(a) Each full-time employee shall be entitled to 4.6 hours of sick leave with pay for each completed eighty hours of service. Seasonal and part-time employees shall not be eligible for sick leave benefits.
(b) Unused sick leave shall be cumulative without limit. When sick leave is used, it shall be deducted from the employee's credit on the basis of one hour for every one hour of absence from previously scheduled work.
(c) Sick leave may be granted only for absence from duty because of personal illness, legal quarantine, injury off or on the job and death or serious illness in the employee's or the employee's spouse's immediate family. Immediate family shall be construed as being a husband, wife, father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, grandparent, grandchild and other persons at the discretion of the Director of Public Service and Safety.
(d) When an employee is unable to report for work for reasons set forth in subsection (c) hereof, he or she shall, if possible, notify his or her supervisor prior to the regular reporting time of his or her inability to report for work. Failure to comply with this request shall be grounds for disciplinary action.
(e) Each employee shall submit a satisfactory written, signed statement to justify the use of sick leave. If medical attention is required, a certificate stating the nature of the illness from a licensed physician shall be required. Falsification of either a written signed statement or a physician's certificate shall be grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. The Director of Public Service and Safety may order any employee claiming an illness or injury rendering him or her unable to perform his or her duties to submit to an examination by a designated physician at the City's expense.
(f) While absent from work due to illness or injury an employee must remain at home caring for his or her illness or injury or at a place receiving medical attention (hospital, doctor's office, clinic, etc.) and be able to document any absence from home. An authorized City representative may investigate any absence from duty as a result of a claimed illness or injury.
(g) No sick leave benefits shall be paid for convalescence outside of Auglaize County without prior written approval of the Director of Public Service and Safety, unless the employee is a patient in a hospital or other institution.
(h) Previously accumulated sick leave of an employee who has been separated from the public service shall be placed to his or her credit upon his or her re-employment in the public service, provided that re-employment takes place within ten years of the date on which the employee was last terminated from public service. An employee who transfers from another public agency to this agency shall be credited with the unused balance of his or her accumulated sick leave.
(i) A City employee hired prior to January 1, 1988, shall, at the time of retirement from active service with the City, be paid one-half of the value of his or her earned but unused sick leave credit. A City employee hired after January 1, 1988, at the time of retirement from active service with the City, shall be paid twenty-five percent of his or her accrued but unused sick leave, up to a maximum of 260 accrued sick days (sixty-five days total maximum payment). Payment of accrued but unused sick leave under an applicable collective bargaining agreement shall supersede this policy. In either case, to qualify for such payment, the employee shall have had, prior to the date of retirement, ten or more years of service with the City, County, State or any of its political subdivisions. Such payment shall be based on the employee's rate of pay at the time of retirement. Such payment shall be made only once and shall eliminate all sick leave credit accrued by the employee. An employee who dies shall be eligible for such sick leave payment for which he or she would otherwise have qualified effective as of the date of his or her death. Such payment shall be made in accordance with Ohio R.C. 2113.04 or be paid to the employee's estate.
(j) Sick leave benefits will not be paid without the completion of forms provided by the City for sick leave benefits, which completed forms must have proper signatures affixed thereto.
(k) The Fire Chief, Police Chief, Police Department Dispatchers, department heads and the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Public Service and Safety may earn up to a maximum of two shifts of conditional personal leave time for attendance at work without use of sick leave. Employees who use no sick leave during the period January 1 to June 30 or the period July 1 to December 31 will be credited with one shift off work with pay for either or both time periods. One shift shall equal eight hours.
(Ord. 2003-26. Passed 5-5-03; Ord. 2006-31. Passed 7-17-06; Ord. 2022-37. Passed 6-20-22.)