A resolution providing longevity pay for employees of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, including employees of the Board of Health, and establishing a longevity pay supplement for certain employees.

WHEREAS, in past years the administration and the Metropolitan County Council have found it appropriate to reward employees who have provided continuous service to the government; and

WHEREAS, such reward, in the form of monetary compensation, has served as an incentive for employees to remain in the service of the Metropolitan Government; and

WHEREAS, it is deemed desirable to continue to recognize those employees for their continuous service in addition to the regular salaries paid to those employees; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Resolution No. R97-738, the monetary compensation awarded employees based on continuous service has been designated as Holiday Bonus Pay; and

WHEREAS, it is deemed that it is more appropriate to refer to said monetary payment as Longevity Pay; and

WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Government, as of January 1, 1987, removed the requirement for employee contributions to the various pension plans; and

WHEREAS, certain employees in the old City Pension Plan had met the requirements of the plan by making contributions to the plan for the maximum number of years; and

WHEREAS, to make the pay provisions equal and equitable for all employees, it is desirable to create a longevity pay supplement for those employees who have or will have made contributions into this pension system for the maximum number of years called for under the Plan.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:

SECTION 1: The following longevity pay plan is adopted as additional compensation to be paid to the employees based on length of continuous service with the Metropolitan Government.

$110.00 beginning at the end of the 5th year
$192.50 beginning at the end of the 6th year
$275.00 beginning at the end of the 7th year
$357.50 beginning at the end of the 8th year
$440.00 beginning at the end of the 9th year
$522.50 beginning at the end of the 10th year
$577.50 beginning at the end of the 11th year
$632.50 beginning at the end of the 12th year
$687.50 beginning at the end of the 13th year
$742.50 beginning at the end of the 14th year
$797.50 beginning at the end of the 15th year
$825.00 beginning at the end of the 16th year
$852.50 beginning at the end of the 17th year
$880.00 beginning at the end of the 18th year
$907.50 beginning at the end of the 19th year
$935.00 beginning at the end of the 20th year

SECTION 2: The longevity pay shall be paid in a single payment, payable on the eighth working day of December of each year, unless prorated as provided in Sections 11 or 12.

SECTION 3: To be eligible for the longevity pay, the following criteria must be met, or as indicated in Section 13 herein:

(a) The employee must be on a payroll processed under a pay plan approved by the Metropolitan Civil Service Commission, or the Civil Service Commission of the Board of Health,

(b) The employee must be on active pay status, under a pay plan established by one of the Civil Service Commissions, as of November 30 of any year that this Resolution is in effect.

SECTION 4: The longevity pay, as set out herein, shall not be paid in any year in which this Resolution has been repealed prior to November 30th of that year.

SECTION 5: To be eligible for the longevity pay, an employee must have been continuously employed with no interruption of service, except as expressly provided herein. Continuous service is defined as the employment time accumulated by the employee without any break in service unless a Civil Service Commission has granted a leave of absence without pay under its rules, or in the case of non-civil service employees, a leave of absence has been granted by the employee's appointing authority. For civil service and non-civil service employees, the length of the leave of absence shall be deducted from the employee's total length of service..

SECTION 6: Any action, other than an approved leave of absence, military leave, or being placed on a service or disability pension payroll, which results in the removal of an employee's name from the payroll, shall constitute a break in service and shall result in total loss of accumulated service time prior to the break in service. An employee re-employed under the appropriate civil service rules and regulations may have prior employment time connected, provided the rules and regulations have been met and the Civil Service Commission specifically connects the prior service time. Non-civil service employees may have their prior time connected, provided they meet the same re-employment criteria established for civil service employees of the Metropolitan Civil Service Commission.

SECTION 7: In addition to the conditions set out in Section 5, the continuous service must also occur during a time the employee received compensation which was paid in accordance with a pay plan approved by the Metropolitan Civil Service Commission, or the Civil Service Commission of the Board of Health, except as provided for employees transferring from the Board of Education as set out in Section 8.

SECTION 8: Any employee who is a member of the Classified Service of the Board of Education, who transfers directly from the Board of Education to the Metropolitan Government, shall be credited with continuous service under the following conditions: (1) Those employees scheduled to work on a nine [9] or ten [10] month basis will be credited with a year's continuous service for each twelve [12] months actually worked; and (2) any break in service at the Board of Education will cause a loss of accumulated service time unless a leave of absence had been granted by the Board of Education. Other than employment with the Board of Education, past employment with other boards, agencies, authorities, commissions, or others, whose payrolls are not processed by the Payroll Section of the Department of Finance, will not be considered when determining length of continuous service under this plan.

SECTION 9: When computing total length of continuous service, pension time will not be added to the length of service; for example, an employee who has five [5] years of continuous service and goes on a pension payroll for two [2] years and then returns to work, will only be given five [5] years credit for continuous service.

SECTION 10: The longevity pay shall apply to full-time and part-time employees and shall be paid by the departments to their employees on the payroll as of November 30. Part-time employees shall be entitled to a year's accumulated service time for each 2080 hours worked.

SECTION 11: Employees who, as of November 30 of any given year, have (1) retired, either on a service or disability pension since the prior December 1, or (2) who are on leave without pay on November 30, and any of which would otherwise been entitled to longevity pay had they been on an active pay status as of November 30, shall be entitled to a prorated payment from the prior December 1 to the day of separation. The same application shall apply to those employees entitled to the longevity pay supplement as provided in Section 13.

SECTION 12: Employees who have been re-employed and meet the criteria as set out in Section 6 for service to be connected which results in eligibility for longevity pay under this resolution, shall be entitled to a prorated payment from the re-employment date after December 1 until November 30.

SECTION 13: The longevity pay supplement shall be available to employees who meet the following criteria:

(a) The employee must be a member of the former City of Nashville Policemen's and Firemen's Pension Plan, or

(b) The employee must be a member of the former City of Nashville Civil Service Pension Plan, or

(c) The employee must be exempted as a member of the Metropolitan Employee Benefit system by Ordinance No. 74-854.

SECTION 14: For any employee who meets the criteria in Section 13, the longevity pay supplement shall be three percent [3%] of the employee's rate of pay during the time period set out in Section 16.

SECTION 15: The longevity pay supplement shall be paid in a single payment, payable on the eighth working day of December of each year, unless prorated as provided in Section 11.

SECTION 16: The longevity pay supplement shall be based upon the time period of December 1, of any given year, through November 30 of the following year.

SECTION 17: If, for any reason, any section of this Resolution should be held invalid or unconstitutional, such finding shall not render the remaining portions invalid or unconstitutional, it being the intent of the Metropolitan County Council that the remaining portions of this Resolution would have been adopted as if such invalid or unconstitutional portion had been omitted.

SECTION 18: This Resolution shall not be interpreted as removing any power or duty granted by the Metropolitan Charter from any board, commission, agency or department of the Metropolitan Government.

SECTION 19: The effective date for this longevity pay plan and longevity pay supplement resolution shall be July 1, 2001.

SECTION 20: Metropolitan County Council Resolution No.97-738, and any amendments thereto, upon the adoption of this Resolution, shall be of no effect, but employees shall be paid under Resolution No 97-738, as it may have been amended, until the effective date of this Resolution.

SECTION 21: This Resolution shall take effect from and after it's passage, the welfare of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County Requiring it.

Sponsored By: Howard Gentry