[Adopted 4-24-1990 by Ord. No. 3-1990; amended in its entirety 11-28-1995 by Ord. No. 57-1995]
[Amended 9-26-2000 by Ord. No. 8-2000; 10-26-2004 by Ord. No. 12-2004]
As used in this Article IV, as well as in subsequent Articles V, VI, and VII of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
EMPLOYEE
"Officers" as defined in the City Charter[1] and full-time employees.
WORKING DAY
The number of hours in an officer's or employee's working day is dependent upon the number of hours in that individual's workweek as set by the Board of Managers.
A. 
The workweek for nonunion officers and employees shall be set by the Board of Managers. Certain elected or appointed officers may not have a defined workweek. The workweek hours for those with a defined workweek shall be 40, 37 1/2, 35 or 30 hours per week, as set by the Board of Managers for each employee.
B. 
Elected or appointed officers without a defined workweek shall not be entitled to paid vacation, sick leave or personal time.
[1]
Editor's Note: See § C2-1 of the Charter.
A. 
Amount of vacation time.
(1) 
Officers and employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements shall be entitled to 10 working days' vacation; employees with more than three years of continuous service shall be entitled to 15 working days vacation; and employees with more than five years of continuous service shall be granted an additional day of vacation, as follows, for each year of service over and above said five years:
[Amended 9-26-2000 by Ord. No. 8-2000]
Length of Service
(years)
Additional Vacation Credits
(days)
6
1
7
2
8
3
9
4
10
5
11
6
12
7
13
8
14
9
15
10
(2) 
Officers and employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements whose date of hire is after April 27, 1999, shall be entitled to 10 working days' vacation during each of their first five years of continuous service. After five years of continuous service, such officers and employees shall be entitled to 15 working days of vacation. After 10 years of continuous service, such officers and employees shall be entitled to an additional working day of vacation for each year of service over and above 10 years, as follows:
[Added 10-24-2000 by Ord. No. 10-2000]
Years
of Service
Additional
Vacation Credits
(days)
11
1
12
2
13
3
14
4
15
5
16
6
17
7
18
8
19
9
20
10
B. 
Vacations shall be taken in the year during which the employee becomes entitled thereto, and no part of such vacation leave in excess of 30 days may be carried over without the prior written consent of the Mayor, which consent shall be requested prior to the first day of January of the year into which the vacation leave is to be carried over.
C. 
Unused vacation up to a maximum of 60 days shall be paid upon separation. An officer or employee shall only be paid for unused vacation that was granted on January 1 of the calendar year in which the employee separates, after the amount of vacation credits has been prorated based upon the number of days that the individual was employed by the City in the calendar year in which he or she separates.
[Amended 9-26-2000 by Ord. No. 8-2000]
D. 
An officer or employee hired after January 1, during any given calendar year, will initially receive a prorated amount of vacation days based upon the number of days remaining in the calendar year in which he or she is hired. The following January 1, and every January 1 thereafter, a full year's worth of vacation credits shall be allotted based upon length of service. An employee shall be granted, on the employee's third, and sixth through 15th anniversary dates of hire, a prorated amount of additional vacation credits based upon the entitlements set forth in Subsection A of this section and the number of days remaining in the calendar year in which the additional vacation credits are granted.
[Added 9-26-2000 by Ord. No. 8-2000]
E. 
An officer or employee subject to the provisions of this section may sell back to the City up to 20 days of accrued vacation annually. During the month of January in each year, at the request of any officer or employee subject to the provisions of this section, the City shall pay said officer or employee for unused vacation time, up to a maximum of 20 days per year. Upon payment, the Comptroller shall deduct said vacation time from the employee or officer's accrued leave time.
[Added 8-22-2006 by Ord. No. 19; amended 1-24-2012 by Ord. No. 1-2012]
Absence from duty by an employee of the City of Cohoes, by reason of sickness or disability shall be paid as provided in this section and not otherwise. Absence from duty for such reasons, if duly granted by the department head or, in the case of a department head, by the Mayor shall be considered and known as "sick leave." The following regulations shall govern such absence from duty:
A. 
