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R-46-11 - Adding Paid Leave Donation to Policy ManualRESOLUTION NO. L\ (Q A RESOLUTION AMENDING PERSONNEL MANUAL — ADDING PAID LEAVE DONATION POLICY WHEREAS, the Village of Lemont desires to amend the Village of Lemont Personnel Manual by Adding a Paid Leave Donation Policy; and WHEREAS, the President and Board of Trustees find that adopting the attached Paid Leave Donation Policy as an amendment to the Village of Lemont Personnel Manual is in the interest of the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of Lemont; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES as follows: SECTION 1: That the Amendment to the Village of Lemont Personnel Manual — Adding Paid Leave Donation Policy, attached as Exhibit A hereto is hereby adopted. SECTION 2: This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage as provided by law. SECTION 3: The Village Clerk of the Village of Lemont shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution and cause the same to be published in pamphlet form. PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE OF LEMONT, COUNTIES OF COOK, WILL AND DUPAGE, ILLINOIS on this z 7 day of n , 2011. Debby Blatzer Paul Chialdikas Clifford Miklos Ron Stapleton Rick Sniegowski Jeanette Virgilio ATTEST: PRESIDENT AND VILLAGE BOARD MEMBERS: AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: ABSTAIN v v 1 CHARLENE M. SMOLLEN Village Clerk 1 BRI K. REAVES President VILLAGE OF LEMONT PAID LEAVE DONATION PROGRAM I. POLICY In an effort to bridge the gap for employees who have used all accrued paid leave, but whom have not started to receive Long Term Disability benefits because the ninety -day (90) day waiting period has not yet expired, the Village of Lemont (the "Village ") has developed a Paid Leave Donation Program. It is the policy of the Village to allow a participating full -time employee to donate accumulated sick, vacation and /or personal leave to another designated participating full -time, employee who submits a written request for and is granted an approved Leave of Absence, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Village's Leave of Absence Policy, due to a catastrophic illness or injury. This qualified employee would otherwise be required to take such leave without pay because he or she has exhausted all of his or her sick leave, vacation time, personal days and compensatory time. The rules below provide a framework for the administration of a Village -wide paid leave designated donation program for eligible permanent full -time, employees. If alterative paid leave donation procedures have been negotiated on behalf of represented employees, those procedures shall apply to the bargaining unit thereunder; this policy may not be used to add to or subtract from any provisions contained in a collective bargaining agreement. Represented personnel shall be eligible to participate provided their bargaining agent has provided the Village with written acceptance of the terms, which acceptance may be withdrawn at any time. Provided, any such withdrawal shall not affect time donated or received prior to the date of withdrawal. There is no limitation between the exchange of donated and received paid leave time between authorized represented employees and non - represented employees. II. DEFINITIONS A. "Paid leave designated donation" means a voluntary transfer by an eligible donor employee of accumulated sick, vacation and/or personal leave to a designated eligible recipient employee pursuant to the terms and conditions contained in the policy set forth herein. Donation shall be effective upon the date the offer of donation is received by the Village. B. "Eligible donor employee" means a permanent full -time, employee who has been employed by the Village for a period of six (6) consecutive months or more who voluntarily elects to donate accumulated sick, vacation and /or personal leave to an eligible recipient employee. An employee who wishes to donate said leave must have a minimum of ten (10) days of accumulated sick leave and five (5) days of accrued vacation leave remaining in his or her employee benefits account after the amount donated is deducted therefrom. 1 C. "Catastrophic illness or injury" means a temporary disability or incapacity injury to the employee or a member of the employee's immediate family resulting from a life threatening illness or injury of other catastrophic proportion as determined by the Village Administrator. Factors considered in determining whether the employee is covered under this Policy shall include, but are not limited to the length of time the employee must be absent from work due to illness or injury. "Hospital" or "Institution" means a facility licensed to provide care and treatment for the condition causing the (employee's) absence from work. D. "Covered monthly earnings" means the employee's basic monthly salary in that amount received on the day just before the date of leave. Covered monthly earnings does not include commissions, overtime pay, bonuses, raises or any other special compensation not received as covered monthly earnings. For hourly -paid employees, the number of hours worked during a regular workweek, not to exceed thirty -seven and one -half (37.5) hours per week will be used to determine covered monthly earnings. If an employee is paid on an annual basis, the covered monthly earnings will be determined by dividing the basic annual salary by 12. III. PARTICIPATION Eligible donor employees may designate accrued sick, personal and /or vacation leave, or any combination thereof, to be donated to a recipient who has been determined eligible to receive the same prior to the time of the donation. An employee who wishes to donate leave must complete a donation form indicating the amount and type of leave to be donated and submit the form to the Village Administrator. Anyone wishing to donate leave may donate up to four (4) weeks total of annual leave during a given fiscal year. This leave may be comprised of sick, vacation or personal leave or any combination thereof. An eligible recipient employee, or a representative of the employee if he or she is unable to do so, who wishes to receive leave must fill out a form describing his or her circumstances, based upon the eligibility criteria below, and submit the form to the Village Administrator. A. Eligibility to Donate: Participation in the paid leave designation donation program is voluntary on the part of any employee. No employee shall be subject to discipline or any other adverse employment action for choosing not to participate, and no employee shall be rewarded in any manner for choosing to participate. Employees wishing to participate must be permanent full -time, employees with a minimum of six (6) months of continuous service with the Village. B. Eligibility to Receive: To be eligible to receive donated leave, a permanent full - time, employee who is not eligible for disability or workers' compensation, nor any other type or kind of disability benefits, must show need based on at least