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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2187 Shared LeaveORDINANCE NO. ~ / ~' '7 AN O1/DINANCE OF THE CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON, AMF, NDING THE PORT TOWNSEND MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 2.64 ENTITLED "VACATION AND SICKLEAVE FOR CITY EMPLOYEES TO ADD A NEW SECTION 2.64. 035 ENTITLED "SHARED LEAVE" PROVIDING FOR THE TRANSFER OF VACATION LEAVE BETWEEN EMPLOYEES AND ESTABLISHING CONDITIONS THEREFORE, ESTABLISHING AN EMERGENCY CLAUSE AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE WHEREAS, the City provides vacation leave to its employees as a vested right subject to payment upon termination; and, WHEREAS, the City Council finds it appropriate and in the public interest to permit employees to share vacation leave in carefully defined circumstances and to transfer such leave to and for the benefit of employees who, without such transfer, would be forced to terminate their employment or go without pay in order to meet the needs of severe illness; and, WHEREAS, the City Council finds that an emergency exists necessitating the immediate institution of this program to prevent an unnecessary hardship on its employees; NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON, DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: section 1. The Port Townsend Municipal Code, Chapter 2.64 Vacation and Sickleave for City Employees is hereby amended by the addition of a new section 2.64.035 Shared Leave to read as follows: 2.64.035 Shared Leave Intent. The purpose of shared leave is to permit City employees, at no additional employee cost to the City other than the administrative costs of administering the program, to come to the aid of a fellow City Employee who is suffering from or has an immediate family member suffering from an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which has caused or is likely to cause the employee to take leave without pay or to terminate his or her employment. A department head, with the approval of the Mayor, may permit an employee to receive shared leave under this ordinance if: De The employee suffers, or has an immediate family member suffering from an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature and which has caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to go on leave without pay status or to terminate his or her employment with the City. .. The employee has depleted or will shortly deplete his or her total accrued vacation, sickleave, compensatory time, holiday time, and/or other paid leave. Prior to the use of shared leave, the employee has abided by the City's sick leave policy. The employee has diligently pursued and is found to be ineligible for state industrial insurance benefits. The use of shared leave will not significantly increase the City's costs, except for those costs which would otherwise be incurred in the administration of this program or which would otherwise be incurred by the employee's department. The department head, with the concurrence of the Mayor, shall determine the amount of shared leave, if any, which an employee may receive under this ordinance. The employee shall be required to provide appropriate medical justification and documentation both of the necessity of the leave and the time which the employee can reasonably be expected to be absent due to the condition. An employee shall not receive more than a total of ~D hours of shared leave throughout the employee's employment. To the extent possible, shared leave should be used on a consecutive basis. Employees may request their department head to approve the transfer of a specified amount of accrued vacation leave to an employee who is authorized to receive shared leave as provided herein. In order to be eligible to donate vacation leave, an employee must have a total of more than ~D hours of accrued vacation leave and have taken at least 90 hours of vacation leave within the calendar year. In no event shall a transfer of leave be approved which would result in an employee reducing his or her total vacation leave in a calendar year to less than gO hours. The department head shall not transfer vacation leave in excess of the amount specified in the request. All donations of leave shall be voluntary. The department head shall determine that no significant increase in city costs will Occur as a result of a donation of leave. Fe Leave may be transferred from employee(s) from one department to an employee of the same department, or with the concurrence of both department heads, to an employee of another department. While an employee is on shared leave, he or she will continue to be classified as a City employee and shall receive the same treatment, in respect to salary and benefits, as the employee would otherwise receive if using vacation leave. Ail salary benefits payments made to the employee on a shared leave shall be made by the department employing the person using the shared leave. The employee's salary rate shall not change as a result of being on shared leave nor, under any circumstances, shall the total of the employee's salary and other benefits, including but not limited to state industrial insurance or any other benefit received as a result of payments by the city to an insurer, health care provider, or pension system, exceed the total of salary and benefits which the employee would have received had he or she been in a regular pay status. Vacation leave shall be transferred on a dollar-for- dollar basis. The value of leave shall be determined at the current hourly rate of the transferor and the leave available to the receiving employee shall be calculated at the receiving employee's wage. The Clerk-Treasurer's Department shall be responsible for computing the values of donated leave and shared leave, and shall also be responsible for adjusting the accrued leave balances to show the transferred leave. Records of all leave time transferred shall be maintained in the event any unused time is returned at a later date. The value of any leave transferred which remains unused shall be returned at its original value to the employee or employees who donated the leave. The department head shall determine when shared leave is no longer needed. Tot he extent administratively feasible, the unused leave shall be returned on a pro rata basis. The Clerk-Treasurer's Department shall monitor the use of shared leave to insure equivalent treatment for all employees of the City. Inappropriate use or treatment of the shared leave provision may result in cancellation of the donated leave or use of shared leave. This program has been established by the City in its sole discretion and may be cancelled at any time. Participation in the program shall be predicated upon a receipt from the union of a written waiver by the appropriate union bargaining representative indicating that the union understands that the program shall not establish a past practice by the City or otherwise obligate the City to continue the program and acknowledge that the City may cancel the program at any time, if in its sole discretion, shall determine appropriate. Section 2. The City Council hereby declares that an emergency exists necessitating that this ordinance take effect immediately of the members Qf,~he city Council. upon passage~by unanimous vote Read for the first, second and third times, passed by the Council and approved by the Mayor on March 20, 1990. Attest: City Clerk Apprgved as to form: Approved: