City of Gardner, MA Department Head Benefit Time and Longevity Pay

A department head shall be deemed to be regularly employed within the meaning of this article if he or she has been actually employed for 27 weeks in the aggregate during the 12 months preceding the first day of June of the year in which the vacation is to be granted.

Department heads that do not utilize all of their vacation time within the calendar year it was granted will be allowed to carry over into the next calendar year twice their annual vacation accrual. Any department head who exceeds that amount of vacation accumulation on December 31 shall forfeit any excess of the permitted accumulation.

Newly hired department heads shall be granted vacation time according to the following schedule:

	Number of Vacation Days
First Day of Employment	Police/Fire	All Other Department Heads
January 1 to April 30	14	15
May 1 to August 31	10	10
September 1 to December 31	5	5

In the event that a department head terminates employment with the City, any vacation accrued will be paid to the department head. If a department head dies, any accrued vacation days shall be paid to the estate of said deceased department head.

Upon termination, resignation or retirement, the annual allotment of vacation time for the year in which the department head's employment ends shall be prorated monthly from the date the department head's employment ends.

[Added 12-21-2020 by Ord. No. 1634]

§ 171-54 Personal time.

Department heads shall be granted three personal days per calendar year. Personal days shall be credited to department heads on January 1 of each year. Personal days are not cumulative and must be used in the calendar year in which they have been credited.

Upon termination, resignation or retirement, the annual allotment of personal time for the year in which the department head's employment ends shall be prorated from the date the department head's employment ends as follows:

[Added 12-21-2020 by Ord. No. 1634]

(1)

January 1 to April 30: two days.

(2)

May 1 to August 31: one day.

§ 171-55 Sick leave.

Department heads shall be granted a maximum of 15 nonoccupational sick days per calendar year. Sick days shall be credited on January 1 of each year. Department heads may carry an unlimited number of sick days.

A department head that has been absent from work due to the use of nonoccupational sick leave three consecutive days or more at one time must present a doctor's certificate to the Mayor. A doctor's certificate may also be required if the Mayor has reasonable cause to believe that the department head may be abusing his/her nonoccupational sick leave.

A department head will contact the Mayor's office each morning by 8:30 a.m. when he/she is going to be absent from work due to illness.

Department heads may donate sick leave to another employee of the City of Gardner who is in serious need (due to a serious illness or injury and that employee has utilized all of his/her available sick, personal, compensatory and vacation time). The donated time shall be paid to the employee in need at that employee's rate of pay. Authorization of the donation of this time shall be at the sole discretion of the Mayor.

§ 171-56 Sick leave incentive time.

[Amended 6-1-2009 by Ord. No. 1493]

Commencing effective July 1, 2009, department heads that do not use sick leave in a calendar month shall earn 1/2 day off not to be charged to sick leave or vacation leave. Time earned in this manner shall be referred to as "sick leave incentive time."

§ 171-57 Sick leave buy back.

For all employees hired as department heads prior to or on February 1, 1979, upon retirement, if a department head has an accumulated sick leave balance, the department head shall be granted pay for such accumulation upon retirement at a rate of one full day's pay for each such day of accumulated sick leave, not to exceed 50 days' pay, plus an additional 50% of the daily rate for accumulated days over and above the first 50 days that remain. Upon voluntary termination or layoff of employment of a department head, if such department head has an accumulated sick leave balance, the department head shall be granted pay for such accumulation upon termination at a rate of 1/4 day's pay for each such day of accumulated sick leave that remains.

For all department heads hired after February 1, 1979, and prior to October 17, 1995, upon retirement of employment, if the department head has an accumulated sick leave balance, he or she shall be granted pay for such accumulation not to exceed 50 days' pay, plus an additional 50% of the daily rate for accumulated days over and above the first 50 days, but not to exceed 130 days. Upon voluntary termination or layoff of employment, a department head with an accumulated sick leave balance shall be granted pay for such accumulation at a rate of 1/4 day's pay for each such day of accumulated sick leave, not to exceed 30 days paid.

Department heads hired on or after October 17, 1995, shall not be entitled to the sick leave buy back provision granted in Subsections A and B of this section.

In the event that a department head hired before October 17, 1995, shall die prior to retirement, any accrued sick days shall be paid to the estate of said deceased department head.

§ 171-58 Bereavement leave.

Department heads shall be granted bereavement leave without loss of pay for normally scheduled working hours, not to exceed three consecutive days, on the account of a death in the immediate family of the department head. "Immediate family" shall include spouse, parent, stepparent, parent of spouse, children, brother, sister, grandparents, grandchildren, or a person living in the immediate household of the department head.

Bereavement leave of one day without loss of pay for normally scheduled working hours may be granted per occurrence for the death of a department head's niece, nephew, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, aunt or uncle.

§ 171-59 Civic duty leave.

See Article III of this chapter.

§ 171-60 Holidays with pay.

Department heads, with the exception of the Police Chief and Fire Chief (see Article X of this chapter), shall be granted holidays with pay on each of the following 12 holidays:

(1)

New Year's Day.

(2)

Martin Luther King Day.

Presidents Day.

Patriots Day.

Memorial Day.

Independence Day.

Labor Day.

Columbus Day.

Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving Day.

The day after Thanksgiving.

(12)

Christmas Day.

Sunday holidays shall be celebrated on the following Monday. Saturday holidays shall be celebrated on the preceding Friday.

§ 171-61 Longevity pay.

Department heads who have been employed for at least five continuous full-time years of service shall receive, in addition to their regular compensation, longevity pay of $150 during the first year that such service is attained and each fiscal year thereafter. Such department heads shall receive an additional $30 per year for each additional year of full-time continuous service with the City.

Payment of longevity pay shall be made on the third pay date in June to all department heads who are entitled during the fiscal year preceding such date, except that a department head who is terminated, except involuntarily for cause, shall receive payment on the date of termination for such longevity pay for which the department head was eligible in such fiscal year prior to the date of termination.

For the purpose of calculating longevity pay, a year of employment shall be 32 weeks in the aggregate during the fiscal year.[1]

[1]

Editor's Note: Original Sec. 10D, which immediately followed this subsection and was added 6-1-2009 by Ord. No. 1496, was repealed 5-3-2010 by Ord. No. 1515.