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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD899ORDINANCE NO.899 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA,AMENDING THE PERSONNEL POLICIES,CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,RULE I ,DEFINITION OF TERMS,AND RULE XV,OVERTIME; REPEALING ANY CONFLICTING PROVISIONS;PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA,AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I .IN GENERAL That Rule I ,Section 9,Section 14-F and 14-G,Section 19-B,and Section 36-B, and Rule XV,Overtime,of the Personnel Policies,City of Apache Junction, Arizona be revised as follows: RULE I .DEFINITIONS OF TERMS: SECTION 9."Compensatory Time":Time off to non-exempt employees in lieu of overtime pay which is given in accordance with Rule XV of these policies. SECTION 14."Employee": F.Non -Exempt General Employee:An employee hired at an hourly rate. Includes all non -salaried employees with the exception of sworn police officers. G.Non -Exempt Law Enforcement Employees:Any sworn police officer paid at an hourly rate. SECTION 19."Overtime Work" B.Non -Exempt Sworn Law Enforcement Employees:Hours worked in excess of 171 hours in an established 28 -day work period. SECTION 36."Work Period" B.Non -Exempt General Employee:A regularly recurring period of seven consecutive days.Once the beginning of the work period has been established i t remains fixed unless a change is made that is intended to be permanent. Non -Exempt Sworn Law Enforcement Employee:A regularly recurring period of 28 consecutive days.Once the beginning of the work period has been established i t remains fixed unless and until a change is made that is intended to be permanent. ORDINANCE NO.899 PAGE 1 OF 7 RULE XV.OVERTIME/COMPENSATORY TIME Section 1.Policy I t is the City's policy to avoid the necessity for overtime work.I t shall be the responsibility, and an important measure of job performance, for supervisors, division and departmental directors to adequately plan and schedule work and staffing so that the need for overtime is minimized.In the event of hours worked beyond the normal work day,all efforts shall be made to allow the employee to take off an equivalent number of hours wihtin the designated work period.No employee,except in a situation involving public health or safety, shall be permitted or allowed to work overtime unless authorized by the supervisor.Any verbal authorization given by the supervisor is to be followed up with written authorization on the appropriate form.This policy shall also apply in those instances where the employee is provided with compensatory time in lieu of overtime payment. Section 2.Exempt and Non -Covered Employees Not all employees of the City of Apache Junction are affected by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).Certain employees simply are not covered by the Act (i.e., non -covered employees).Other employees,while covered by the FLSA,are exempt by specific provisions of the Act (i.e.,exempt employees). Non -covered employees include elected officials,City Manager,City Magistrate, City Attorney,bona fide volunteers,independent contractors,and community service workers. Exempt employees generally fall into three major categories:executive, administrative,and professional.Also certain seasonal recreational employees can be considered exempt from specific provisions.All employees assigned an exempt status shall be excluded from payment of overtime hours.However,exempt employees shall not be docked for hours worked that are less than eight (8)on a given day.Rule IX,of the Personnel Policies outlines the criteria for establishing whether or not a position qualifies as exempt. Section 3.Work Period Non -Exempt Civilian Employees All civilian employees assigned a non-exempt status shall be paid an amount equal to one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for time worked in excess of forty (40)hours per work period.A work period is defined as seven consecutive days;for most employees this work period is Sunday through Saturday. Non -Exempt Sworn Law Enforcement Employees All sworn police officers assigned a non-exempt status shall be paid an amount equal to one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for all hours worked in excess of the established number of hours for their established work period. The Apache Junction Police Department has established a 28 -day,171 -hour work period for sworn officers. ORDINANCE NO.899 PAGE 2 OF 7 Section 4.Overtime Accrual In situations where an employee begins work prior to the scheduled hour to begin work or beyond the scheduled hour to end the work day,credit shall not be given for increments of time of seven minutes or less;increments of time in greater than seven minutes shall be paid to the nearest quarter hour. Section 5.Hours Worked Employment,under the FLSA,is defined to include all hours that an employee is "suffered or permitted to work"for the employer.Hours worked also includes time during which an employee is "necessarily required to be on the employer's premises,on duty or at a prescribed work place."The following are examples of compensable hours worked as provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act: Call -Out Time:Any employee may be contacted and asked to respond to a situation during hours that are not scheduled for work.Call -out occurs when an employee who is not assigned to an on -call status is asked to respond to a work situation.Employees responding to a call -out will receive a minimum of one- hour's compensation. Meal Time:Unless all of the following three conditions are met,meal periods must be counted as hours worked:(1)The meal period must be at least 30 minutes;(2)The employee must be completely relieved of all duties;(3)The employee must be free to leave the duty post.Uniformed police officers who are on their regular shift and subject to call during the meal period shall be considered to be on working hours during meal time. On -call Time:I f an employee is unable to use off -duty time for his/her own purposes,those hours shall be considered hours worked.I f the employee is assigned on -call status and is able to use the off -duty time for his/her own purposes,the hours will not be considered hours worked.I f an employee is required to perform any work -related duties during on -call time,the time will be hours worked.An employee who is merely required to leave word where he/she can be reached during on -call periods or is required to respond to a page will not accrue hours worked for those time periods.Employees who are assigned on- call status will receive compensation at the rate of $1.00 per hour for each hour served in an on -call status.This compensation would not apply when the employee is required to perform work -related duties during on -call time since that time is to be considered hours worked. Voluntary Work:Employees who continue to work after their shift is over are engaged in compensable working time.The reason for the work is immaterial;as long as the supervisor "suffers or permits"employees to work on the City's behalf,proper compensation must be paid.Once an employer allows the employee to work,or knows that the employee is working,then the employee must be compensated.It is the supervisor's responsibility to make certain that unwanted overtime work is not performed.According to the FLSA,the mere existence of a rule is not sufficient to avoid compensation for additional hours worked. Supervisors who permit employees to work overtime without compensation may be subject to discipline.Employees who work unauthorized overtime may also be subject to discipline. ORDINANCE NO.899 PAGE 3 OF 1 Waiting Time:If an employee has been assigned to wait for something to occur, his/her waiting time will be counted as hours worked;i f the employee arrives early,does not perform any work before his/her shift starts,and merely waits to begin working,his/her waiting time will not constitute hours worked. Workers who are required to stand by ready for duty,whether during lunch periods,during machinery breakdowns,or during other temporary work shut -downs, must be paid for this time.Since the employee is controlled by the employer during these periods,and is not able to use the time for his or her own purposes,this is working time. Other Examples of Compensable Hours Worked: -caring for tools that are a part of principal activities,such as guns and vehicles (unless also allowed for personal use)by police officers,tools and equipment for parks and streets workers. -changing clothes,i f required by the nature of work. -charitable work requested or controlled by the employer. -emergency work/travel time. -fire drills and other disaster drills,whether voluntary or involuntary, either during or after regular working hours. -training in regular duties to increase efficiency. -training programs required by the employer. -rest periods of 20 minutes or less. -medical attention during work hours at the employer's direction. -on -call time where employee must remain at the employer's premises or which is so restricted that the employee is unable to use the time for his/her own purposes. -travel time from employer's premises to the work site. -travel time between work sites during the normal work day. Examples of time not considered "hours worked"for the purposes of overtime compensation: jury duty. military leave. -on -call time where not restricted. -sick leave. ORDINANCE NO.899 PAGE 4 OF 7 the employee merely leaves a telephone number and is -time spend before,after,or between regular working hours. -voting time i f outside the regular -scheduled hours of work. Section 6.Travel Time Home -to -Work Travel:As a general rule,home -to -work travel is not compensable, even i f an employee must travel from a town to an outlying site to get to the employers premises.This is true whether an employee works at a fixed location or at different job sites.Generally,an employee is not at work until he or she reaches the work site.But i f an employee is required to report to a meeting place where he or she is to pick up materials,equipment,or other employees,or to receive instructions,before traveling to the work site,compensable time starts at the time of the meeting. Travel During the Work Day:Traveling from an outlying job at the end of the scheduled workday to the employer's premises is time worked.Where an employee is required to report to a meeting place to receive instructions,perform other work there,or pick up tools,and travel from the designed meeting place to the work site is working time. Out -of -Town Travel:Where employees travel out of town overnight on business they must be paid for time spent in traveling during their