HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-02 ORDINANCE # O20/6-0q-iia.
AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE CITY OF BATESVILLE EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
FOR THE CITY OF BATESVILLE; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
WHEREAS, from time to time it is necessary to update and modify the City's
Employee Handbook; and
WHEREAS, it has been several years since the City's Employee Handbook has
been updated; and
WHEREAS, since the last amendment to the City's Employee Handbook, the
City has added a police department which is now included in the Handbook; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds and determines that the adoption of the said
policy is in the best interest of the employees of the city of Batesville and its citizens.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF
BATESVILLE, ARKANSAS:
Section 1. The updated City of Batesville Employee Handbook presented to the
city council is hereby adopted.
Section 2. All previous versions of the City of Batesville Employee Handbook
are hereby nullified.
EMERGENCY CLAUSE: The City of Batesville Employee Handbook affects the
employees of the city departments, who in turn contribute to the safety and welfare of
the residents of Batesville, Arkansas; therefore an emergency is hereby declared to
exist and this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this _/c'�-day of , 2016.
APPROVED:
RK E HUGH, MAYOR
ATTEST:
DENISE M. JOHNSTON, CITY CLERK
Personnel Policies and Procedures Handbook - The City Clerk's Office will give each
new full-time and non-seasonal part-time employee a copy of the Employee Handbook,
which outlines the rules, and regulations the employees are expected to understand and
comply with in their career with the City of Batesville. The necessary time will be spent
with the employees to review the policies. The employee will be given an opportunity to
ask for clarification on any policies he/she does not understand. The employee will be
asked to sign an "Acknowledgment Statement" that he/she has received the policies.
The City Clerk's Office will retain the "Acknowledgment Statement" in the employee's
personnel file. The Batesville Police Department's personal policy is a separate
document and is kept and distributed by the Batesville PD.
L. EXIT INTERVIEWS
When an employee is separated from the City of Batesville, the immediate
Supervisor/City Clerk will conduct an exit interview.
Using the "Employee Exit Checklist" during the exit interview, the departing employee
will be given information about such things as benefit conversions, accrued vacation,
etc. At this time, the employee is expected to return any City property he/she has been
issued, including City vehicles, uniforms, keys, photo ID's, health insurance cards,
vehicle fuel keys, employee handbook, and any other items issued by the City. Any
items not returned are subject to charges that may be deducted from the employee's
final check.
D. STANDARD WORK HOURS
Except for firefighters, police officers and dispatchers, work hours for all full-time
employees shall be 40-hours per week which begins each Monday or Wednesday
depending on the department. Work hours for the fire and police department
employees shall be in accordance with state statutes and departmental regulations. All
part-time employees will have specific work days and hours set by their supervisor.
F. STAND-BY AND ON-CALL (Utility Construction Department Only)
To provide round-the-clock coverage, the Construction Department will have two
employees on stand-by during off-hours. "Off-hours" are defined as any time that the
employee is not scheduled to work, including nights, weekends and holidays.
Employees are rotated on a weekly basis (from 5:00 p.m. Wednesday until 4:59 p.m.
the following Wednesday).
K. FUNERAL LEAVE
The City of Batesville will allow an employee to take up to 24 hours, with pay, when a
death occurs in their immediate family with their supervisor's approval. In this instance,
"Immediate family" is defined as mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter,
grandparents, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, spouse, spouses' immediate family or those
relatives who live in the employee's household including "step" relatives. The Mayor
may allow the employee to take additional time off if the employee must travel out of
state or for other special circumstances. Employees will be allowed to take off the day
of the funeral (8 hours) for other relatives such as aunt, uncle, etc.
FeF the death of other family membeFs (fatheF iR law, mother On law, bretheF in ,
sister in law, gFandparents and step grandpaFents), empleyees will be allowed 8 hOUFS
off with pay with the appFaval. With the Mayor's aPPFGYal, up to sWeen
additional hours Fnay b�eallIA-I.A.Me C-1. Empleyees well be allowed to take off the day of the
.
M. INCLEMENT WEATHER
employees, they are expeGted to attempt to get to work &Fing perieds of iRGleFnen
Essential personnel (fire, police, dispatchers and water/wastewater plant employees
who provide 24/7 coverage of City services) are not affected by and are not eligible to
exercise the inclement weather absence.
When hazardous conditions exist, employees must contact their Supervisor for
instructions regarding when and where to report to work.
