RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-720

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

WHEREAS, for many years employees of the Metropolitan Government have received longevity pay for continuous service to the government; and

WHEREAS, such reward 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. RS2001-642 this compensation has been paid to employees on the eighth working day of December of each year; and

WHEREAS, it has been determined that receiving this compensation prior to Thanksgiving would be beneficial to employees in making plans for the upcoming holidays; and

WHEREAS, changing the payment date necessitates moving back the date an employee must be in an active pay status in order to qualify for longevity pay; and

WHEREAS, moving back the date an employee must be in an active pay status could result in some employees being delayed from qualifying for longevity pay or from qualifying at a particular level; and

WHEREAS, the intent of changing the payment date for longevity pay is to benefit the employees and not penalize them; and

WHEREAS, this potential resulting penalty can be resolved by shortening the service time requirement by one month for each level of longevity pay; and

WHEREAS, the civil service commissions for the general employees of the Metropolitan Government, the Police and Fire Departments, and the employees of the Health Department have approved and recommend these changes.

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 employees based on length of continuous service with the Metropolitan Government.

$110.00 beginning at the end of the 4 years and 11 months
$192.50 beginning at the end of the 5 years and 11 months
$275.00 beginning at the end of the 6 years and 11 months
$357.50 beginning at the end of the 7 years and 11 months
$440.00 beginning at the end of the 8 years and 11 months
$522.50 beginning at the end of the 9 years and 11 months
$577.50 beginning at the end of the 10 years and 11 months
$632.50 beginning at the end of the 11 years and 11 months
$687.50 beginning at the end of the 12 years and 11 months
$742.50 beginning at the end of the 13 years and 11 months
$797.50 beginning at the end of the 14 years and 11 months
$825.00 beginning at the end of the 15 years and 11 months
$852.50 beginning at the end of the 16 years and 11 months
$880.00 beginning at the end of the 17 years and 11 months
$907.50 beginning at the end of the 18 years and 11 months
$935.00 beginning at the end of the 19 years and 11 months

SECTION 2: The longevity pay shall be paid in a single payment, payable by the 15th day of November 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:
(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 October 31 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 October 31st 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 October 31. Part-time employees shall be entitled to a year's accumulated service time for each 2080 hours worked.

SECTION 11: Employees who, as of October 31 of any given year, have (1) retired, either on a service or disability pension since the prior November 1, or (2) who are on leave without pay on October 31, and any of which would otherwise been entitled to longevity pay had they been on an active pay status as of October 31, shall be entitled to a prorated payment from the prior November1 to the day of separation.

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 November 1 until October 31.

SECTION 13: Metropolitan County Council Resolution No. RS2001-642, and any amendments thereto, upon the adoption of this Resolution, shall be of no effect, but employees shall be paid under Resolution No. RS2001-642, as it may have been amended, until the effective date of this Resolution.

SECTION 14: This Resolution shall take effect from and after its passage, the welfare of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.

Sponsored by: Kathleen Murphy, John Cooper

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Referred to:	Budget & Finance Committee Personnel Committee Health, Hospitals and Social Services Committee Public Safety Committee
Introduced:	June 6, 2017
Deferred:	June 6, 2017
Adopted:	June 20, 2017
Approved:	June 21, 2017
By: