|
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE(S)
PREAMBLE 1
ARTICLE 1, CITY RIGHTS
1.1 City Authority 1
1.2 Management Rights 1
ARTICLE 2, RECOGNITION
2.1 Recognition 2
2.2 Union Membership 2
2.3 Payroll Deduction 2
2.4 Remittance of Dues 2
2.5 Suspension of Deductions 3
2.6 Indemnification 3
2.7 Release Time for Union Business 3
2.7A-D 3
ARTICLE 3, SENIORITY
3.1 Definition 4
3.2 Seniority List 4
3.3 Use of Seniority 4
ARTICLE 4, HOLIDAYS
4.1 Paid Holidays 5
4.2 Work on a Holiday 5
4.3 Miscellaneous 5
4.4 Compensatory Time 6
ARTICLE 5, OVERTIME
5.1 Overtime Pay or Compensatory Time Off 6
5.2 Court Duty Time 6
5.2A-F 7
5.3 Payment of Overtime 8
5.4 Call Back 8
5.5 Hire Backs for Special Events 8
5.5A-H 8
5.6 Cancellation of Hireback for Special Events 11
ARTICLE 5A, TEN-HOUR SHIFTS
5A.1 Shift Selection 11
5A.1A-D 12
5A.2 Shift Trades 12
5A.3 Shift Transfers 12
5A.3A-D 12
ARTICLE 6, VACATIONS
6.1 Vacations 13
6.2 Vacation Accreditation and Use 14
6.3 Vacation Selection 14
6.3A-B 14
6.4 Prorata Vacation 15
6.5 Miscellaneous 15
6.6 Personal Leave Day 15
ARTICLE 7, LEAVES OF ABSENCE
7.1 Funeral Leave 16
7.2 Military Leave 16
7.3 Jury Service Leave 16
7.4 Family Medical Leave 16
7.5A Sick Leave 17
7.5B Use of Paid Sick Leave for FMLA Purposes 17
ARTICLE 8, CONTRACT GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
8.1 Grievance Procedure 17
8.2 Contract Arbitration 18
8.3 Release Time and Time Limitations 18
8.3A-B 18
8.4 Employee Rights 18
ARTICLE 9, UNIFORMS
9.1 Uniforms or Annual Clothing Allowance 19
9.2 Cleaning Allowance 19
9.3 Payment 19
ARTICLE 10, INSURANCE
10.1 Paid Premiums of employees 19
10.2 Summary of Benefits 20
10.2(b)Employer’s Coalition on Health (ECOH) 21
10.3 Death Benefit 21
ARTICLE 11, SAVINGS CLAUSE 22
ARTICLE 12, NO STRIKE - NO LOCK OUT 22
ARTICLE 13, INDEMNIFICATION - LEGAL COUNSEL 22
ARTICLE 14, WAGES
14.1 Wage Plan 23
14.2 Longevity Pay 23
14.3 Training Program 24
14.4 Special Pay 24
14.5 Temporary Assignments 25
14.6 Non-Bargaining Unit Work 25
14.7 Sergeant's Out of Rank Pay 25
ARTICLE 15, MISCELLANEOUS
15.1 Negotiations 26
15.2 Non-Discrimination 26
15.3 Conflicting Ordinances and Resolutions 26
15.4 Grandfather Clause 26
15.5 Parking 26
15.6 Employee Assistance Program 26
15.7 Residency 27
15.8 Off Duty Employment 27
15.8A-G 27
15.9 Discipline 28
15.9A-F 28
15.10 Daylight Savings Time 30
15.11 Yearly Evaluations 30
15.12 Critical/Major Incident Employee Rights Procedures 30
15.12A-F 30
15.13 Promotions to Sergeant 32
15.14 Drug Free Work Place 32
15.15. Fitness for Duty 36
ARTICLE 16, INVESTIGATORS AND SPECIAL UNITS
16.1 Assignment to Investigator Position 37
16.1A-D 37
16.2 Investigator Hours 39
16.2A-D 39
16.3 On-Call Assignments 39
16.4 Pagers 40
16.5 Special Unit Assignments – Service Qualfications
41
16.5A-C 41
16.6 Assignment to K-9 Handler 41
16.6A-J 41
16.7 Assignment to Rockford Housing Authority Unit (RHA) 42
16.7A-L 42
16.8 Assignment to Tactical Unit (TAC Unit) 43
16.8, A-F 43
16.9 Assignment to Bike Unit 44
16.9, A-E 44
16.10 Assignment to Community Services Unit 44
16.10, A-F 44
16.11 Assignment to School Liaison Officer 45
16.11 A-I 45
ARTICLE 17, SAFETY ISSUES 46
ARTICLE 18, DURATION OF AGREEMENT 46
SIGNATURES 47
APPENDICES 48
PREAMBLE
This Agreement, made and entered into by the City of Rockford, a municipal corporation, hereinafter referred to as the "City", and Unit Six of the Policemen's Benevolent and Protective Association of Illinois, hereinafter referred to as the "Union", has as its general intent the promotion of a sound, harmonious, and mutually beneficial relationship between the parties hereto. In pursuant thereof, it is the specific purpose of this Agreement to establish an equitable and peaceful procedure for the resolution of differences between the parties on the interpretation and application of this Agreement and to set forth the rates of pay, hours of work, and conditions of employment. All references to the male gender apply equally to the female gender.
