5.4a ERMU 12-12-202342. PAID SICK AND SAFE LEAVE
Paid Sick and Safe Leave ("Paid Sick Leave") is paid time off that applies to all employees (including
temporary and part-time employees) performing work for at least 80 hours in a calendar year for the
Utilities. The hourly rate of Paid Sick Leave is the same hourly rate an employee earns from employment
with the Utilities.
(a) Regular Full-time Employees
Regular full-time employees accrue Paid Sick Leave at the rate of 3.70 hours per pay period
(approximately 8 hours per month or 12 days per year). Regular full-time employees of the Utilities can
carry over accrued and unused Paid Sick Leave into the next year, not to exceed 960 hours.
Unused Paid Sick Leave will not be paid out in wages to regular full-time employees upon termination of
employment, but in some circumstances is subject to limited conversion under the Health Care Savings
Plan policy found elsewhere in this Handbook.
If a regular full-time employee is on leave and using Paid Sick Leave less than the regular 8-hour day, and
so not receiving full pay, the accrual is calculated on a pro rata basis in the smallest increment of time
tracked by the Utilities' payroll system (15 minutes).
(b) Regular Part-time Employees
Regular part-time employees working at the Utilities accrue sick leave pro rata based on the full-time
accrual rate and not less than 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Regular part-time employees of the
Utilities can carry over accrued and unused Paid Sick Leave into the next year, not to exceed 960 hours.
Unused Paid Sick Leave will not be paid out in wages to regular part-time employees upon termination of
employment, but in some circumstances is subject to limited conversion under the Health Care Savings
Plan policy found elsewhere in this Handbook.
(c) Temporary Employees
Temporary employees working at the Utilities will earn one hour of Paid Sick Leave for every 30 hours
worked by the employee, up to a maximum of 48 hours of Paid Sick Leave per calendar year. Upon the
end of employment, accrued but not used Paid Sick Leave will be paid out to employees.
(d) Earned Paid Sick Leave Use
Paid Sick Leave may be used as it is accrued in the smallest increment of time tracked by the Utilities'
payroll system for the following circumstances:
An employee's own:
o Mental or physical illness, injury or other health condition
o Need for medical diagnosis, care or treatment, of a mental or physical illness
o injury or health condition
o Need for preventative care
o Closure of the employee's place of business due to weather or other public emergency
o The employee's inability to work or telework because the employee is prohibited from
working by the city due to health concerns related to the potential transmission of a
communicable illness related to a public emergency, or seeking or awaiting the results of
a diagnostic test for, or a medical diagnosis of, a communicable disease related to a
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public emergency and the employee has been exposed to a communicable disease or the
city has requested a test or diagnosis.
o Absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking of the employee provided the
absence is to:
■ Seek medical attention related to physical or psychological injury or disability
caused by domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking
■ Obtain services from a victim services organization
■ Obtain psychological or other counseling
■ Seek relocation or take steps to secure an existing home due to domestic abuse,
sexual assault or stalking
■ Seek legal advice or take legal action, including preparing for or participating in
any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to or resulting from domestic abuse,
sexual assault, or stalking
o Care of a family member:
■ With mental or physical illness, injury or other health condition Who needs
medical diagnosis, care or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or
other health condition Who needs preventative medical or health care Whose
school or place of care has been closed due to weather or other public emergency
■ When it has been determined by health authority or a health care professional
that the presence of the family member of the employee in the community would
jeopardize the health of others because of the exposure of the family member of
the employee to a communicable disease, whether or not the family member has
actually contracted the communicable disease
o Absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking of the employee's family
member provided the absence is to:
■ Seek medical attention related to physical or psychological injury or disability
caused by domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking
■ Obtain services from a victim services organization
■ Obtain psychological or other counseling
■ Seek relocation or take steps to secure an existing home due to domestic abuse,
sexual assault or stalking
■ Seek legal advice or take legal action, including preparing for or participating in
any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to or resulting from domestic abuse,
sexual assault, or stalking
(e) For Paid Sick Leave purposes, family member includes an employee's:
• Spouse or registered domestic partner
• Child, foster child, adult child, legal ward, child for whom the employee is legal guardian, or
child to whom the employee stands or stood in local parentis
• Sibling, step sibling or foster sibling
• Biological, adoptive or foster parent, stepparent or a person who stood in loco parentis when the
employee was a minor child
• Grandchild, foster grandchild or step grandchild
• Grandparent or step grandparent
• A child of a sibling of the employee
• A sibling of the parent of the employee or
• A child -in-law or sibling -in-law
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Any of the above family members of a spouse or registered domestic partner
Any other individual related by blood or whose close association with the employee is the
equivalent of a family relationship
Up to one individual annually designated by the employee
(f) Advance Notice for use of Paid Sick Leave
If the need for Paid Sick Leave is foreseeable, the Utilities requires seven days' advance notice. However,
if the need is unforeseeable, employees must provide notice of the need for Paid Sick Leave as soon as
practicable. When an employee uses Paid Sick Leave for more than three consecutive days, the Utilities
may require appropriate supporting documentation (such as medical documentation supporting medical
leave, court records or related documentation to support the leave). However, if the employee or
employee's family member did not receive services from a health care professional, or if documentation
cannot be obtained from a health care professional in a reasonable time or without added expense, then
reasonable documentation may include a written statement from the employee indicating that the
employee is using, or used, Paid Sick Leave for a qualifying purpose. The Utilities will not require an
employee to disclose details related to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking or the details of the
employee's or the employee's family member's medical condition. In accordance with state law, the
Utilities will not require an employee using Paid Sick Leave to find a replacement worker to cover the
hours the employee will be absent.
(h) Retaliation prohibited
The Utilities shall not discharge, discipline, penalize, interfere with, or otherwise retaliate or discriminate
against an employee for asserting Paid Sick Leave rights, requesting a Paid Sick Leave absence, or
pursuing remedies. Further, use of Paid Sick Leave will not be factored into any attendance point system
the Utilities may use. Additionally, it is unlawful to report or threaten to report a person or a family
member's immigration status for exercising a right under Paid Sick Leave.
(i) Benefits and return to work protections
During an employee's use of Paid Sick Leave, an employee will continue to receive the Utilities'
employer insurance contribution as if they were working, and the employee will be responsible for any
share of their insurance premiums.
An employee returning from time off using accrued Paid Sick Leave is entitled to return to their Utilities
employment at the same rate of pay received when their leave began, plus any automatic pay adjustments
that may have occurred during the employee's time off. Seniority during Paid Sick Leave absences will
continue to accrue as if the employee has been continually employed.
When there is a separation from employment with the Utilities and the employee is rehired again within
180 days of separation, previously accrued Paid Sick Leave that had not been used, will be reinstated. An
employee is entitled to use and accrue Paid Sick Leave at the commencement of reemployment.
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