§ 2-175. Catastrophic leave program for personnel.

(a)

The County personnel department and Pulaski County comptroller shall have administrative responsibility for developing, implementing and maintaining a catastrophic leave bank program for all departments of Pulaski County Government.

(b)

Accrued annual leave of Pulaski County employees may be donated to a catastrophic leave bank.

(c)

Catastrophic leave with pay may be granted to an employee when such employee is incapacitated for the performance of the employee's duties due to a catastrophic illness.

(d)

An employee may be eligible for catastrophic leave when:

(1)

The employee has been employed by Pulaski County for more than one year;

(2)

The employee has exhausted all earned sick and annual leave, comp time and holiday time;

(3)

The illness or injury is not covered by Pulaski County's worker compensation or such compensation benefit has been exhausted;

(4)

An acceptable medical certificate from a physician supporting the continued absence is on file; and

(5)

The employee has not been disciplined for any leave abuse during the past two (2) years.

(e)

The director of the personnel department and the Pulaski County comptroller, or their designees, shall promulgate necessary rules and regulations as deemed necessary to carry out the provisions of the ordinance codified in this chapter.

(f)

Absence from any County department due to illness shall be charged in the following order:

(1)

Earned sick leave;

(2)

Earned annual leave;

(3)

Catastrophic leave, when authorized;

(4)

Leave without pay, when authorized.

(g)

The definitions for this chapter are as follows:

(1)

"Annual leave" means vacation time without pay, but shall not include compensatory time;

(2)

"Catastrophic illness or medical emergency" means a medical condition of an employee as certified by a physician that requires an employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and which results in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of the exhaustion of all earned sick and annual leave;

(3)

"Catastrophic leave" means leave granted to an employee as a result of catastrophic illness, upon the employee exhausting all sick and annual leave, and accrued compensatory time;

(4)

"Catastrophic leave bank" means a pool of accrued annual leave donated by employees;

(5)

"Compensatory time" means time off in lieu of payment for overtime hours;

(6)

"Employee" means a person regularly appointed or employed in a position of County service by any department within Pulaski County Government, for which he/she is compensated on a full-time basis;

(7)

"Probationary employee" means a person serving a probationary period within any department of Pulaski County Government;

(8)

"Temporary employee" means a person who has been employed for a period not to exceed six (6) months;

(9)

"Working day" means all regularly prescribed days of employment in which the employee performs those duties for which he/she was hired. For the purposes of this chapter a working day shall consist of eight (8) hours;

(10)

"Years of service" means the total number of years of employment by any department of Pulaski County Government, whether such employment is continuous or not.

(11)

"Prolonged period of time" means a continuous period of time whereby a medical condition prevents an employee from performing the employee's duties. A prolonged period of time is interpreted to be a minimum of thirty (30) days.

(Ord. No. 91-OR-95, 9-24-97)