Tompkins County Administrative Policy Manual

BENEFITS FOR NONUNIONIZED STAFF

Effective: March 4, 1997 03-01 03-01

Updated: April 9, 2002

Objective: To define and describe employee benefits for nonunionized staff other than those benefits described in Administrative Policies 03-03 through 03-20

Reference: Personal/Disability Leave Policy established February 16, 1988; Resolution No. 505 of 1990 as amended by Resolution No. 318 of October 5, 1992; an updated list of nonunionized staff positions available upon request from the Personnel Office.

Policy and Procedure:

I. Personal Leave

a) Each continuing full-time nonunionized employee shall be credited with six (6) days of personal leave on the first day of the first payroll period of each year.

b) Each employee hired after the first pay period of the payroll year shall be credited with one (1) day of personal leave per month for their first six (6) months of employment or until the first payroll period of the next calendar year.

c) Personal leave may be used for any reason. Requests for personal leave should be submitted for approval to the immediate supervisor at least 24 hours in advance whenever circumstances permit. This leave shall not be unduly denied; however, the supervisor shall have the right to limit the number of employees on leave at any one time.

d) For Confidential employees’ personal leave will accumulate to a maximum of (12) days. With this sole exception, personal leave time does not accumulate nor carry over from year to year.

e) Employees on unpaid leave of absence shall not accumulate personal leave time during the unpaid leave.

f) Any personal leave benefits will be prorated for employees working less than full time.

Notwithstanding any of the above, all employees appointed on a permanent or provisional basis to work less than 33 percent of the time on an annualized basis (86 work days per year) shall not receive personal leave time.

II. Disability Leave and Sick Leave

a) Disability leave covers personal illness documented by a doctor's, dentist's or eye doctor's note explaining the illness or incapacity and the expected length of absence. Disability leave is granted with full pay at the employee's regular rate, exclusive of shift premium.

Disability shall be credited to each employee on the adjusted hire date as follows, based on total length of all service:

. Less than five years 75 days

At least five years 115 days

For the first occurrence per calendar year, the first three days of any period of inability to work must be covered by another fringe unless it is caused by scheduled or emergency surgery, or by emergency hospitalization. For any additional occurrence of the same illness in the same calendar year, the first day of inability to work must be covered by another fringe unless it is caused by scheduled or emergency surgery, or by emergency hospitalization.

If an employee is restricted to part-time work by a physician, the employee shall be entitled to part-time disability time off after the equivalent of three part-time days have been covered by another fringe for the first occurrence in a calendar year and one part-time day equivalent for each additional occurrence of the same illness per calendar year.

b) For each additional two (2) week period of absence, the employee must submit, if requested by Personnel Department, a new doctor statement before disability pay will be authorized.

c) Employees may use existing sick leave entitlements earned prior to the implementation of this policy up to a maximum of five (5) days prior to needing a doctor's statement. The employee may also use remaining sick leave entitlements to extend exhausted disability benefits.

d) An employee's total disability days off may not exceed the above totals in any consecutive 52 week period.

e) Disability leave shall not accrue while an employee is on disability leave or on any unpaid leave of absence.

f) The County may provide the above disability leave insurance either through self-insurance or a private insurance carrier.

g) The County shall have the right at its discretion to verify the report of an attending physician concerning the illness or disability of an employee and to require the employee to be examined, at the County's expense, by another physician selected by the County to determine the nature and extent of the illness or disability. As a result of such physician's statements and examinations, the County may approve or deny an employee's disability leave request and establish limits and conditions for any further approval of disability leave connected with the same illness or disability.

h) Disability leave benefits will be prorated for employees working less than full time. Any employee appointed on a permanent or provisional basis to work less than 33 percent of the time on an annualized basis (86 work days per year) shall not receive disability leave pay.

i) See Administrative Policy 03-05 , #11 with respect to conversion of the employee's sick time balance to a credit against health insurance premiums in retirement.

III. Vacation

Full-time employees are eligible to take paid vacation after six months employment with the County. Nevertheless, employees shall start to accumulate vacation credit as of their date of employment:

TOTAL YEARS OF SERVICE WITH COUNTY

Accrued Vacation Maximum

At Least But Less Than (Days/Month) Granted/Year

1 mo. 5 yrs. 5/6 10

5 yrs. 8 yrs. 1 1/4 15

8 yrs. 10 yrs. 1 1/3 16

10 yrs. 12 yrs. 1 5/12 17

12 yrs. 14 yrs. 1 1/2 18

14 yrs. 15 yrs. 1 7/12 19

15 yrs. 1 2/3 20

Employees with accumulated vacation equal to two (2) years of vacation entitlement will stop accumulating vacation time and will start accumulating when the vacation balance goes below the two (2) year maximum accumulation.