If an employee makes an effort to get to work but road conditions are dangerous and
he/she is late reporting to work, he/she will be paid for their full eight hauFs shift. 44he
emplayeeG Gannat get to work at all, they Fnay take the tiFne off as YaGation of they have
Should City offices remain open with limited staff, affected
employees who choose to stay home will be required to use vacation, personal or
unpaid leave. Employees affected by the closing of City offices for the entire day may
be required to take the day as vacation, personal or unpaid day.
Any employee who is late reporting to work or cannot get to work must use the same
reporting procedure to inform his/her Supervisor detailed in "Reporting Absences".
1. VACATION FOR CLASS B EMPLOYEES EXCEPT FIRE AND POLICE
DEPARTMENTS
Once an employee enters an eligible classification (Class B), they begin to accrue
vacation time according to the schedule on the following page. Before an employee can
take any vacation, he must first accumulate 21 hours (6 months of accrual). Eligible
employees must be in pay status at least 15 calendar days in a month to accrue
vacation leave for that month.
Employees should schedule their vacation with their supervisor as many days in
advance as possible. If the workload in a department is such that it would be disruptive
for an employee to be away from work, or if other employees have previously scheduled
time off, the Supervisor may refuse a vacation request for a particular period of time.
Vacation may be scheduled in one-hour increments and may be scheduled to coincide
with holidays. in GeFtain situations, an empleye another employee,
same pay level OF below) paFt of theiF YaGatie.n. thime %Lwih the appFeval of the Sul
and Mayer-.
Unused vacation days may not be carried over to the next leave year without a written
request from the employee and approved by the Mayor. If employment is terminated,
either by the employee or the City of Batesville, the employee will be reimbursed for all
accrued vacation time.
Empleyees Fnay RGt take time aff without pay Of they have YaGation 9F GempeRSatOFY
tome ava*1able-.
3. VACATION FOR POLICE
Police offices start accumulating vacation days upon employment and will have 15
working days available on their one year anniversary. No more than one year of
vacation (15 working days) may be carried over upon your anniversary date.
4. SICK LEAVE FOR CLASS B EMPLOYEES EXCEPT FIREFIGHTERS AND
POLICE
LJRur,ed siGk leave shall Rot be paid to employees who SepaFate or aFe separated 49M
the-C+ty exGept at FetiFernent with 20 yeaFs of Gg;tORUee, seWiGe. If an employee fetires
separates from the City in good standing after completing at least 20 years of
continuous service (without a break in employment), they will be paid for all unused sick
leave at his/her rate of pay up to 3 months' salary. If an employee separates from the
City with less than 20 years, or not in good standing, no accumulated sick days will be
paid.
6. SICK LEAVE FOR POLICE
Police officers shall accumulate sick leave at the rate of 20 working days (160 or 240
hours, depending on shift) per year beginning 1 year after the date of employment. If
unused, sick leave shall accumulate to a maximum of 90 days (720 or 1080 hours,
depending on shift). (14-53-108).
Time off may be charged against accumulated sick leave only for such days that a
police officer is scheduled to work. No such sick leave as provided in this section, shall
be charged against any police officer during any period of sickness, illness, or injury for
any days which he/she is not scheduled to work. A leave request form must be
completed as soon as the employee returns to work and forwarded to the City Clerk's
office.
If, at the end of a term of service, upon retirement or death, whichever occurs first, any
police officer who has any unused accumulated sick leave, he/she shall be paid for this
sick leave at the regular rate of pay in effect at the time of retirement or death. Payment
for unused sick leave in the case of a police officer, upon retirement or death, shall not
exceed 3 months' salary.
7. CATASTROPHIC LEAVE
The City of Batesville's Catastrophic Leave Donation Program is intended to enable
coworkers to provide some level of income protection to fellow employees who have
exhausted their paid leave banks due to their own serious illness or injury, or the need
to provide care to a seriously ill/injured immediate family member. This program relies
upon the voluntary donation of vacation leave from fellow employees.
A catastrophic illness or injury is a medical condition that is extraordinary or sever
(serious, extreme or life threatening) and requires inpatient, hospice or in-home health
care, such as cancer, major surgery, serious accident, heart attack, stroke, etc. In order
to be covered under this policy, the medical condition must also render the employee
unable to work due to his/her own health condition, or the health condition of an eligible
family member for all regularly scheduled work days over a consecutive two week
period.
Regular, full-time employees must have one continuous year of service with the City in
order to participate, either to apply for catastrophic leave or to donate leave to another
employee.
In order to apply for catastrophic leave, an employee must have exhausted all balances
in his/her leave banks. This would include sick leave, vacation, comp time and personal
day if applicable.
