City of Linwood, NJ Absence from Employment

REGULATIONS.

Reasons for closing. The administrative closing of facilities may be required in the event of adverse weather or other emergency conditions.

Emergency personnel. Certain employees may be required to report to work despite the administrative closing, in order to maintain street conditions and public safety.

PROCEDURES.

Approval. The City Administrator will recommend an administrative closing to the Mayor. The Mayor will report his decision to the Administrator, who will notify department heads if there is to be a closing.

Notification to employees.

Any changes in the regular work schedule due to weather or other emergent conditions prior to the beginning of a workday will be announced over an officially designated radio station or by calling the Linwood Police Department. In the event of an administrative closing during regular work hours, the City Clerk will arrange for dissemination of an appropriate announcement.

ii.

Release of employees. Following the notification, supervisors will then be responsible for releasing employees.

Compensation to employees. Employees who are officially excused on the applicable day for all or a part of a regularly scheduled workday will continue to receive their normal straight time earnings for regular work hours. Time reports for employees who are released will be marked with Code "A" in the "Account # or Absence Code" column and will show the number of hours for which the employee is officially excused on the applicable day. Only those employees who intended to report to work are eligible to record "A" time. (Refer to policy and procedure, time reports.) In the case of nonexempt employees, paid hours in this category will count as hours worked for overtime computations.

B Holidays.

POLICY. The City provides paid holidays each year for full-time employees. They include those listed below and the administrative holidays designated by the Mayor and City Council. Holidays are observed by suspension of the regular work schedule.

Regular scheduled holidays.

[Amended 10-27-2010 by Ord. No. 14-2010]

As designated by resolution of City Council

Other. Any other day of a particular year may be designated as a holiday by the Mayor and Council.

For purposes of this section, one-half day for fire fighters will be considered to be four hours.

REGULATIONS.

Holiday observance. Holidays will be observed on the workday of the week on which the holiday legally falls. When a holiday occurs on Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday. Holidays occurring on a Saturday will be observed on the Friday prior to the holiday.

Payment for City holidays.

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES who are in paid status the day prior to and after the holiday will be paid for the holiday.

ii.

TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES who are scheduled to and actually work the day before and after the holiday will be paid for the holiday.

iii.

PERMANENT PART-TIME EMPLOYEES will be paid for a holiday, which occurs on a scheduled workday. The holiday payment will be based on the part-time employee's scheduled number of work hours for that day. For example, if the employee is scheduled to work for four hours each day, five days per week, the employee will receive four hours' pay for a holiday which occurs during the workweek. However, an employee who is scheduled to work eight hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday will not be paid for a holiday observed on Tuesday or Thursday.

iv.

FAILURE TO WORK. Nonexempt employees who agree and are scheduled to work on a holiday and fail to do so will receive their base pay for the holiday, provided that the department head or supervisor approves the absence pay.

Employees working on a City holiday. See Subsection B(3)(b) for required after-the-fact supervisory justification when an exempt employee works on a holiday.

NONEXEMPT. When a nonexempt employee is required to work on one of the designated, holidays, the employee will be paid time and one-half for each hour worked for that day or receive a day off with pay within 12 months of the holiday. When a nonexempt employee begins work prior to midnight and continues working past midnight and continues into the next day which is an observed holiday, the normal overtime rate of the time and one-half for hours worked in excess of eight hours per day, 40 hours per week, will be applied.

ii.

EXEMPT. When an exempt employee is required to work on one of the designated holidays, the employee will receive a day off with pay, to be taken within 12 months of the holiday.

City holidays during a vacation or paid sick leave. When a holiday occurs within an employee's authorized vacation period or during a paid sick leave absence or scheduled day off, that day will be counted as a holiday rather than as a day of vacation or sick leave, or a scheduled day off.

PROCEDURES.

Holiday announcement. A memorandum from the Mayor and City Council announcing the holidays scheduled for the year will be sent to all department heads and posted in City hall prior to the start of each calendar year.

Holiday work justification. Supervisors of employees who work on a holiday will notify the payroll office and the Administrator immediately following the holiday, indicating to the Council representative only the reason(s) on the holiday it was necessary for the employee to work.

Time reports. Code "H" will be used on time reports to indicate paid time off for all designated holidays.

C Sick Leave.

POLICY. It is the City's policy to continue the salary of an employee during reasonable periods of bona fide sick leave absence.

DEFINITION. Sick leave is hereby defined to mean absence from post of duty by an employee because of personal or family illness, exposure to contagious disease.

REGULATIONS.

Family leave. An employee may utilize up to a maximum of three accumulated sick days per year for attendance upon a member of the employee's immediate family, seriously ill and requiring the care or attendance of such employee. Maternity and paternity leave shall be granted in accordance with the requirements of the New Jersey Family Leave Act.