one of the following criteria: 2 1. Serious illness or medical emergencies involving the employee,; 2. Ongoing crisis or hardship; 3. All accrued paid leave has been completely exhausted. C. Maximum Donation: A participating donor employee may donate up to four (4) weeks of accumulated sick, vacation and /or personal leave as desired provided that the participating employee must have remaining in his or her own employee benefits account at least ten (10) sick days and five (5) vacation days after the amount donated is deducted therefrom. D. Donation Period: Upon receipt of a request from an eligible recipient employee pursuant to the terms of this policy for donated paid leave, and the determination by the Village Administrator that (1) the employee is eligible to receive such paid leave, and (2) the amount of leave authorized for the employee to receive, employees will be notified of the request and given the opportunity to donate leave to the recipient employee. Donations will be accepted for a period of three (3) weeks following the original request. The Village Administrator may extend this period up to one (1) additional week. E. Maximum Leave Period: A leave of absence may not be taken for an indefinite period of time. The leave period shall be determined by the Village Administrator based upon the information contained in the Physician's Certification, in consultation with the employee's direct supervisor. Recipient employees shall not use donated paid leave until all of their accrued vacation time, personal days, sick leave and compensatory time has been exhausted. Regardless of the amount of leave authorized by the Village Administrator for the recipient employee to receive, donated paid leave may only be permitted to the extent that sufficient leave is actually donated to the recipient employee and, under no circumstances shall a recipient employee be permitted to receive more donated leave than that which is necessary to cover the period of leave authorized by the Village Administrator. Any such leave shall run concurrently with Family Medical Leave (FMLA). Upon approval of a request for donated paid leave, the Village Administrator will inform the employee of the start and end date of his or her leave. Note: The amount of donated paid leave initially approved by the Village Administrator may be increased at the request of the employee based upon information contained in any periodic progress report(s) received from the employee's treating physician. The Village Administrator reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to decrease the period of leave initially approved based upon information furnished by the employee's treating physician in any progress report(s). However, under no circumstances shall an employee be granted a total period of donated leave in excess of ninety (90) days, whether consecutive or intermittent, in any given fiscal year. 3 F. Physician's Certification: The recipient employee is responsible for submitting medical documentation from his or her health care provider. This information must be submitted on a form provided by the Village Administrator and may be obtained the Village Administrator's office. Information contained in the Physician's Certification must include: 1. Date when the serious medical condition began; 2. Anticipated duration of treatment and/or hospitalization and recovery; 3. Appropriate medical facts regarding the medical condition to determine whether it prohibits the employee from performing the essential functions of his or her job; 4. Employees anticipated date of return to work. Addition information and/or documentation deemed necessary by the Village Administrator to determine whether and to what extent to grant an employee's request for leave may also be required on a case by case basis. The Village Administrator reserves the right to require a second opinion from a health care provider for the purpose of verifying the seriousness of an employee's medical condition as it relates to the employee's ability to perform the essential functions of his or her job and, if it so elects to do so, will bear the entire cost of the second opinion. G. Non - Transferable/Personal Use Only: Any donated paid leave used by a participating recipient employee shall be only for the personal catastrophic illness or injury of the employee and may not be transferred to another employee or used for any other purpose without prior express, written approval from the Village Administrator. H. Authority -Wide Program: The Village shall establish a single paid leave designated donation program for the benefit of all eligible employees, regardless of the location at which a participating employee renders services to the Village. No individual employee(s) or department(s) may institute a separate donated paid leave program or policy of its own, either in addition to or in place of this policy without the prior express, written approval of the Village Administrator. I. Relationship to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act: Injuries and illnesses that are compensable under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, 820 ILCS 305/1 et seq., or Illinois Workers' Occupational Disease Act, 820 ILCS 310/1 et seq., shall not be eligible for sick leave bank use. J. Irrevocable Donation: Once the required donation form has been completed by the donor and submitted to the Village Administrator, it is irrevocable. K. Reciprocity with Other Government Employers: Participating employees who were employed by another government agency, instrumentality, or political subdivision, whether federal, state or local, that also maintained a paid leave 4 designated donation program for its employees may not be permitted to transfer any benefits received pursuant to participation in that program to the Village's program. IV. PAYBENEFITS Any paid leave granted pursuant to this policy will be paid at the following rate(s): Group health insurance benefits will be continued at the same level and coverage during an employee's paid leave. In order for an employee to continue coverage of his or her voluntary life and/or health benefits during the period of approved leave, he or she is responsible for payment of any contribution amount. Arrangements for payment of such contribution(s) may be made on an individual basis with the Village Administrator. Other employee benefits such as vacation time, sick leave, personal days and/or pension benefits will not continue to accrue during the leave period. V. INVOLUNTARY TERMINATION OF PARTICIPATION Any abuse by an employee of the paid leave designated donation program shall be investigated by the Village and, upon a finding of wrongdoing on the part of a participating employee, shall result in that employee being required to reimburse the Village for any and all paid leave received pursuant to this policy, and may subject the employee to other disciplinary action up to and including termination. THIS POLICY IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE AT ANYTIME AT THE SOLE DISCRETION OF THE VILLAGE. 5