Available to employees who are released back to work with restrictions. This
can be for work-related injuries or personal medical conditions. It is temporary
modified duty for 90 days. The process for requesting transitional duty is as
follows:
- Employee must take medical documentation with the restrictions to their HR or payroll section.
- HR/payroll and employee’s supervisor will review job description and restrictions.
- Employee will be notified if the department can accommodate with the restrictions. Employee will be notified if the transitional duty is approved or denied by the employee’s department and a letter to follow from the HR department.
Request for FMLA
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) allows eligible employees to
take job-protected, unpaid leave, or to substitute appropriate paid leave if the
employee has earned or accrued it, for up to a total of 12 workweeks in a 12
month period for qualifying reasons. Qualifying reasons are listed below.
Employees on FMLA are responsible for maintaining premium payments to their
pension and insurance during the leave period.
The employee has the right to return to the same position or an equivalent
position with equivalent pay, benefits, and working conditions at the conclusion
of the leave. The taking of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any benefit
that accrued prior to the start of the leave.
You are eligible for leave (either paid or unpaid) under FMLA if you:
- Have been employed by the City of El Paso for at least 12 months Employment
does not have to have been continuous, except that the separate periods of
employment in which the break in service exceeds 7 years are not used to
determine eligibility; and
- Worked at least 1,250 actual work hours during the 12-month period prior to
the first day of the leave. Only time actually worked is used in the
calculation. The City uses a “rolling” 12 month period; and
- Have not already used 12 weeks of FMLA entitlement in the past 12 months;
and
- Must be for a qualifying reason.
- NOTE: Time in the military service covered under the Uniformed Services
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) will count towards fulfilling
the length of employment and hours of work requirements to be eligible for an
FMLA leave. The 7-year break in service rule does not apply to military service.
Qualifying reasons for FMLA are:
- Birth of a child and to care for a newborn child of the employee.
- Placement of a child with the employee through adoption or foster care.
- Care for any of the following who has a “Serious Health Condition”: the
employee’s spouse, the employee’s child under the age of 18, or the employee’s
parent.
- Care for the employee’s child 18 years or older who has a “Serious Health
Condition” and is incapable of self-care because of mental or
physical disability.
- A “Serious Health Condition” that renders the employee unable to perform the
functions of his or her job. A Serious Health Condition is defined as:
- A condition involving a period of incapacity of more than three (3)
consecutive calendar days or two or more visits to a healthcare provider. The
two visits must occur in person within thirty (30) days of the first day of the
incapacity. The first visit to the healthcare provider must take place within
seven days of the first day of incapacity.
- The incapacity is three consecutive calendar days and includes a regimen of
continuing treatment (prescribed RX, physical therapy, chemo, etc.). The first
visit to the healthcare provider must take place within seven days of the first
day of incapacity.
- The incapacity involving a chronic condition, at least two visits per year
to a healthcare provider are required. This Intermittent Leave is covered
under FMLA, but the physician must specifically complete the sections regarding
Intermittent Leave. If not complete, Intermittent Leave cannot be approved. Once
an employee is approved for Intermittent Leave and only absent within the
doctor’s estimated timeframe, the employer cannot ask for doctor’s notes in
order to verify illness. Only after a 6-month timeframe or if the employee
starts missing more time than the doctor estimated can the employer request
additional information from the physician.
- A qualifying exigency which occurs while the employee’s spouse, child, or
parent is a member of a Reserve component or a retired member of the Regular
Armed Forces or Reserves and is on active duty or on a Federal call to active
duty. Qualifying exigencies to manage the service member’s affairs are described
on the DOL form Certification of Qualifying Exigency for Military Family
Leave.
- Care for a service member who has suffered a serious injury or illness in
the line of duty if the employee has a qualified family relationship with the
covered service member. A qualified family relationship is a spouse, domestic
partner, parent child, or next of kin.
Employees are responsible for:
- Providing their department with a 30-day advance notice of the need to take
FMLA leave, when the need is foreseeable. If the FMLA is unforeseeable, the
employee should notify his department “As soon as Practicable”. However, notice
of the need for “FMLA should not be given more than two business days after
returning to work.
- Completing the “Request for Family or Medical Leave” Form
immediately.
- Informing his supervisor when they are going to work for a FMLA reason.
- Providing required supporting documentation (DOL Certification form, Birth
Certificate, Adoption, Military orders, etc.) within the requested time.
- Employees who do not provide the required FMLA documentation to the City
within the requested time may lose their FMLA Status and their leave time
changed from paid to unpaid. Failure to provide the required documentation will
be deemed as “Unauthorized leave without pay”.
- Employees should contact the Pension Office and Insurance & Benefits in
order to safeguard their benefits.
NOTE: Employees out on Worker’ Compensation are not required to provide the
DOL Certification Form. The DWC forms that are provided are adequate
documentation for verification purposes.
If further information is needed visit the US Department of Labor FMLA
website: http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/
FORMS NEEDED FOR FMLA REQUEST:
Request for Medical LOA
Coming Soon
Request for shared leave
Coming Soon
Disciplinary Policy and Matrix
The City’s Discipline Policy and Matrix was
created to communicate the goal of becoming a high performance organization. The
policy and matrix are designed to guide employees toward acceptable performance.
Progressive discipline is used based on the type and quantity of violations of
City policy or rule; see policy for more details.
Appeal to CSC
Employees who wish to file appeals of Suspension, Demotion or Termination
must follow the following steps:
- Employee must bring complete Notice of Suspension, Termination, or Demotion
to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Recorder located in the City’s Human
Resources Department.
- The employee must fill out the appropriate appeal form (located below) and
file it with the CSC Recorder who will explain the process.
- CSC Recorder will assign a CSC Hearing Officer and CSC Case# to appeal
filed.
- The employee will be notified by letter of the assigned CSC Hearing Officer
to their appeal.
If you have further questions you can call the City’s Human Resources
Department at 212-0045 and request to speak with the CSC Recorder.
How to file a Formal Complaint
The City desires to provide and maintain a harmonious work environment that
is free of hostility and discrimination. If you ever need to file a complaint
the form, 'Discrimination/Harassment Complaint Form' may be
used to communicate the details of your good faith complaint. The form can be
found on the Public drive under City forms folder or via the following path:
City Public drive > City Forms folder > Complaint Form
folder
How to file a Grievance
Employees have the right to file a grievance in accordance with Rule 14. In
order to properly file a grievance the attached form must be used and processed
according to the timelines provided. The grievance process is not intended to be
used for conflict in the work place or complaints that may be filed relating to
matters such as sexual harassment, hostile workplace claims or retaliation.
To start the Grievance process employees must fill out the Grievance form
within ten (10) days of the incident causing the grievance. The Grievance
process can be found at the end of the Grievance Form located in: City
Public drive > City Forms folder > Grievance Forms folder
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
When an employee is not performing at the level of “successful” under the
City’s performance evaluation system, a jointly created plan is created to help
the employee perform at an acceptable level. The contents of a PIP normally
include action items such as performance standards or metrics, timelines or due
dates, or other descriptions of behavior that must be improved.
If you have any further questions contact the Organizational Development
section at: OrganizationalDevel@elpasotexas.gov