Physician's excuse. Any employee who shall be absent from work for three or more consecutive working days due to illness, or leave and attendance to a member of the employee's immediate family shall be required to submit acceptable medical evidence substantiating the illness.

Physical exam. Whenever it appears reasonable to the City, the City may require an employee on sick leave to see the City physician, at the City's expense to verify the illness.

Lack of just cause. If sick leave is not approved for just cause, the time involved during which the employee was absent shall be charged to his or her vacation, if any, providing the employee agrees. Otherwise, he will suffer loss of his pay for such unauthorized time.

Cases of contagion. In case of sick leave due to exposure to contagious disease, a certificate from the family doctor shall be required.

Days earned. Sick leave shall accrue for regular full-time employees at the rate of one workday per month during the first calendar year of employment and 15 workdays in every calendar year of employment thereafter, and shall accumulate from year to year (except for employees hired prior to 1997). However, no employee shall be entitled to accumulate more than a total of 175 workdays of sick leave. Sick leave shall accrue for permanent part-time employees at the rate of five days per year. However, no permanent part-time employee shall be entitled to accumulate more than 10 days of sick leave, and no permanent part-time employee shall be entitled to monetary compensation upon retirement or termination.

[Amended 9-26-2007 by Ord. No. 20-2007]

Definition of "immediate family." The term "immediate family" for the purposes of this Article shall include father, mother, stepparent, spouse, child, foster child, if any, and relatives residing in the employee's household.

At termination. Upon separation from service for any reason except termination for disciplinary infractions, an employee shall receive payment at his last rate of pay for 50% of his accrued and unused sick leave time; provided, however, that no employee shall be so entitled unless he has served a total of 10 years.

Incentive. The City agrees that any regular full-time employee who uses fewer than four sick days in any calendar year shall receive an incentive bonus of $300 to be paid no later than January 30 of the calendar year next following the year in which the bonus was earned.

[Amended 9-26-2007 by Ord. No. 20-2007]

Temporary. Employees and PART-TIME ON-CALL EMPLOYEES are not eligible for paid sick leave.

Rate of pay. An employee will be paid at the base rate during an appropriate sick leave absence.

Authorized extension. When a department head wishes to recommend an extension of paid sick leave time, the department head must prepare a memo specifying the extenuating circumstances involved and submit this request to the Administrator for presentation to the City Council for approval. No extension will be granted until and unless all accumulated sick leave has been exhausted.

Notice by Employee. The employee will be responsible for notifying the immediate supervisor promptly when unable to report for work. The immediate supervisor will consider the merits of the employee's reasons for sick leave absence and recommend that the absence be with pay (Code "S") or without pay (Code "N").

Adjustment of schedule and pay. The work schedule and pay of an employee will be adjusted accordingly if the employee returns to work on less than a full-time basis after using all the allowable paid sick leave days. {Refer to Subsection C(4)(a)[3].}

Physician's statement. The City reserves the right to require that an employee provide the attending physician's statement or any other medical verification/information satisfactory to the City's retained physician to examine the employee and submit a medical evaluation and/or to have a City's retained physician consult with the employee's attending physician.

Non-union employee sick buy back. At the option of any non-union full-time or part-time employee, the City may buy back up to 40 hours of the employee's accumulated sick leave per calendar year. The employee shall make a written request to the Chief Financial Officer for payment. The rate of pay for this sick leave buy back shall be computed at the employee's hourly rate of pay at the time of the buy back for full-time employees. For part-time employees, rate of pay for this sick leave buy back shall be the employee's current hourly rate or $20 per hour, whichever is less. Payment shall be made in a lump sum within 30 calendar days of the employee's written request.

[Added 8-12-2020 by Ord. No. 8-2020]

Employees shall not be permitted to utilize sick leave in advance and prior to the accrual thereof.

[Added 9-28-2022 by Ord. No. 15-2022]

PROCEDURES.

When required. The attending physician's statement must be furnished to the appropriate department head in the following circumstances:

ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE OF SICK ABSENCE. This category consists of instances in which an employee schedules elective surgery or has other reason to know in advance of hospital confinement or other medical conditions that will cause absence from work for more than 10 consecutive workdays. The attending physician's statement must give the date the employee is expected to medically be able to return to work or any other medical verification/information satisfactory to the City.

ii.

AFTER MORE THAN FIVE CONSECUTIVE WORKDAYS OF SICK LEAVE ABSENCE. This category consists of instances in which an employee returns to work after a sick leave absence in excess of five consecutive workdays, which were not predictable as noted above. The attending physician's statement must provide the reason for the absence or any other medical verification/information satisfactory to the City and permission for the employee to return to work. This statement must be presented to the appropriate department head on the day of return.

iii.

REDUCED WORK SCHEDULE.

