HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-1813ORDINANCE NO. 1813
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1800
KNOWN AS THE PERSONNEL RULES , POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES ORDINANCE
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF FAIRHOPE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY
OFF AIRHOPE, FAIRHOPE, ALABAMA, as fo ll ows:
Section 1. The ordinance known as the Personnel Rules, Policies , and Procedures
Ordinance (No. 1800), adopted 10 June 2024, together with the Personnel Handbook of the
City of Fairhope, be and the same hereby is changed and altered in respect to the certain
sec tions below :
Chan ge a nd A dd the following to:
VI. LEA VE POLICIES
SECTION C. SICK LEA VE
8. No Advances: Sick lea ve wi ll not be advanced to any emp loyee.
10 . Paid Sick Leave Donation
Eligibility: Only class ified , full-time employees who have completed one full year of
continuous service are eligib le to donate or receive donations of paid sick leave . The
recipient mu st be eligible for, or currently on, a qualifying Medical or Caregiver Leave, or
Military Caregiver Leave as defined by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and
otherwise comply with the certification requirements of the City's FMLA Leave Policy . The
recipient must have a current or reasonably anticipated, immediate future need for additional
paid sick leave. The City will not allow retroactive donations. The City may permit any
employee-to-employee donation , regardless of the donor or recipient 's pay grade, unless the
donor is a direct report of the recipient. The City may permit supervisor-to -employee
donation , regardless of rank or emp loyee pay grade.
If the medical leave qualifies the employee for Short-Term Disability Income, the employee
is only eligib le for receiving donations of paid sick leave during the 15-day qualifying
period. Once the qualifying period ends and the employee is eligible to receive Short-Term
Disability Income , the emp lo yee is no longer eligible to receive sick leave donation until or
unless the disability benefits are exhausted.
If an emp loyee has been counseled or disciplined for attendance vio lations more than once
within the previous 12 months before the donation request is received , the employee may not
be eligible to donate or receive sick leave donations. If an emp loyee has submitted their
resignation or retirement notice , they wi ll not be e li gib le to donate or receive donations of
paid sick leave during the notice period.
Amount of Donated Sick Leave : Paid sick leave donations are only allowed in hourly
increments. An employee may donate any number of sick leave hours (not to exceed a total
lifetime donation of 480 hours) as long as the donor employee maintains at least 160 hours
of accrued sick leave. A recipient employee may receive a total of 240 hours (e.g., 30 eight-
hour workdays) during a ro lling twelve-month period, and a total lifetime donation
maximum of 480 (e.g., 12 weeks of eight-hour days) hours. Donations may come from
multiple employees but may not exceed 480 total hours. Additionally, an emp lo yee may not
receive more sick leave hours than the amo unt of
time estimated on the medical certification or by the healthcare provider. A recipient
emp loyee may not receive more than the equivalent of 40 hours from one sing le donor.
Conversion of Sick Leave Between Employees: Conversion of donated sick lea ve will be
based upon the equivalent dollar amount of sick leave . Fo.r exam ple, Employee A (earning
$2 0 per hour) is donating the equi valent of 40 hours to Employee B (earning $10 per hour),
the A wou ld donate 20 hours from the accrual bank ( equal to $400) and B would receive 40
hours ($400 donated-;-$10 per hour = 40 hours). Another example is if Employee C (earning
$9 per hour) is donating the equivalent of 40 hours to Employee D (earning $18 per hour),
then C wou ld donate 40 hours ( equal to $360) from their balance, and D would receive 20
hours of sick leave ($360 donated -;-$18 per hour = 20 hours).
Ordinance No. 1813
Page -2-
Approval: The recipient employee must submit a written request for sick leave donations ,
including a description of the medical emergency. Requests to receive and donate sick leave
must be submitted to Human Resources using the Sick Leave Donation Form. The
employee's Department Head must review and approve the employee's request to donate
paid sic k leave. If the recipient employee works in another department, the Department Head
of the recipient employee must also approve the donation because the donated paid sick
leave may mean additional time away from work. All approved requests must be forwarded
to the Human Resources Department. Human Resources will inform the Payroll Coordinator
of the approved sick leave donation so that accrual banks may be updated appropriately.
Additional Rules: Paid sick leave donation must be strictly on a voluntary basis . Under no
circumstances must any employee express, instruct, imply , or order that any employee is
obligated to donate paid sick leave to any other employee, regardless of rank or pay grade.
The Human Resources Department must receive all completed and approved donation
requests forms no later than three (3) business days (Monday -Friday) before time entries
are due for payroll processing . Late donation submissions will not be made retroactively but
may be credited to the next pay period only if the paid sick leave is still needed and all other
conditions of the policy are met. Human Resources will only transfer the number of paid
sick leave hours needed for the pay
period, not to exceed the number of days specified on the medical certification for the
absence. Paid sick leave donation is irreversible as of the date the Human Resources Director
approves the donation request. Donor employees and recipient employees are solely
responsible for the impact a sick leave donation will have on their respective taxes and
benefits.
The remainder of Section C. remains as written and adopted.
Section 2. The sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance
are severable, and if any phrase , clause , sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance
shall be declared unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, then such ruling shall
not affect any other paragraphs and sections, since the same would have been enacted by the
municipality council without the incorporation of any such unconstitutional phrase , clause,
sentence, paragraph or section.
Section 3. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its due adoption and
publication as required by law.
Adopted this 14th Day of October, 2024
Attest:
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City Clerk