The parties recognize the interests of the entire community and its citizens are paramount and therefore the parties pledge to be governed by the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public and personal conduct necessary or proper to safeguard the life, property, and interests of the entire community and its citizens.
ARTICLE 1
CITY RIGHTS
1.1 City Authority
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as delegating to others the authority vested in the City, a municipal corporation, in the State of Illinois, and its duly elected and appointed officers, or the Rockford Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, or in any way abridging or reducing the authority of the City, said Board, said elected or appointed officers, or infringing upon the responsibility thereof to the people of the City.
1.2 Management Rights
Except as expressly modified by this Agreement, the City retains the sole right and authority to operate and direct the affairs of the City, including the exclusive management, control, and operations of the Police Department including, but not limited to, all rights and authority exercised by the City and the Police Department prior to the execution of this Agreement. Said rights include, but are not limited to, the right to set standards of service and protection to be offered to the citizens; direct the work forces; prescribe overtime and the policies related thereto; select the managerial and supervisory employees, direct, plan, control, and determine the operations of the Police Department and the services to be delivered to the citizens; assign and reassign employees; hire and promote employees; demote, suspend, discipline, or discharge for just cause; relieve employees due to lack of work or other legitimate reasons; make and enforce rules and regulations and make changes therein; change methods of operations, equipment or facilities, including contracting and subcontracting; provided, however, the exercise of any of the above rights shall not conflict with any of the provisions of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 2
RECOGNITION
2.1 Recognition
The City recognizes the Union as the sole and exclusive collective bargaining agent for all sworn personnel of the Rockford Police Department from the rank of patrol officer to and including the rank of sergeant (hereinafter referred to as the "employee"). The City will negotiate only with the authorized representatives or agents of the Union in all matters relating to wages, hours, and conditions of employment.
The Union agrees that the City may establish certain exempt positions within the command structure of the Rockford Police Department, in accordance with 65 ILCS 5/10-2.1-4. The total number of exempt positions shall not exceed six (6). All employees appointed to such positions shall be from among the sworn officers of the Rockford Police Department and shall not be civilians or from outside the Rockford Police Department. Such employees shall be appointed and serve at the sole discretion of the Chief of Police.
2.2 Union Membership
The City shall not, in any manner whatsoever either directly or indirectly, discourage employee membership in the Union. Any employee may withdraw from membership in the Union by giving written notice of such withdrawal to the Union, with a copy thereof to the City.
2.3 Payroll Deduction
Pursuant to the Authority created in 50 ILCS 125/2, any employee may request the City to deduct from his earnings and remit to the Treasurer of the Union all dues, membership fees, or special assessments uniformly levied by the Union by properly executing and submitting to the City's Payroll Officer the "Authorization for Payroll Deduction" form. Said form shall be provided by the Union and approved by the City's Payroll Officer.
The City's Payroll Officer shall honor all "Authorization for Payroll Deduction" forms received by him not later than ten (10) working days prior to the next deduction date. Deductions shall be made in the amount certified to the City by the Treasurer of the Union. Up to two changes in the amount deducted for dues, membership fees, or special assessments shall be allowed each calendar year.
The same payroll deduction plan, and the details therein contained, may be utilized by the Police Relief Association two times per calendar year in the amounts certified to the City's Payroll Officer by the President of the Police Relief Association
2.4 Remittance of Dues
Total deductions collected for each pay period shall be remitted by the City to the Treasurer of the Union (or, when applicable, to the Police Relief Association), together with a list of employees for whom the deductions have been made, not later than ten (10) calendar days after the date said deductions were withheld.
