No individual shall be discriminated against with respect to any position or office because of age, gender, race, creed, handicap, color, religion, ancestry, veteran's status, national origin, sexual orientation, political opinions or affiliations or lawful activity in any employee organization.
Each elected official, officer and employee of the City shall be a member of either the career or exempt service.
A.
The exempt service shall consist of:
B.
All other officers and employees shall be members of the career service.
C.
Merit personnel system. There shall be a merit personnel system, the purpose of which shall be to require that all personnel decisions be made solely on the basis of merit and qualifications, applicable to all employees. Any appointment, promotion, transfer, demotion, suspension, dismissal or disciplinary action shall be carried out in accordance with the merit personnel system.
Within six months of the effective date of this Charter or other applicable law and as a part of the Allentown City Code, City Council shall enact, and from time to time, may amend the Personnel Code for all City employees. It shall be the goal of the Personnel Code to provide for merit selection for all applicable positions; establish well-defined job descriptions with salaries to be reviewed on a regular basis; provide for fair and objective annual employee evaluations; provide equal access to employee training; and promotion from within the career service. The Personnel Code shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
A.
Classification of all City positions based on the duties, authority and responsibility of each position with adequate provisions for reclassification of any position when needed;
B.
Well-defined job descriptions for all City positions;
C.
Well-defined provisions for salary, fringe benefits, such as sick and vacation leave, holidays, overtime and salary administration, including a uniform pay plan for all City positions;
D.
Procedures concerning the substance, procedure and enforcement of a merit personnel system, including fair and objective annual employee evaluations;
E.
Procedures for the recruitment, selection, training and development of personnel, based solely on merit and qualifications;
F.
Procedures for advancement based on merit and qualifications with emphasis on promotion from within the career service;
G.
Procedures concerning the discipline and discharge of personnel, including reduction in force;
H.
Procedures providing for in-house training programs for personnel;
I.
Procedures for those holding provisional appointments;
J.
Procedures establishing grievance procedures, with final hearings on such grievance to be held by the Mayor;
K.
Procedures governing relationship with employee organizations; and
L.
Any other procedures necessary for the administration of personnel.
No personnel procedures or policies established under the provisions of this Charter shall conflict with acts of the General Assembly providing for collective bargaining and labor agreement administration. Nothing in this Charter or any ordinances passed by City Council shall interfere with any lawful collective bargaining agreement entered into between the City and representatives of its employees.
There shall be a Department of Human Resources. A director of the Department of Human Resources shall be appointed by the Mayor. The Director of Human Resources shall be responsible for administering the Department of Human Resources and administering the personnel system on the merit principles described in this Charter and promulgated by City Council as a part of the Personnel Code or otherwise.
[Amended 11-5-2002; 5-18-2021 (1-6-2021 by Ord. No. 15666)]
The compensation of all heads of departments, offices and agencies, and the City Solicitor, under the direction of the Mayor, shall be proposed by the Mayor and approved by ordinance. Compensation of all other employees shall be set in accordance with the uniform pay plan established by City Council in the Personnel Code.
Residency requirement. All such heads of departments, offices, and agencies need not be residents of the City at the time of appointment, but shall legally reside within five miles of the City's borders within 12 months of being appointed. The appointment will terminate automatically 12 months after the appointment if the residency requirement has not been met. This provision shall apply to appointments under the requirements of the Charter.
All employees are prohibited from engaging in any form of political activity during regular work hours and are prohibited from using city facilities or property for any political activity. Violation of this section will warrant discharge or other discipline under the provisions of the Personnel Code.