The official workweek of the Township is a five-day, thirty-five-hour
workweek. The Township Manager shall establish the specific hours
of work for each department.
Sick leave shall be as follows:
A. Sick leave allowance.
(1) Full-time employees shall be entitled to paid sick leave as follows:
(a)
New employees shall only receive one working day for the initial
month of employment if they begin work on the first through the 8th
day of the calendar month, and 1/2 working day if they begin on the
9th through the 23rd day of the month.
(b)
After the initial month of employment and up to the end of the
first calendar year, employees shall be credited with one working
day for each month of service.
(c)
Thereafter, at the beginning of each calendar year in anticipation
of continued employment, employees shall be credited with 15 calendar
days.
(2) Part-time employees shall be entitled to paid sick leave as follows:
(a)
New employees shall only receive one working day for the initial
month of employment if they begin work on the first through the 8th
day of the calendar month, and 1/2 working day if they begin on the
9th through the 23rd day of the month.
(b)
After the initial month of employment and up to the end of the
first calendar year, employees shall be credited with one working
day for each month of service.
(c)
Thereafter, at the beginning of each calendar year in anticipation
of continued employment, employees shall be credited with 15 calendar
days.
(d)
All days shall be prorated based off the number of hours worked
per week.
(3) Effective October 29, 2018, per-diem employees shall be entitled
to paid sick leave as follows:
(a)
For every 30 hours worked, the employee shall accrue one hour
of earned sick leave,
(b)
The employee shall be permitted to accrue up to 40 hours of
earned sick leave. Unused sick leave may be carried forward from one
benefit year to the next for a maximum of 40 hours of earned sick
leave. Employees shall not be entitled to compensation for sick leave
accumulated at termination, resignation, or retirement.
(c)
Earned sick leave shall begin to accrue on October 29, 2018,
for any employee who is hired and commences employment prior to October
29, 2018 ,and said employee shall be eligible to use the earned sick
leave beginning on the 120th calendar day after the employee commences
employment.
(d)
Earned sick leave shall begin to accrue upon the date that employment
commences and the employee shall be eligible to use the earned sick
leave beginning on the 120th calendar day after the employee commences
employment.
(e)
The employee may subsequently use earned sick leave as soon
as it is accrued.
(f)
If a per-diem employee is terminated, laid off, furloughed,
or otherwise separated from employment with the Township, any unused
accrued earned sick leave shall be reinstated upon the rehiring or
reinstatement of the employee to the Township, within six months of
termination, being laid off or furloughed, or separation, and prior
employment with the Township shall be counted towards meeting the
eligibility requirements set forth in this section.
(4) Paid sick days shall not accrue during a leave of absence without
pay or suspension but shall continue to accrue during a voluntary
furlough or furlough extension leave.
(5) Sick leave credits shall not accrue after an employee has resigned
or retired although his or her name is being retained on the payroll
until exhaustion of vacation or other compensatory leave.
(6) An employee who exhausts all paid sick days in any one year shall
not be credited with additional paid sick leave until the beginning
of the next calendar year.
(7) Unused sick leave shall accumulate from year to year without limit,
whether or not it was accrued prior to an intergovernmental transfer
in accordance with N.J.A.C. 4A:4-7.1A; provided, however, that in
the case of an intergovernmental transfer, the sick leave police officer
who has waived all accumulated sick leave, shall accrue from the effective
date of the transfer.
(8) Pursuant to New Jersey Civil Service Rules, sick leave may be used
by employees who are unable to work because of:
(a)
Personal illness or injury (see N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21B for federal
family and medical leave);
(b)
Exposure to contagious disease (see N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21B for
federal family and medical leave);
(c)
Care, for a reasonable period of time, of a seriously ill member
of the employee's immediate family (see N.J.A.C. 4A:1-1.3 for definition
of "immediate family," see N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21A for family leave under
state law and see N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21B for federal family and medical
leave); or
(d)
Death in the employee's immediate family, for a reasonable period
of time.
(e)
A disability for absences related to the acquisition or use
of an aid for the disability when the aid is necessary to function
on the job. In such cases, reasonable proof may be required by the
Township Manager.