All vacation calculations are prorated for part-time employees.

IV. Longevity Payments

During each calendar year, employees who reach their 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 13^th, or 14^th year anniversary of total employment with Tompkins County shall receive $250 each.

Employees who reach their 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, or 19th anniversary shall receive $300.

Employees who reach their 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, or 24th anniversary shall receive $350.

Employees who reach their 25th year or longer anniversary shall receive $400.

These payments shall be made during the payroll period following the anniversary date.

V. Health Insurance

a) Employees may be covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Central New York under the Central New York Regionwide Plan, Option II, or under a prepaid health plan, health maintenance organization, or independent physicians’ association. When new employees are hired, they will be given a copy of the available plans by the Personnel office.

b) All employees who participate in a Health Care Plan provided by Tompkins County automatically pay their share of the premium with before-tax dollars. If the employee prefers to pay on an after-tax dollars basis, the employee must complete a form electing that option and return it to the Personnel Office before the first paycheck.

c) The County will pay 85 percent of the health insurance premium for single and family coverage. The employee is responsible to pay 15 percent. This provision applies to employees hired to work 50% time or more.

d) Employees must sign up for Medicare as soon as eligible.

e) The County shall pay for those employees who elect to participate in a duly provided prepaid health plan, health maintenance organization or independent physician's association, a percentage of premium equal to what it would have paid under #c above.

f) The County's share and the employee's share of health insurance premium for retired employees is determined according to a formula in existence when the health insurance was switched from the State Fund Plan to the Central New York Blue Cross/Blue Shield Option II Plan in 1983. Details of this coverage are available from the Personnel Office.

VI. Terminal Pay

a) An employee who resigns, is laid off, or retires shall be entitled to receive the following:

1) Up to two (2) years' earned and unused vacation time, one (1) year's earned and unused personal time, and any earned and unused holiday time and compensatory/discretionary time (but see Policy 02-09 , #2, and Policy 04-02 , #9), provided that the employee gives ten (10) working days notice to the Commissioner of Personnel in the instance of resignation or retirement and that the employee works at least ten (10) days following such written notice. In the event of layoff, the employee shall be entitled to these benefits, provided that the employee either works until the final day designated by the department head, or provides such ten (10) days notice to the Commissioner of Personnel. Payments for personal leave time, vacation time and compensatory/ discretionary time at the time of termination do not apply to any specific time and cannot be used to extend the termination date.

The employee has the option, instead of receiving cash, to convert the value of these earned and unused hours to a credit against the employee share of County health insurance after leaving County employment. See Policy 03-05 , #12.

2) The only date that will be used to determine if the employee has given the notice required above will be the date the resignation letter is received by the Commissioner of Personnel.

3) Pursuant to Administrative Policy 02-09 , #2, the department head is responsible to ensure that accumulated compensatory/discretionary time off is taken to the greatest extent possible prior to termination.

4) Payments for up to one year's unused personal, and all unused vacation and compensatory/discretionary time shall be paid to an employee's estate in the event of the employee's death.

5) An employee discharged for cause by the County is not eligible for any of the above payments at the time of such discharge.

6) All of the above payments shall be prorated for employees working less than full time, except those employees who are hired to work less than 33 percent of the time on an annualized basis (equals 86 working days per year) shall not be entitled to personal leave time, compensatory/discretionary time, disability, sick leave or vacation.

7) An employee who is resigning from County service who is eligible for and elects to take retirement under the New York State and Local Employee Retirement System has the option of using the money to which the employee is entitled under #1) as a credit to be applied against the employee's share of the health insurance premium in retirement. In addition the retiring employee shall be eligible to use any earned but unused sick hours as a credit against the employee's share of health insurance in retirement for up to six (6) months of premium payments.

Any sick time entitlement in excess of the amount necessary to pay for the employee’s share of health insurance premiums for six months shall be credited to the employee as additional retirement credit up to 165 days maximum, pursuant to Section 41-J of the Retirement Law.

8) Any fringe benefit entitlement or definition not specifically contained in this Policy shall apply to nonunionized employees as it applies to CSEA white collar employees.