Sick Leave Misuse. If the City believes sick leave is being misused, it may require the employee to furnish substantiating evidence or statement from their physician certifying that absence from work was required due to one of the reasons listed above. In any case, such certification must be presented whenever sick leave is requested for three (3) or more consecutive workdays pursuant to this agreement.
a. The City shall have the right as its discretion to verify the report of the attending physician concerning the illness or disability of an employee and to require the employee to be examined, at the City’s expense, by a physician selected by the City to determine the nature and extent of the illness or disability.
b. As a result of such physician’s statements and examinations, the City may approve or deny an employee’s sick leave requests, and establish limits and conditions for any further approved sick leave connected with the same illness or disability.
c. Use of sick leave or other benefit is subject to approval by the Fire Chief and/or his designated representative. All leave requests shall be used for the manner intended.
d. Each day of an unexcused leave of absence shall be considered an occurrence. When a physician’s note or other approved documentation is provided, the absence will not be counted as an occurrence. The following occurrences shall be subject to progressive discipline as outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
1. Three (3) unexcused occurrences within three (3) months.
2. Five (5) unexcused occurrences within six (6) months.
3. Seven (7) unexcused occurrences within twelve (12) months.
Sick Leave Misuse. Using sick leave for any reason not identified in this Section is considered an abuse of sick leave. Persistent or patterned misuse of sick leave may also be considered an abuse of sick leave. Abuse of sick leave may be cause for dismissal and forfeiture of cash compensation for unused sick leave.
Sick Leave Misuse. The consistent misuse of sick leave may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. Verification of illness may be required when the Employer has a good faith reason to believe that there is misuse of sick leave.
Sick Leave Misuse. Misuse of sick leave is defined as the use of sick leave for any purpose other than allowed for in Article 13.1 or as stated herein.
13.7.1 Evidence of misuse of sick leave may include, but is not limited to:
(A) Absences that are not bona fide sick leave purposes as outlined in Article 13.1.
(B) Use of sick leave as a supplement for annual leave or other types of leave.
(C) Sick leave absences in conjunction with scheduled days off, vacation days, “prime days,” or some other specific pattern of usage, including patterns of partial shift sick leave absences. Patterns of sick leave use shall not be the sole basis for a determination of sick leave misuse.
(D) Sick Leave usage above the annual accrual for sick leave usage during the previous twelve (12) months.
(E) Repeated use of sick leave as soon as the leave is accrued.
Sick Leave Misuse. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any employee who is considered to be misusing sick leave may be subject to discipline pursuant to Article 28 - Discipline and Discharge and/or may be required to furnish a doctor's certificate for each day of illness.
22.5.1 Misusing sick leave" mayinclude (a) exhaustion of all accrued sick leave, and/or
Sick Leave Misuse. SECTION 9.2 - PERSONAL LEAVE 9.2.1 Definition
Sick Leave Misuse. Misuse of sick leave is defined as the use of sick leave for any purpose other than allowed for in Article 11.
1) Evidence of misuse of sick leave may include, but is not limited to:
a) Absences that are not bona fide sick leave purposes.
b) Use of sick leave as a supplement for vacation as identified by a pattern of repeated sick leave absences adjacent to scheduled days off or repeated patterns of partial sick leave absences.
c) A pattern of repeated use of sick leave as soon as the leave is accrued.
Sick Leave Misuse. The Employer may also require a written medical certification for any sick leave absence in which the Employer suspects misuse of sick leave. Sick leave misuse may include:
A. Sick leave is consistently used before and/or after paydays, holidays, days off; or
B. When an Employee consistently uses all monthly-accrued sick leave balance unless allowed by Federal and State laws.
C. In instances of suspected sick leave misuse the Employer will give the Employee an opportunity to explain the reason for the absences and to demonstrate that no misuse occurred before requiring the Employee to provide certification pursuant to Section 15.12of this Article.
D. If the Employer initiates a conversation relating to section 15.14 of this agreement with any bargaining unit Employee, the Employer will email notice of that intended conversation to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx at least five calendar days before that conversation is initiated.
E. Before initiating any conversation related to sick leave use with a bargaining unit Employee, the Employer will inform the member that they are not obligated to disclose any personal medical information.
Sick Leave Misuse. The Parties encourage unit employees to utilize their accrued sick as outlined in this agreement to ensure that employees have adequate sick leave to utilize for covered injuries, illnesses, and care of their family members. To this end, the Chief, or designated representative may review the sick leave records of unit employees from time-to-time to determine if there are potential patterns of sick leave misuse. Such patterns of such sick leave misuses may include but are not limited to the following:
1) The firefighter uses sick days as soon as they are credited to them.
2) Use of sick leave the shift before or the shift after scheduled vacation, floating holidays, or swaps.
3) Use of sick leave on the days for which leave had been previously requested but denied.
4) Use of sick leave on a particular day of the week.
5) Use of sick leave which corresponds to an undesirable work assignment. If the Fire Chief or their designee finds evidence of sick leave misuse, disciplinary action may be imposed pursuant to Article 10 of this Agreement. Absent gross misuse or misconduct, the first offense will not result in disciplinary action above a written warning. However, subsequent offenses may result in further disciplinary actions up to and including termination of employment.
Sick Leave Misuse. Employees may be subject to discipline and/or receive reduced marks on their annual performance evaluation if they are found to have misused or abused their sick leave use. Such misuse or abuse may include, but is not limited to, the following: using sick leave for reasons other than those allowed in Section 6.B.; sick leave use occurring in an established pattern, such as the day before or after days off, holidays, scheduled annual leave, or weekends; or high or exceptionally high sick leave use (as defined in sub- sections 6.G.1 and 6.G.2) when there is accompanying evidence of misuse or abuse.