Amount of sick leave.
(1) 
An employee of the City of Cohoes shall be granted sick leave with pay of 1.5 working days a month or 18 working days per year.
(2) 
An officer or employee of the City of Cohoes hired after April 27, 1999, shall be granted sick leave with pay of one working day per month, or 12 working days per year.
[Added 10-24-2000 by Ord. No. 10-2000]
B. 
The working days per year to be allowed an employee for sick leave with pay may hereafter be accumulated. (Accumulated and unused sick leave shall not be paid as accumulated leave upon the termination of an employee.)
[Amended 10-24-2000 by Ord. No. 10-2000]
C. 
Upon becoming sick or disabled, an employee by virtue of employment or service after the effective date of this article may, during sickness or disability, be granted sick leave with pay to the extent of the unused sick leave time which was accumulated.
D. 
Where an employee because of sickness or disability is required to remain away from employment beyond sick leave allowance, the department head in his judgment may petition the Common Council that additional sick leave with pay be granted, with due consideration to be given to the employee's attendance record and performance on the job and service prior to the effective date of this article. However, in no case shall such additional sick leave with pay be granted to any such person in excess of 30 days in any one calendar year.
E. 
Where an employee receives compensation under the Worker's Compensation Law on account of disability, the employee shall elect, in writing, whether the employee desire to have sick leave with pay during the period of disability for which the employee receives compensation. Such written election must be submitted to the department head or, in the case of a department head, to the Mayor. In the event that the employee has elected to take sick leave with pay during such disability, he shall, for the period of disability not exceeding accumulated and unused sick leave time, be paid the difference between what they receive as compensation and the employee's regular rate of pay. The money which is so paid shall be deducted from the employee's accumulated sick leave time by the number of sick leave days so used which number will be determined by dividing the amount of money which is so paid by the daily rate of pay.
F. 
The department head or, in the case of a department head, the Mayor may require a physician's certificate for any absence of more than three days. Where the illness or disability is of long duration, a physician's certificate may be required for each 10 days of continuous absence. In any case, the department head or, in the case of a department head, the Mayor may require an examination by a physician or other acceptable evidence that the illness is bona fide.
G. 
It shall be the duty and responsibility of each and every employee to contact the department head or, in the case of a department head, the Mayor on the initial day of each illness.
A. 
Employees shall be entitled to five working days a year with pay for personal leave. Such personal leave, if not used during the year, shall not be accumulated.
B. 
Allowable and allowed personal leave shall for all purposes be considered as continuous service, but, in the event of termination of employment for any reason, unused personal leave time shall be canceled and shall not be paid.
C. 
It shall be the duty and responsibility of each and every employee to contact his department head or, in the case of a department head, the Mayor for each absence for personal leave as far in advance as possible.
All employees covered by this article shall receive one day's pay per year of service up to 15 years of service and two days' pay for each year of service over 15 years, payable on retirement or death.
Upon the request of the Mayor and/or Comptroller, every department head shall make a monthly report, in writing, to the Mayor and/or Comptroller setting forth the names of the employees, the length of time absent, the amount of personal, vacation and sick leave granted and the amounts of accumulated time in each category on a form to be provided by the Comptroller. Personal, vacation and sick leave are the only forms of authorized leave time that shall be accumulated and reported.
[Amended 6-24-2003 by Ord. No. 14-2003]
A. 
All employees covered by this article, except elective officers as set forth in § C2-2 of the Charter, shall be entitled to a longevity payment as follows:
Years of Service
Payment
5
$500
10
$850
15
$1,250
B. 
The payment shall be made annually, in a lump sum, in the employee's paycheck following the employee's anniversary date.
[Amended 10-24-2000 by Ord. No. 10-2000]
A. 
