3/5 Salary Movement Rules



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Employee Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

|SUBJECT |PAGE |

| | |

|PAY |1 |

| | |

|SALARY INCREASES |1 |

| | |

|PROBATION |1 |

| | |

|HOLIDAYS |2 |

| | |

|LEAVE |2 - 4 |

| | |

|ADVERSE WEATHER POLICY |4 - 5 |

| | |

|PERFORMANCE EVALUATION |5 |

| | |

|PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES |5 |

| | |

|GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES |6 |

| | |

|UNLAWFUL HARASSMENT |6 |

| | |

|DRUG FREE WORKPLACE |6 |

| | |

|OUTSIDE EMPLOYMENT |6 |

| | |

|INSURANCE |6 |

| | |

|OTHER CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT |7 |

The information contained in this guide is not all-inclusive, and merely summarizes certain important items contained in the Harnett County Personnel Ordinance. For detailed information please review the Harnett County Personnel Ordinance and/or consult the Harnett County Human Resources Department for additional information and guidance.

1. Pay.

• Pay Periods. County employees will be paid on the last working day of each month.

• Direct Deposit. Employees may have their pay sent directly to and deposited in their bank account by completing Direct Deposit forms. The forms may be obtained at and should be submitted to the Human Resources Department. Employees who do not use direct deposit will be paid by check each month.

• Over Time/Compensatory Time. All Over Time/Compensatory Time must be requested and or approved by the Department Head prior to being worked. Compensatory must be exhausted before vacation time can be used. All compensatory time over 80 hours will be paid out.

2. Salary Increases.

• 3/5 Incentive Pay. All employees who work for the county for a period of 3 and 5 consecutive years will have their pay adjusted as follows:

After 3 consecutive years of employment, salary will be moved ½ the distance from the current salary to the mid-point of the current pay grade.

After 5 consecutive years of employment, salary will be moved to the mid-point of the current pay grade.

If an employee is hired at or above the midpoint, not adjustment is made.

• Longevity Pay. Longevity pay will be granted to all regular employees with 5 years consecutive service by November 30. The amount of longevity pay shall be based on the employee’s annual salary as of November 30, and paid annually in a lump sum the first week in December of the same year. This payment is not made a part of the employee’s base salary. Employees are eligible for longevity pay as follows:

Consecutive years of service Percentage of Annual Salary

5 through 9 years 1.00 %

10 through 14 years 1.50 %

15 through 19 years 2.25 %

20 through 24 years 3.25 %

25 years Plus 4.50 %

• Cost of Living. The County Commissioners usually adjust employee salaries, across the board, on July 1 of each year. The amount of this adjustment, if any, varies from year to year and is governed by availability of funds.

• Promotions. An employee who is promoted shall receive a 5% pay increase or an increase to the minimum of the new pay grade, whichever is greater. All employees are encouraged to apply for and compete for promotion to any vacant position they believe that they are qualified. There are no time restrictions on how long after initial employment or promotion an employee must wait before they may apply for other positions in the county.

3. Probation. Employees appointed or promoted to a regular position shall serve a probationary period of 6 months, except that law enforcement officers and Register of Deeds employees shall serve a 12 month initial appointment probationary period. A Regular employee may have their probationary period extended for 6 months. Employees subject to the State Personnel Act may have their probationary period extended up to 3 months.

4. Holidays. The following days are holidays with pay:

New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving day and the following day, *Christmas Day and 2 or 3 workdays (depending on which day of the week Christmas Day falls on). When a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Monday shall be observed as a holiday.

*When Christmas Day falls on The County Observes

Sunday Friday & Monday

Monday Monday & Tuesday

Tuesday Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday

Wednesday Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday

Thursday Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday

Friday Thursday and Friday

Saturday Friday and Monday

5. Leave.

• Vacation. Regular employees working the basic workweek or greater shall earn vacation leave at the following monthly rates:

|Years Worked |Regular Employee |Deputies |EMTs |

|Less than 2 |6.67=10 days per year |7.13=85.60 hrs |8.87=106.40 hrs |

|2 but less than 5 |8.00=12 day per year |8.56=102.72 hrs |10.64=127.68 hrs |

|5 but less than 10 |10.00=15 days per year |10.70=128.40 hrs |13.30=159.60 hrs |

|10 but less than 15 |12.00=18 days per year |12.84=154.08 hrs |15.96=191.52 hrs |

|15 but less than 20 |14.00=21 days per year |14.98=179.76 hrs |18.62=223.44 hrs |

|20 plus |16.00=24 days per year |17.12=205.44 hr |21.28=255.36 hrs |

• Vacation during probation. During initial employment, probationary employees will not be permitted to take vacation unless denial of such leave will create an unusual hardship on the employee. Vacation leave may be taken during this period only with the prior approval of the Department Head. Law Enforcement Officers shall be allowed to take accumulated vacation leave after 6 months of service.

• Vacation Leave Maximum Accumulation. On December 31, any employee with more than 240 hours of accumulated vacation leave shall have the excess transferred to sick leave. Only 240 hours may be carried forward to January 1st of the next calendar year. Request for Leave will be submitted by the employee to their immediate supervisor on a Harnett County Leave Request Form as far in advance as practical and possible.

• Sick Leave. Employees may use sick leave for: sickness, injury, medical or dental examinations or treatment, exposure to a contagious disease when presence at the worksite would jeopardize the health of others, or for the death in employee’s immediate family (not to exceed 3 days). Immediate family includes wife, husband, mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, son, grandmother, grandfather, grandson, granddaughter, aunt, and uncle. Included are the step, half, in-law, loco parentis relationship, and those living within the same household. Sick leave may also be used when the employee’s presence is required because of the illness or medical appointment of a spouse, child, parent, or parent-in-law. Requests for sick leave must be submitted to the immediate supervisor on a Harnett County Leave Request Form as far in advance as practical/possible, but not later than 2 hours after the start of the next scheduled workday. If an employee is incapacitated by illness and not able to report for work, they are responsible for personally contacting their immediate supervisor to request sick leave. This request must be made as soon as possible but not later than 2 hours after the start of the workday.

• Petty Leave. An employee of the County shall be allowed seventy (70) minutes per month or fourteen (14) hours per year petty leave with pay over and above sick leave or vacation leave with pay. An employee may take petty leave in increments of fifteen (15) minutes up to a maximum of three (3) hours, with the permission of the supervisor. Petty Leave may not be used in conjunction with any other leave. Petty Leave is not a right which an employee may demand but a privilege granted by the Board of Commissioners. Petty leave will be in addition to any other leave which the County employees may earn and accumulate, but it will not accumulate beyond the end of a calendar year. Employees are encouraged to not accumulate petty leave because there is no guarantee that it will be granted before the end of the calendar year.

• Volunteer Leave. Regular employees are authorized 1 ½ hours of administrative leave each week to perform volunteer work at a Harnett County school or any organization (Ex: Food Pantry or Meals-on-Wheels) of their choice. This leave may be used in conjunction with other leave and lunch periods but may not be accumulated and/or carried forward to the next week. This leave must be approved in advance.

• Leave Without Pay. Leave without Pay (LWOP) is a form of leave that must be approved in advance, and is subject to workload requirements of the employing organization. Employees have no entitlement to LWOP. LWOP may be granted for a period of up to 1 year by the appointing authority. Requests for LWOP must be submitted in writing and in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Harnett County Personnel Ordinance. Regular Leave Without Pay does not count toward consecutive years of service.

• Military Leave. Regular employees who are members of the National Guard or Armed Forces Reserve will be allowed 96 hours Military Leave for Annual Training each calendar year with partial compensation in accordance with procedures outlined in the Harnett County Personnel Ordinance. While in Military Leave Status, the employee will continue to accrue benefits as though he/she was present for duty with the County.

• Civil Leave. When a regular employee is called for jury duty or as a court witness for the federal or state government or subdivision thereof, they shall receive leave with pay. The employee may keep fees and travel allowances awarded by the court for Court appearances, except that the employee may not keep such fees if their appearance was in connection with their official duties. While on Civil Leave, benefits will accrue as though the employee was present for duty with the County.

• Family Medical Leave Act. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 provides an employee with a right to Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for up to 12 weeks under specific circumstances. LWOP under the FMLA may be based on (1) an employee’s medical condition, (2) the birth or adoption of a child, or (3) an employee’s need to care for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition. A request for LWOP under the provision of the FMLA must be submitted in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Harnett County Personnel Ordinance.