2.5 Suspension of Deductions
Deductions shall be withheld and remitted to the Treasurer of the Union unless or until such time as the City's Payroll Officer receives duly executed written notice of revocation of an employee's Authorization for Payroll Deduction from the employee or official notice of an employee's death, transfer from covered employment, termination of covered employment, or when there are insufficient funds available in the employee's earnings after withholding all other legal and required deductions. Information concerning dues not deducted under this Article shall be forwarded to the Union Treasurer by the Payroll Officer, and this action will discharge the City's only responsibility with regard to such cases. Deductions shall cease at such time as a strike or work stoppage occurs in violation of Article 12 (No Strike - No Lock Out).
2.6 Indemnification
Only items contained in this Article will be deducted, and any amounts deducted improperly by the City because of Union constitutional or by-laws provisions, as well as rebates and death reimbursements, shall be refunded by the Union to the employee.
The Union will indemnify and hold the City harmless against any and all claims, demands, damages, suits or other forms of liability that may arise out of or by reason of action taken or not taken by the City for the purpose of complying with the provisions of this Article, or in reliance upon any list notice, assignment or authorization furnished to the City by the Union or the Police Relief Association. Any sum paid to either the Union or the Police Relief Association in error shall be refunded upon presentation of proper evidence thereof. This Article further indemnifies, holds harmless and does not impose any liability upon any individual employee.
2.7 Release Time for Union Business
In recognition of the preamble of this Agreement the City shall grant paid release time to officers and representatives of the Union as enumerated below. Employees shall not otherwise conduct Union business while on duty.
A. Said release time shall be allowed for Board members to attend the annual state Policemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association Convention, regular monthly Union meetings (limited to two (2) hours each month), labor management meetings, and the annual Union meeting.
B. The City shall grant paid release time to a maximum of four (4) Board members of the Union to attend at least one (1) labor seminar per calendar year. The Union Board shall determine which seminar will be attended.
C. A Union representative shall have reasonable release time for investigating grievances pursuant to Article 8.3 of this Agreement.
D. Up to six (6) employees constituting a Union bargaining committee shall be allowed paid release time for negotiation meetings with the City for the purpose of negotiating a successor collective bargaining agreement. “Bargaining Committee” members will be permitted reasonable release time prior to and after contract negotiations.
ARTICLE 3
SENIORITY
3.1 Definition
Seniority, as distinguished from longevity as defined elsewhere in this Agreement, is defined as full-time service as a sworn officer of the Police Department. An employee's seniority date shall be defined as the date of his original appointment.
Seniority shall accumulate during all authorized and paid leaves of absence. However, effective January 1, 2001 seniority shall not accumulate during unauthorized and authorized unpaid leaves of absence during a period of suspension greater than five (5) days, or subsequent to termination. Seniority shall be deemed lost when, for a period of greater than one (1) year, an employee, has quit, or taken an unauthorized leave of absence, or been terminated for just cause(s).
3.2 Seniority List
As of January 1, a seniority list shall be compiled of all employees as determined by the records of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. Such list shall be posted and a copy furnished to the President of the Union.
The list shall be final unless objections thereto are received by the Chief of Police within fourteen (14) days after such list has been posted.
The City shall provide an updated seniority list to the President of the Union when an employee is no longer employed by the City or new employees are hired. The updated seniority list shall be provided to the President of the Union no later than five (5) business days following said termination or hiring.
3.3 Use of Seniority
Seniority shall be used whenever an employee may exercise length of service in the selection of vacation periods within Department elements as determined by the Chief of Police or this Agreement. When two (2) or more employees have the same seniority date, the employee with the highest entrance test score as recorded in the records of the Police and Fire Commission shall be deemed more senior.
ARTICLE 4
HOLIDAYS
4.1 Paid Holidays
"Holiday Pay" shall be defined as the straight time rate of pay earned by an employee for an eight (8) hour work day. Employees scheduled to work in positions which require 24-hour per day, 7-day per week coverage shall receive Holiday Pay for the following paid holidays:
New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, President’s Day, Good Friday (four (4) hours), Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve (four (4) hours), and Christmas Day.
Employees who are assigned to the Administrative Bureau shall work or be off on the days listed above at the discretion of the Chief of Police. However, employees assigned to Light Duty shall not be forced to take any optional holiday off. Employees on Light Duty electing to take such holidays off shall use their compensatory time for all hours taken.