(a)

This category consists of instances in which it is recommended that the employee return to work on less than a full-time schedule.

(b)

The attending physician's statement must outline the limitations on the regular work schedule and the reasons or any other medical verification/information satisfactory to the City.

(c)

When an employee has used all allowable paid sick leave credit days and a reduced work schedule is recommended by departmental supervision, the department head must direct a memo to the appropriate Council representative specifying the schedule to be worked. The Council representative will communicate the approved work/pay schedule to the department head and the payroll office.

(d)

When it is recommended that the employee work less than full time, the employee with remaining sick leave credit will be allowed either to use the balance of his or her sick leave to cover time not worked or to go to a reduced pay status.

iv.

REVISED ATTENDING PHYSICIAN'S STATEMENT. If a change in the employee's medical condition occurs that will affect his or her ability to return to work full time when originally expected by the attending physician, the employee will submit a revised physician's statement explaining the reason for further absence and a revised date when the employee is expected to be medically able to return to work, with or without limitations, on a regular work schedule, or any other medical verification/information satisfactory to the City.

Failure to report back to work. If an employee does not return to work on the date specified in the attending physician's statement and no extenuating circumstances are presented and approved by the department head and the appropriate Council representative, it will be considered that the employee has voluntarily terminated.

Review of sick leave record. When an employee's accumulated sick leave, both paid and unpaid, exceeds five days during a calendar year, the supervisor will review the sick leave record with the employee as often as necessary to determine the circumstances involved in each absence. The supervisor will file a written report of said review with the City Clerk.

Holiday occurring during paid sick leave. A holiday occurring during a paid sick leave will be counted as a holiday, not as a sick leave.

Occupational injury. For provisions pertaining to occupational injury, refer to the section for "Compensation During Occupational Injury Absence."

D Vacation.

POLICY. It is the City's policy to provide a paid vacation for all regular full-time employees and permanent part-time employees and to permit employees to take accrued vacation at any time that is mutually satisfactory to the employee and the supervisor.

[Amended 9-26-2007 by Ord. No. 20-2007]

REGULATIONS.

Vacation accrual. An employee who is in pay status for more than 1/2 of the workdays in the month will accrue vacation for the entire month. This provision will apply to the initial and termination months of employment and also to the use of increased rate of vacation when the employee accrual attains the appropriate level of continuous service credit.

REGULAR FULL-TIME personnel rate of accrual while in pay status.

[Amended 10-13-1982 by Ord. No. 16-1982; 11-14-1984 by Ord. No. 19-1984]

Years of Service	Earned Annually
Through 7 completed years of continuous service	10 days (2 weeks)
Beginning the 8th year of continuous service through 14 years of continuous service	15 days (3 weeks)
Beginning the 15th year of continuous service through 19 complete years of continuous service	20 days (4 weeks)
Beginning the 20th year of continuous service through 25 complete years of continuous service	25 days (5 weeks)
After 25 years of continuous service and thereafter	25 days, plus 1 day for each additional year over 25

ii.

TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES hired for a specific period of time of less than six months, will not be entitled to paid vacations. If such an employee becomes a regular, full-time employee without a break in continuous service, the employee will be entitled to accrued vacation, retroactive to the original date of employment.

iii.

PERMANENT PART-TIME EMPLOYEES shall accrue five vacation days per calendar year. Maximum vacation accrual shall be no more than 10 days.

[Added 9-26-2007 by Ord. No. 20-2007]

Use of accrued vacation. The employee may use accrued vacation in increments of one hour by making the necessary arrangements with the supervisor. Except under extraordinary circumstances, and with the approval of the Administrator, an employee may accrue vacation only to the following limits:

Years of Service	Maximum Vacation Accrual
Through 9 complete years of continuous service	160 hours or 20 days
Beginning the 10th year of continuous service through 14 complete years of service	240 hours or 30 days
Beginning the 15th year of continuous service and thereafter	320 hours or 40 days

Holiday occurring during vacation period.

When a City designated holiday or administrative holiday (refer to policy and procedure, holidays) occurs during an employee's vacation, that time will not be considered vacation time. In this instance Code "H" (holiday) will be used as the designation rather than Code "V".

ii.

Administrative closing of the facilities for weather conditions, power failure or other emergencies will not alter the vacation schedule, i.e. the day will still be considered a vacation day.

Leave of absence. An employee who is granted a leave of absence for more than 31 calendar days will receive payment for any accrued vacation, which has accumulated in conjunction with the final paycheck covering the work period immediately prior to the leave of absence.

PROCEDURE. Vacation scheduling by the supervisor will generally be necessary to ensure adequate staffing for unit operations. Therefore, the supervisor should prepare an annual vacation schedule, giving the preference, where feasible, to the employee with the longer Linwood City service.