• Voluntary Shared Leave. This program provides a means for employees to share vacation leave or compensatory time with employees who have exhausted all their sick and vacation leave because of a serious and prolonged medical condition. This program provides an opportunity for employees to help each other by establishing a “pool” or “bank” of donated time. Employees may contribute to this pool or apply to be a recipient in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Harnett County Personnel Ordinance.

• Adverse Weather. Administrative leave because of adverse weather may be granted when the County Manager exercises his discretion to administratively excuse (no charge to leave) nonessential employees early because of severe weather developing during normal operating hours, or when there is a delayed opening because of severe weather developing during non-duty hours. All employees are to presume, unless otherwise notified, that their activity will be open regardless of any weather or other emergency conditions, which may develop; and they are expected to report for work.

Essential county services must be maintained regardless of weather conditions. Department Heads are responsible for determining which of their employees are essential to the accomplishment of their department’s mission. Essential employees, as directed by their department head, are required to report to, or remain at work during adverse weather conditions. Those essential employees who cannot report to work because of driving conditions will make every effort to contact their supervisor or another management official so that county transportation can be dispatched to pick them up. When county transportation is provided or offered and refused by the employee, administrative leave will not be granted and the employee will be charged absence without approved leave.

Employees who have been designated as essential must be notified in writing of the designation and are required to acknowledge this notification in writing. Department Heads will notify employees if they will be serving in a position that has been designated essential.

There are no provisions to allow essential employees to take a day off at such future time to compensate for working during an emergency. Essential employees, who work during an emergency or natural disaster situation when the Emergency Operations Center is activated and subject to the approval of the Board of Commissioners, and while nonessential employees are on administrative leave because normal county operations have been closed, will be compensated as follows:

1. Nonexempt employees will be paid 1 and ½ times their regular hourly rate of pay for each hour they work under these circumstances. This compensation will be in addition to any other compensation they are entitled to during that administrative workweek.

2. Exempt employees (including department heads) will be paid 1 times their regular hourly rate of pay for each hour they work under these circumstances. This pay will be in addition to any other compensation they are entitled to during that administrative workweek.

Employees will not be charged any other type leave for a time period when Administrative Leave has been granted if employee was available for work. The County Manager will make a determination in questionable situations.

Administrative Leave will be granted to employees in the amount of hours the employee is scheduled to work.

Temporary part time intermittent employees who are not scheduled to work are not entitled to administrative leave.

Liberal use of annual leave during adverse weather periods for nonessential employees is Harnett County’s standing policy.

The County Manager’s decision to release employees early will be disseminated to department heads by the Administration staff assisted by the Human Resources Department.

Entitlement to administrative leave depends on the nonessential employee’s status at the time of the announcement.

1. If the employee was on duty and departed on leave after official word was received but before the time set for dismissal, leave is charged only from the time the employee departed until the time set for dismissal.

2. If the employee was scheduled for duty after an initial period of leave and dismissal is given before the employee can report, leave is charged until the time set for dismissal.

3. If severe weather develops during non-duty hours but there is no curtailment of county activities, employees are expected to be at work at the beginning of the workday. Employee tardiness caused by treacherous driving conditions may be excused on a case-by-case basis. The County Manager may delay opening of county activities for a certain period of the workday. In that event, nonessential employees will be administratively excused for the duration of the delayed opening. In the event the County Manager closes all nonessential county activities for an entire day, the day will be considered a non-work day for leave purposes and employees will be excused without charge to leave. This does not apply to employees in a non-pay status on the days before and after the day of the closing.

The Emergency Management Department will furnish radio and TV stations with Harnett County adverse weather announcements relating to delayed opening or closing of county activities. Additionally, any closings will be posted on the County internet homepage.

7. Performance Evaluation.

7.

• Written performance evaluations should be completed on all regular employees at the end of the 2nd and 5th month of the probationary period. If the employee is performing assigned duties in a satisfactory manner the supervisor should recommend that the employee be retained.

• If performance is less than satisfactory, the supervisor may request extension of the probationary period (as described in paragraph 3) or termination of employment.

• Annual appraisals will be completed on all regular employees on the anniversary of their hire date or the date of their last promotion. An overall rating of less than 2 (Meets Expectations) will require the supervisor to take action to motivate and help the employee improve performance to a satisfactory level, or possibly, initiate an adverse personnel action.