normal work hours on their non -working days as well as on their regular working days.Travel time as a passenger outside of regular working hours is not considered hours worked.I f an employee drives a car without being offered public conveyance,the travel time is considered working time. Section 7.Paid Leave Time: When a non-exempt employee is on paid leave time for the purpose of sick or military leave,or jury leave,and he/she is completely relieved of all duties, such time is not hours worked for the purposes of calculating overtime obligations.Holiday and vacation leave hours are considered hours worked for the purposes of overtime calculations. Section 8.Substitution of Work Hours between Employees The Fair Labor Standards Act provides that any individual employed in any capacity by a public agency may agree to substitute, during scheduled work hours, for another employee.Employees may work substitution schedules where the substitution is:1)voluntarily undertaken and agreed to solely by the employees,and 2)approved by the supervisor.The traded time will not be considered by the City in calculating the hours for which the employee is entitled to overtime compensation.In effect,even though a substitution has taken place each employee will be considered to have worked his or her normal schedule.In addition,the supervisor of an employee who performs such substitute work is not required to keep a record of the hours of substituted work.I t is important to be aware that the substitution provisions of the FLSA apply only when the employee's decision to substitute is made freely and without direct or implied coercion.It must be made exclusively for the employee's own convenience. ORDINANCE NO.899 PAGE 5 OF 7 Section 9.Compensatory Time in Lieu of Overtime Payment The FLSA permits the City of Apache Junction to provide compensatory time off in lieu of monetary overtime compensation,at a rate of not less than one and one- half hours of compensatory time for each hour of overtime worked.The calculation used for compensatory time is the same as that generally used for calculating monetary overtime. The use of compensatory time is allowed only i f i t is provided for under an employment agreement or memorandum of understanding.The "agreement" must inform the employee that the compensatory time received may be preserved,used,or paid consistent with the provisions of this policy.The agreement must be arrived at prior to the accrual of overtime. A signed copy of the memorandum of understanding between the Department and the employee shall be provided to the Personnel Office for inclusion in the individual's personnel file.A record of accumulated compensatory hours shall be provided to the finance department at the end of each pay period. General employees may receive time off in lieu of overtime pay for hours worked beyond the 40 hours for civilian employees on a seven-day work period.Sworn law enforcement officers may receive time off in lieu of overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 171 for sworn law enforcement officers on a 28 -day work period.Employees may accrue a maximum of 45 hours of compensatory time (30 actual hours of overtime worked). The compensatory time earned by an employee constitutes a financial liability for the City of Apache Junction.An employee who has accrued compensatory time and requests use of the time,must be permitted to use the time off within a reasonable period after making the request i f i t does not unduly disrupt the operations of the agency.When the use of compensatory time is denied the supervisor shall provide the affected employee,with a copy to the Personnel Officer,the reasons for denial. Compensatory time is not to be used as a means of avoiding statutory overtime compensation. All compensatory time credits must be discharged or paid in cash by the annual performance review date of each employee. Section 10.Payment for Compensatory Time at Termination of Employment In accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act,unused compensatory time must be paid at: 1.the average regular rate received by the employee during the last three years of employment;or 2.the final regular rate received by the employee,whichever is higher. ORDINANCE NO.899 PAGE 6 OF 7 SECTION II.REPEALING ANY CONFLICTING PROVISIONS All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance or any part of the code adopted herein by reference are hereby repealed. SECTION III.PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY If any section,subsection,sentence,phrase, clause or portion of this ordinance or any part of the code adopted herein by reference is,for any reason,held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction,such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions thereof. SECTION IV.EMERGENCY CLAUSE I t being necessary for the preservation of the peace,health,and safety of the City of Apache Junction,Arizona,that this ordinance become effective immediately,an emergency is hereby declared to exist and this ordinance shall be effective immediately upon its passage. APPROVED AND ADOPTED THIS 21ST DAY OF JUNE ,1994,BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA. SIGNED AND ATTESTED TO THIS 22ND DAY OF JUNE ,1994. JEANPERKINS Ma ATTEST: KATHLEEN CONNELLY City Clerk APPR RiENN GrM1311 City Attorney FORM: ORDINANCE NO.899 PAGE 7 OF 7