§ 21-22. Employee catastrophic sick leave pool.

The city does hereby establish a catastrophic sick leave pool. This employee benefit is funded by voluntary employee contributions of accumulated annual and sick leave. Only employees who contribute are eligible to participate in this program. Commitments to contribute shall be made by those employees wishing to participate in any fiscal year by June 1 prior to the commencement of the fiscal year in which they will participate. An employee must contribute two days per year of sick or vacation leave into this pool. However, during the first year of existence of the pool, an employee at his sole discretion, may contribute up to seven days of sick or annual leave or a combination thereof. Employees who, due to catastrophic illness, have exhausted their vacation and sick leave would be eligible to draw from this pool. The withdrawal shall be limited to a lifetime maximum of 180 working days, and not more than 60 working days during any 12-month period. Employees shall accrue normal benefits during this period. The guidelines for contributions and eligibility for withdrawals shall be as follows:

(1)

Only eligible employees may participate in the catastrophic sick leave pool. To be eligible to contribute to or draw from the pool, an employee must have a balance of at least 16 hours of sick leave, vacation leave, or a combination of both as of the first payroll period ending in June, and be a full-time employee of the city for at least six months. Employee contributions are irretrievable.

(2)

To be eligible to draw from the catastrophic sick leave pool, an employee must have used ten consecutive days of sick leave, vacation leave, or leave without pay, and have exhausted all available leave due to a catastrophic illness or disease. The employee is ineligible for compensation if receiving benefits such as workers' compensation or under any other form of leave benefits. The request for withdrawal of days must be accompanied by a physician's certification identifying the nature of the illness or reason why the employee is unable to work and an opinion of how long the employee will remain unable to work.

(3)

Employees' eligibility for this benefit shall be limited to the following reasons:

a.

Nonelective surgery and recovery therefrom;

b.

Catastrophic illness or disease such as cancer, heart disease or stroke;

c.

Injuries induced by trauma which require convalescence or treatments for a period greater than two calendar weeks;

d.

Complications resulting from pregnancy.

(4)

The mayor or his designee through the office of risk management shall administer this benefit in a fair and equitable manner and shall decide all applications for withdrawal from the pool. He shall adopt administrative rules of procedures and appropriate application forms. The decision to grant or deny a request shall be final and binding, not subject to appeal. Records of all applications, donations, withdrawals, decisions, medical certificates and medical reports shall be maintained in accordance with the public records requirements.

(5)

Transfer of annual leave or sick leave from one employee to another is prohibited.

(Code 1966, § 2-21; Ord. No. 3083, 8-13-2002)