2.54.035 Shared leave.
A. The purpose of shared leave is to permit city employees, at no additional cost to the city other than the administrative costs of administering the program, to come to the aid of a fellow city employee who:
1. Has been called to active duty (not including regular summer duty) to serve in the armed forces; or
2. 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.
B. A department head, with the mayor’s approval, may permit an employee to receive shared leave under this chapter if:
1. The employee:
a. Has been called to active duty (not including regular summer duty) to serve in the armed forces; or
b. 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.
2. In cases of employee illness, the employee has depleted or will shortly deplete his or her total of accrued vacation, sick leave, compensatory time, holiday time and/or other paid leave.
3. Prior to the use of shared leave, the employee has abided by the city’s sick leave policy.
4. In cases of employee illness, the employee has diligently pursued and is found to be ineligible for state industrial insurance benefits.
5. 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.
C. 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 section. The employee shall be required to provide appropriate military orders of activation or medical justification and documentation both of the necessity for 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 1,040 hours of shared leave throughout the employee’s employment. To the extent possible, shared leave should be used on a consecutive basis.
D. 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 80 hours of accrued vacation leave, have taken at least 80 hours of vacation leave within the calendar year or have a total of accrued and used vacation leave of greater than 80 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.
E. Leave may be transferred from an employee(s) from one department to an employee of the same or, with the concurrence of both department heads, to an employee of another department.
F. 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.
1. All salary benefit payments made to the employee on a shared leave shall be made by the department employing the person using the shared leave.
2. 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.
G. Vacation leave shall be transferred on an hour-for-hour basis. The minimum allowable transfer of vacation leave shall be in four-hour increments.
H. The administrative services department shall be responsible for monitoring the donated leave and shared leave, and shall also be responsible for adjusting the accrued leave balances to show the transferred leave for both the donor and recipient. The administrative services department shall determine the appropriate fund transfers and budget amendments as needed for city council action. Records of all leave time transferred shall be maintained.
I. Once vacation leave is transferred to the donee employee, that vacation shall henceforth remain in the donee employee’s accrual until exhausted and shall not revert back to the original donor employee.
J. The human resources department shall monitor the use of shared leave to ensure equivalent treatment for all employees of the city. Inappropriate use or treatment of the shared leave provision may result in the cancellation of the donated leave or use of shared leave.
K. This program has been established as a pilot program subject to review within one calendar year. The city in its sole discretion may cancel this program. Participation in the program shall be predicated upon a receipt from each affected bargaining unit of a written waiver by the appropriate Union bargaining representative indicating that the Union understands the program is a pilot program, agrees that the program shall not establish a past practice by the city or otherwise obligate the city to continue the program and acknowledging that the city may cancel the program at any time or review it on one-year increments, extending it from time-to-time as the city, in its sole discretion, shall determine appropriate. (Ord. 2491 § 1, 2004; Ord. 1809 § 1, 1991)