(9) Pursuant to the New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law (N.J.S.A. 34:11D-1),
sick leave may be used by employees who are unable to work because
of:
(a)
Time needed for diagnosis, care, or treatment of, or recovery
from, an employee's mental or physical illness, injury or other adverse
health condition, or for preventive medical care for the employee;
(b)
Time needed for the employee to aid or care for a family member
of the employee during diagnosis, care, or treatment of, or recovery
from, the family member's mental or physical illness, injury or other
adverse health condition, or during preventive medical care for the
family member;
(c)
Absence necessary due to circumstances resulting from the employee,
or a family member of the employee, being a victim of domestic or
sexual violence, if the leave is to allow the employee to obtain for
the employee or the family member medical attention needed to recover
from physical or psychological injury or disability caused by domestic
or sexual violence; services from a designated domestic violence agency
or other victim services organization; psychological or other counseling;
relocation; or legal services, including obtaining a restraining order
or preparing for, or participating in, any civil or criminal legal
proceeding related to the domestic or sexual violence;
(d)
Time during which the employee is not able to work because of
a closure of the employee's workplace, or the school or place of care
of a child of the employee, by order of a public official due to an
epidemic or other public health emergency, or because of the issuance
by a public health authority of a determination that the presence
in the community of the employee, or a member of the employee's family
in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others;
or
(e)
Time needed by the employee in connection with a child of the
employee to attend a school-related conference, meeting, function
or other event requested or required by a school administrator, teacher,
or other professional staff member responsible for the child's education,
or to attend a meeting regarding care provided to the child in connection
with the child's health conditions or disability.
B. Sick leave must be utilized and runs concurrently with family/medical
leave entitlement under the New Jersey Family Leave Act and/or the
Federal Family Medical Leave Act.
C. General conditions.
(1) The Township has the right to request sick time verification whenever
it deems it necessary to do so. However, this shall not be done in
an unduly offensive or obtrusive manner.
(2) When, as a condition of his/her return to duty, the Township requires
a second opinion for an employee who has been absent because of personal
illness, said employee shall be examined, at the expense of the Township.
Such examination shall establish whether the employee is capable of
performing his/her normal duties and that his/her return will not
jeopardize the health of other employees. Employees incapable of resuming
normal work duties may be retired from employment or transferred to
other duties at the discretion of the Township Manager.
D. Separation.
(1) All employees and personnel of the Township of Verona who have been
employed full time shall receive compensation for sick leave accumulated
at retirement pursuant to the following schedule:
(a)
Employees who were hired full-time by the Township prior to
January 1, 1978, shall receive compensation for sick leave accrued
up to a maximum of 225 days.
(b)
Employees who were hired full-time by the Township between January
1, 1978, and May 20, 2010, shall receive compensation for sick leave
accrued up to a maximum of 100 days.
(c)
Employees who were hired full-time by the Township between May
21, 2010, and November 30, 2015, shall receive compensation for sick
leave accrued up to a maximum 100 days or $15,000, whichever is less.
(d)
Employees who were hired full-time by the Township on or after
December 1, 2015, shall not be entitled to compensation for sick leave
accumulated at retirement.
(2) No sick leave allowance will be paid in case of dismissal for cause
or resignation for any other purpose than retirement.
(3) Payment for compensated sick leave shall be made upon certification
by the Chief Financial Officer that sufficient documentation of the
amount of the accumulated sick leave has been provided, and that funds
are available to pay for the amount of compensated absence due. Sufficient
documentation shall include:
(a)
A copy of, or reference to, the agreement authorizing compensation;
(b)
Documentation of the amount of accumulated absence time; and
(c)
The total value of the compensation due based on the agreement
and accumulated absence time.
[1]
Unless expressly stated otherwise by a duly negotiated and approved
labor agreement, and/or individual employment agreement where payouts
for accumulated absences are authorized:
[a] Payment for compensated absence based on absence
time accumulated starting January 1, 2018, shall be calculated utilizing
no more than the employee's base salary at the time in which the absence
was accumulated. The Chief Financial Officer shall ensure documentation
of the employee's base salary at the time in which the absence time
was accumulated; and
[b] Absence time accumulated starting January 1, 2018,
that is utilized during employment shall be utilized in the order
of highest dollar value to lowest dollar value. The caps set forth
in this section on the total number of sick days compensable and/or
total dollar amount of sick leave compensable, compensable sick leave
shall be exhausted before noncompensable sick leave is utilized.
(4) With approval of the Township Manager, the Chief Financial Officer
may begin to compensate employees with 20 years of service in a state
pension retirement system for their accumulated absence accrued pursuant
to this section, duly negotiated and approved labor agreement, and/or
individual employment agreement where payouts for accumulated absences
are authorized prior to retirement.
E. Workers' compensation. During the period of occupational illness
or accident where an employee receives compensation benefits under
the Workmen's Compensation Act and returns those benefits to the Township
in exchange for his/her normal paycheck, that sick leave time charged
will be prorated for that portion which is not covered by the compensation
benefits.