Agenda Packets - 2011/07/25 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Section 4 Report July 25, 2011 Page 2 Two provisions from Section 4.35A, as noted below, have been removed to correct for inconsistency and to eliminate references to specific policies of external organizations. Employees who wish to continue their health insurance coverage through the City may be able to use their last paycheck to pay for future premiums on a pre-tax basis. See Section 4.10 to determine eligibility and for additional information on Insurance Continuation. Requests for PERA refund may not be submitted until the day of termination. ICMA withdrawal decisions must be made within 60 days of leaving employment. In addition, two clauses were modified in Section 4.35 D to eliminate inconsistency. The first was to reference sick leave balances in Section 3.45 and the other deleted the following language as it is no longer applicable: Additional banked sick leave hours will not be computed in severance pay, except as noted in Section 3.45. Employees who have completed ten years of service and retire may elect, in lieu of severance pay, to have the employer use sixty-five percent (65%) of the employee’s accrued and unused sick leave for the retiree’s group health, dental and life insurance premiums for as long as the funds are available up to the retiree’s 65th birthday. Summary of NEW Changes At the June 27th meeting, the Council indicated that the wording in Policy 4.05 B (Lay Off) needed to be clarified, specifically where it referenced “an employee from the armed forces”. The attorney suggests eliminating that paragraph altogether, as the issue is adequately addressed in the subsequent paragraph. Thus, the following was removed: No regular employee shall be laid off while another provisional appointment or an appointment to temporary position exists in the same class in the same department. No suspension, demotion or dismissal of an employee from the armed services as disciplinary action shall be considered as a layoff, nor shall separation as a result of reduction of federal or state funded programs be considered a layoff. The Council also noted that a word was missing from the last line of the second paragraph in Section 4.10 A. The attorney recommends instead the following sentence, which originates from the League’s model policy: Retirees 65 and older will be offered an option to continue on some city-sponsored benefit plan, but they do not have to be offered the same benefit plan as active employees and early retirees. Finally, the Council asked whether the third paragraph of Section 4.10 A was pursuant to state law--that the City would have to pay for a family's health insurance if an officer were to be killed or disabled while on duty, until the individual reaches age 65 (or would have