In order to donate leave, an employee must maintain a balance of forty hours of
vacation after the donation is deducted from his/her vacation leave bank.
Under this policy, an eligible employee may request leave for his/her own serious
medical condition as well as a serious medical condition affecting an immediate family
member. Immediate family is defined for these purposes as the employee's spouse,
child, or parent.
An employee who is eligible for catastrophic leave under this policy must apply by
completing a Catastrophic Leave Request Form. If the employee is physically unable to
complete this form, a family member/designee may submit the form on the employee's
behalf. This form includes a section for medical certification which must be completed
by the employee's physician, or in the case of a family member's illness, the patient's
attending physician.
8. CRISIS LEAVE
An employee may use limited amounts of sick leave as defined in the policy per
calendar year to attend to crisis situations affecting themselves or an immediate family
member. A crisis is defined as imminent death, serious illness, natural disaster,
residence fire or other occurrences of equal severity or emotional trauma which require
the employee's presence. Family members covered by crisis leave include spouse,
child, mother, father, sister, brother, guardian, grandparent, grandchild, plus the various
combinations of half, step, in-law and adopted relationships that can be derived from
those named. Crises leave is to be granted at the discretion of the employee's
Supervisor may not exceed a total of 40 (forty) hours annually for employees working a
standard forty hour week 48 (forty-eight) hours annually for firefighters working twenty-
four hour shifts.
9. HOLIDAYS AND HOLIDAY PAY FOR CLASS B EMPLOYEES
Holiday pay for police officers will be determined by the Police Chief in accordance with
14-52-105.
When Class B employees of the City, except Dispatchers, Firefighters and Police, are
required to work on a paid holiday, they will be paid at their regular rate of pay for the
holiday and for the hours worked.
4. RETURN TO WORK
Before the employee can return to work at either his/her normal position or restricted
duty, the treating (or referred) physician must complete a "Physician's Release for
Work"form, indicating the date the employee may return to work, and specify the duties
that the employee may not perform. If an employee is off work 6 weeks or longer, a
drug test will be required before returning to work.
1. Summary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993
SepaFate and On addition t9 SiGk leave, FMLA makes available to eligible employees up
to 12 weeks of maid leave in a 12-month period. Leave may be taken for the following
reasons:
a. Health Coverage
The City of Batesville will continue to pay the City's portion fu4-amount for health
insurance coverage for the employee and eligible dependents and the employee
shall pay their portion of the insurance cost while the employee is on FMLA
leave. Any supplemental insurance being withheld through payroll deduction will
be the responsibility of the employee.
F. EDUCATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
In the event that employees believe additional training is needed, they should notify
their supervisor. Expenses incurred from on-the-job training may be assumed by the
City in accordance to the travel and training reimbursement policy if approved by the
supervisor and the Mayor. No overtime will be paid for training hours.
G. TRAVEL AND TRAINING REIMBURSEMENT
All out of town training for the City of Batesville must be approved in advance by the
Department, Mayor or City Council. All out of state travel must be approved in advance
by the Gity GOURG01 Mayor. Allowable reimbursements shall be computed according to
the following guidelines:
2. Food
A $60.00 per diem maximum allowance for food in-state shall be reimbursed for
overnight trips. A $100.00 per diem maximum allowance for food out-of-state shall be
reimbursed for overnight trips. For day trips, $30.00 will be reimbursed for in-state and
$50.00 for out-of-state. An itemized, original receipt must be submitted with the
appropriate form for all meal reimbursements. The City shall not reimburse the cost of
alcoholic beverages. The City will reimburse up to 15% for gratuity.
A $40.00 per diern maximum allawaRGe fbF food (bFeakfast, $7.00; IURGh,
;
day out of town tFavel begins before 8:00 a.Fn. andieF eRd6 after 5:00 .,
eFnpleyeeS
submitted with aPPFGPFiate fGFFnfeF all meal Feimbur-sements. The Gity shall f*t
H. CITY OWNED VEHICLE USE
• A City vehicle assigned to supervisors or employees, who are subject to calls
during off-duty hours, may drive them to and from work after receiving written
approval from the City Council. All non-emergency vehicles that are driven home
will be charged at the standard IRS rate.
N. BULLETIN BOARDS
Bulletin boards are located at each site, iRGluding theMURiGipal Building, Fire
depaF*� . They will be and are used to display current copies of all required legal
notices, job postings and any other information the City may want to share with
employees in this manner. Employees should never remove or cover up any legal
notices.