2.20.020 Application of personnel policies to exempt employees.
Employees of the city whose duties enable them to be classified as exempt employees under the terms of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are salaried employees. Regardless of which exemption an employee qualifies for, the provisions of these ordinances and personnel policies shall always be interpreted to ensure that the salaried status of the employee is honored. In the event of any apparent conflict between the provisions of these ordinances or the city’s personnel manual, the requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act or the provisions of federal regulation enacted to implement them, such regulations and federal requirements shall control. By way of illustration and not limitation, such ordinances and personnel policies shall be applied to salaried and exempt employees to ensure that:
A. The salaries of such employees shall not be reduced in the event of absences of less than one day. Accrued accumulated sick, compensatory, vacation and other leave banks may be debited to the extent accrued and as permitted by federal statute and regulation.
B. The compensatory time program instituted in accordance with the provisions of personnel policy and administrative practice are intended as an additional benefit to the employee. It permits the employee flexible use of accrued time off in a manner consistent with their status as public servants. The city understands and acknowledges that an exempt employee is responsible for the performance of his/her duties and that such employee is ultimately answerable to the mayor as the chief administrative officer of the city for the appropriate performance of duties, regardless of the length of time necessary to perform such duties. The city’s compensatory program has been implemented in order to better account for such exempt employees’ time to the public and to ensure that time off accrued as compensation for attendance at night meetings and other time consuming exercise of public duties which occur outside of normal working hours may be compensated for by blocks of time off at a later date in the nature of a holiday or vacation rather than time off taken in absences of less than a day, which may not have the utility for the exempt employee nor benefit all parties by providing a usable, scheduled block of time off at a time convenient both to the employee and to the city.
C. The disciplinary policies of the city shall not be interpreted to permit the use of a suspension without pay as a method of discipline for an exempt employee except for violations of safety rules of major significance. In determining whether a violation of a safety rule of major significance has occurred, the city’s personnel manager and mayor are directed to federal statutory and case law and the regulations established by the Department of Labor to implement the Fair Labor Standards Act. [Ord. 2993, 1994].