when, through exposure to a contagious disease, the presence of the employee at his/her job would jeopardize the health of others;
E. Pregnancy and/or childbirth and other conditions related thereto; and
F. To attend the funeral of a brother, sister, spouse, child, mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, person in loco parentis, father-in- law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, or son-in-law, provided that not more than three days of sick leave shall be granted to an employee for such purpose and then only to an employee who provides proof of such attendance.
(5) The employer shall require an employee to furnish a standard written signed statement to justify the use of sick leave. Such statement shall be submitted to the Director of Human Resources or designee. Falsification of either the signed statement or a physician’s certificate shall be grounds for disciplinary action which may include dismissal.
(6) When an employee is unable to work, the employee shall notify the supervisor or other designated person within one-half hour after the time the employee is schedule to report to work on each day of absence, unless emergency conditions make it impossible or unless the employee has made other reporting arrangements with the supervisor.
(7) Employees failing to comply with sick leave rules and regulations shall not be paid.
(8) If medical attention is required, the employee shall be required to furnish a statement from a licensed physician or psychologist notifying the employer that the employee was unable to perform his/her duties.
(9) The City may, at its discretion, require any employee requesting paid sick leave to furnish substantiating evidence or a statement from his/her attending physician certifying that absence from work was required due to one of the reasons set forth in paragraph (c)(4) hereof. In any case, such certification must be presented whenever sick leave is requested for five or more consecutive work days or for the day immediately prior to or after a holiday. Such certification shall be submitted to the Director of Human Resources or designee.
The City may, at its discretion, verify the report of the attending physician concerning the illness or disability of an employee, and require the employee to be examined, at the City’s expense, by a physician selected by the City to determine the nature and extent of the illness or disability. As a result of such physician’s statements and examinations, the City may approve or deny an employee’s sick leave request and establish limits and conditions for any further approved sick leave connected with the same illness or disability.
Any employee who is sick or disabled for five or more consecutive workdays may be required, at the City’s discretion, to secure and submit a physician’s release certifying that the employee is fit to return to work. The City may also require, at its discretion, that an employee be examined by a professional of its choice in conjunction with such sick leave release procedure.
A. Upon retirement from service after fifteen (15) or more years of service with the City, an employee may convert up to one-half of the value of his/her accumulated sick leave balance, to cash, at the rate of one hour of pay for each hour of sick leave at the employee’s current hourly rate of pay on the date of the employee’s retirement.
B. Employees hired by the City prior to December 18, 2006, the date of passage of Ordinance 2006-262, upon retirement with more than ten (10) years but less than fifteen (15) years of service with the City, are grandfathered under the provisions of the City’s previous conversion formula and may convert up to one-quarter of the value of no more than 960 hours of accumulated sick leave credit, to cash, at the rate of one hour of pay for each hour of sick leave at the employee’s current hourly rate of pay on the date of the employee’s retirement.
(Ord. 2011-204. Passed 12-19-11.)
C. Notwithstanding the above provisions, all full-time, nonbargaining employees with twenty-five (25) or more years of service with the City may annually elect to convert to cash up to one-half (1/2) of the value of their accumulated sick leave balance that exceeds one thousand (1,000) hours. Therefore, if an employee chooses this option, the employee will receive one hour of pay at his/her regular rate for every two (2) hours of sick leave so converted. After the conversion, the employee must have a minimum of one thousand (1,000) hours remaining in the employee's sick leave balance. Eligibility for this program will be based on both years of service and an employee's sick leave balance measured as of November 30th of each year. Employees eligible to participate in this program shall notify the Finance Department of their intent to convert sick leave on forms supplied by the City. Such sick leave conversion payments will be made by direct deposit and included within the second City payroll in December.
(Ord. 2013-272. Passed 12-2-13.)
(c) Holidays.
(1) Each full-time City employee, as defined in the City of Strongsville’s current General Salary Ordinance, shall be entitled to the following twelve days off with pay: New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King Day; Memorial Day; Juneteenth; Independence Day; Labor Day; Columbus Day; Thanksgiving Day; Friday after Thanksgiving Day; Christmas Day; Presidents’ Day; Veterans’ Day and the employee’s birthday.
(2) In the event that any of the holidays or days off set forth in subsection (b)(1) above shall fall on Saturday, the Friday immediately preceding shall be observed as the holiday or day off. In the event that any of the holidays or days off set forth in subsection (b)(1) above should fall on Sunday, the Monday immediately succeeding shall be observed as the holiday or day off.
(3) An employee of the City shall forfeit holiday pay if he or she does not work the last scheduled work day before such holiday or day off and the first scheduled work day after the holiday or day off, unless on approved sick leave or, such employee has been excused by his or her department head with the approval of the Mayor.
(4) Holidays or days off shall be taken in their entirety, unless on approved sick leave or when an employee works on a recognized holiday and then in the pay period in which the same were earned. Holidays shall not be accumulated, except with the explicit written permission of the Mayor upon the recommendation of the department head.
(Ord. 2021-099. Passed 7-6-21.)