All City employees covered by this article shall be entitled to receive time off for each of the following holidays:
New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Day
Lincoln's Birthday
Washington's Birthday
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veterans Day
Election Day
Thanksgiving Day
Friday after Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Eve Day
Christmas Day
Such other days when it shall be deemed that City Hall shall be closed
B. 
Overtime pay or compensatory time shall only be granted for working a holiday in accordance with this article and with prior approval of the department head.
[Amended 9-26-2000 by Ord. No. 8-2000; 7-25-2006 by Ord. No. 11-2006]
Overtime or compensatory leave time may be authorized with the consent of the department head in advance of the extra time worked. Employees subject to this article shall be eligible for overtime or compensatory leave time, at 1 1/2 times their normal rate of pay or 1 1/2 times the amount of extra time worked, respectively, only after 40 hours are actually worked within one week. Accumulated leave time or sick leave used during the same week shall be counted as time actually worked for the purposes of reaching 40 hours. Extra time worked beyond a usual workweek for a particular employee, but below 40 hours during that same week, shall be paid at the employee's normal rate of pay or compensated with leave in the same amount as the extra time worked, until 40 hours is reached. Officers or employees who are exempt from the wage and hour provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, or similar state law, shall not be eligible for overtime or compensatory time.
In accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 210, et seq., as amended, officials, both elected and appointed, department heads, deputies and assistants shall be deemed exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act to the extent permitted by law, except where otherwise provided in this article. Such exemption shall not serve to limit the right, following termination of employment with the City, to purchase, at cost, individual and/or family health care benefits provided by the City in accordance with federal law or ordinances passed by the Common Council of the City of Cohoes, so long as the premiums for same are paid to the City.
[Amended 12-23-2003 by Ord. No. 23-2003]
The Police and Fire Chiefs and any of their deputies and/or assistants (the Chiefs) not covered by a negotiated contract shall receive the benefits accorded under this article and the following benefits whether or not consistent with the other provisions of this article:
A. 
The Chiefs shall receive and accrue vacation, sick, personal, bereavement and free leave days in accordance with the provisions of any contract that may be negotiated by the Cohoes Police Benevolent and Protective Association or the Uniform Firefighters of Cohoes, or their successors, for their respective departments. Where the benefits granted by this paragraph are less than those granted to other non-union public officers, the greater of the two shall apply, but not both. There shall be no accrual of compensatory time which shall be granted in accordance with applicable federal and state law and the other provisions of this article.
B. 
The Chiefs shall receive time off for holidays as set forth in § 56-26 of this article or any successor provision that may be passed by the Cohoes Common Council.
C. 
The Chiefs shall receive longevity in accordance with the provisions of any contract that may be negotiated by the Cohoes Police Benevolent Association or the Uniform Firefighters of Cohoes or their successors for their respective departments.
D. 
The Chiefs shall receive health, retirement, clothing allowance, EMT or BMP bonus, supervisors differential, education, insurance and retirement benefits in accordance with the provisions of any contract that may be negotiated by the Cohoes Police Benevolent and Protective Association and the Uniform Firefighters of Cohoes or their successors for their respective departments.
E. 
The Chiefs shall receive annual salary increases as may be approved by the Board of Managers, but in no event shall those increases be less than the highest percentage that may be negotiated for any category of employee that may be negotiated by the Cohoes Police Benevolent and Protective Association and the Uniform Firefighters of Cohoes of their successors for their respective departments.
The City shall pay any amounts, appropriately determined to be due accumulated time in annual installments, not to exceed one year's annual salary, for the individual employee.
In the event of and to the extent that any section or provision of this article presenting a conflict of laws with federal or state laws or regulations, the federal and state laws and regulations shall take precedence.
[Added 6-23-2009 by Ord. No. 7-2009]
Employees shall be granted two working days leave with pay in the death of immediate family. Immediate family shall be spouse, child, mother (natural or step), father (natural or step), brother, sister, grandparents, son- or daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild or any blood relative residing in the employee's household at the time of death. Leave commences the first working day following death.