8. Promotional Opportunities. All vacant regular (permanent) positions are publicized in at least one Harnett County newspaper. In addition, notice of vacancies will be posted on the Harnett County website. These advertisements provide information about the position such as: duties, salary, qualifications requirement, application to use (County or State), and where to submit the application (Human Resources Department or NC ESC). All Harnett County employees are encouraged to apply for any vacant position that they believe they are qualified.

9. Grievance Procedure. Every county employee has the right to present a grievance over any matter of concern or dissatisfaction arising from personnel policies, practices or working conditions. Employee grievances are to be presented, with or without representation, in accordance with Article IX of the Harnett County Personnel Ordinance. A grievance must be presented within 30 calendar days of the incident giving rise to the grievance, or it will be rejected and denied as untimely filed.

10. Unlawful Harassment. Harnett County promotes a work environment free of unlawful harassment. Unlawful Workplace Harassment is unwelcome or unsolicited speech or conduct based upon race, color, religion, national origin, age or disability status that creates a hostile work environment or circumstances. Harassment may include offensive photos, jokes, remarks, threats, etc.

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, (2) submission or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or the effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.

Any employee who believes he or she may have a complaint of unlawful harassment may file the complaint directly with the Human Resources Director. The Human Resources Director will conduct an investigation into any allegation of unlawful harassment and advise the employee and appropriate management officials of the outcome of the investigation.

11. Drug Free Workplace. Harnett County’s Drug Free Workplace policy is that no employee shall possess, use or distribute illicit drugs or alcohol on the premises of the property or facilities of the County or while representing Harnett County at any professional or social function. Disciplinary actions up to and including dismissal and referral for prosecution will be imposed if the standards of the policy are violated. The County has a strong commitment to provide a safe and secure workplace with high standards of employee health and well being. To this end, every effort will be made to keep drugs and alcohol out of our workplace.

12. Outside Employment. Outside employment is all employment for salaries, wages, tips, commissions, or self-employment other than the regular position held with Harnett County. Any regular employee desiring outside employment must submit a written request for authorization to their department head. The request will normally be granted, unless it appears that outside employment will conflict with or be incompatible with the duties of their county job.

13. Insurance.

• Health & Dental. The county provides both individual hospitalization and dental insurance to all regular employees. Employees shall be enrolled in the programs in accordance with the provisions of the insurance contract and on the first day of the month following a waiting period of 30-days. Deductions will be allowable, at the option of the employee, to provide hospitalization and dental insurance for dependents in accordance with the provisions of the insurance contract.

• Life. The county also provides life insurance to all regular employees. This insurance provides a benefit which is equal to 1 times the annual salary, rounded to the next higher $1,000. Also available through the North Carolina Local Government Employee Retirement System, at no cost to the employee, is an additional death benefit equal to 1 year’s salary not to exceed $20,000.

14. Other Conditions of Employment.

( Work Week. The established work week for Harnett County is a 7-day period beginning on Sunday and ending on Saturday. Fulltime employees will normally work five 8 - hour days per week. The normal hours of business for county offices is 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, with up to 1 hour permitted for lunch.

• Gifts & Favors. No official or employee shall accept any gift, favor or thing of value that may tend or could be perceived to influence that employee in the discharge of their duties. No official or employee shall grant, in the discharge of their duties, any improper favor, service, or thing of value.

• Political Activity.

Employees may:

(1) Join or affiliate with civic organizations of a partisan or political nature,

(2) Attend political meetings, may advocate and support the principles or policies of civic or political organizations, and

(3) Support partisan or non-partisan candidates of their choice.

Employees may NOT:

(1) Engage in any political or partisan activity while on duty;

(2) Use official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with the outcome of an election or nomination for political office

(3) Contribute county funds for political or partisan purposes;

(4) Coerce or compel another employee of the County to contribute funds for political or partisan purposes, or

(5) Use any supplies or equipment of the County for political or partisan purposes.

Competitive service employees and employees in certain federally-aided programs are subject to the Hatch Act as amended in 1975. This federal act, in addition to prohibiting (2), (3), and (4) above, also prohibits candidacy for elective office in a partisan election.

Any violation of this section shall subject such employees to dismissal or other disciplinary action.

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