Employees who are scheduled other than as described above shall have the following holidays off: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and shall be compensated for the other days listed above as are the 24-hour/7-day employees.
All employees shall receive Holiday Pay for all additional holidays declared by the Mayor or his designee for any other City employees.
4.2 Work on a Holiday
An employee performing authorized work on any of the aforementioned paid holidays, in addition to Holiday Pay, shall, at said employee's option, be paid either that employee's regular straight time rate of pay or Compensatory Time Off for all hours worked unless such time constitutes overtime.
An employee scheduled to work on a holiday, as part of said employee's regularly scheduled work week, shall forfeit that part of Holiday Pay proportionate to any part of his regular shift not worked unless specially excused by his superior.
When an employee is called in by a supervisor to work on a holiday which had been scheduled as that employee's day off, such employee shall be entitled to receive call back pay as specified in Section 5.4.
4.3 Miscellaneous
An employee on vacation at the time the holiday is observed shall, at the employee's option, receive Holiday Pay or Compensatory Time Off; provided, however, that compensatory time may not be taken if the resulting manpower level falls below that established by the Chief of Police.
4.4 Compensatory Time
Employees who work in positions requiring 24-hour, 7-day per week coverage shall have ninety-six (96) hours of holiday hours credited to their holiday bank on January 1 of each year to be used as compensatory time.
Employees who work in positions other than as described above shall have forty-eight (48) hours of holiday hours credited to their holiday bank on January 1 of each year to be used as compensatory time.
All compensatory time accumulated according to this Article shall be taken or paid at the discretion of the employee; provided, however, compensatory time may not be taken if the resulting manpower level falls below that established by the Chief of Police, unless, effective January 1,2001, such use is tied into vacation leave. Employees shall have the right to use up to three (3) days of compensatory time which is immediately tied into their vacations.
The Chief of Police, or his designee, may authorize additional use of compensatory time that is immediately tied into vacation use and his decision shall not be subject to the grievance procedure of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 5
OVERTIME
5.1 Overtime Pay or Compensatory Time Off
Overtime for employees (including but not limited to patrol bureau employees) assigned by agreement to a ten (10) hour per day schedule shall be defined as all time worked in excess of either ten (10) hours per day or all time worked in excess of an average of forty (40) hours per week.
Overtime for all other employees shall be defined as all time worked in excess of either eight (8) hours per day or all time worked in excess of an average of forty (40) hours per week.
Overtime shall be scheduled and worked in accord with current Police Department practices.
"Overtime Pay" shall be computed by multiplying the hours of overtime times one and one-half (1-1/2) the employee's regular rate of pay.
All overtime accumulated, unless otherwise specified in this Agreement, shall be compensated by overtime pay. Compensatory time off may not be taken if the resulting manpower level falls below that established by the Chief of Police.
5.2 Court Duty Time
Employees ordered or subpoenaed to give testimony in any court or any administrative proceeding concerning facts arising out of the performance of the employee’s duties as a police officer shall be compensated as follows and subject to applicable laws:
A. Appearances that immediately precede or follow (i.e., two (2) hours or less) an employee's regular work shift shall be compensated at the overtime rate for actual hours (or fractions thereof) worked;
B. For appearances that do not immediately precede or follow (i.e., 2 hours or less) an employee's regular workshift, employees shall receive a minimum of four (4) hours of straight time compensation or compensation for actual hours (or fractions thereof) worked at the applicable rate for each appearance, whichever is greater;
C. For purposes of determining the applicable rate referenced in Section 5.2 (b) above, employees shall be compensated at the straight time rate for all hours worked unless the number of hours exceeds ten (10) (for those employees assigned to a ten-hour per day schedule) or eight (8) (for all other employees) in one day or an average of forty (40) hours per week in which case the employee shall receive compensation at the overtime rate.
D. Employees shall receive the compensation set forth in Section 5.2(b) above for each morning or afternoon appearance.
Subpoenas for multiple cases to appear at the same time on the same date shall be considered one appearance.
Subpoenas for multiple cases to appear during morning court or afternoon court on the same date shall be considered one appearance.
Subpoenas for both morning and afternoon court shall be considered two appearances.
Should an appearance on an individual case extend from the morning court call into the afternoon court call or from the afternoon court call into the next morning court call and so forth, each morning and each afternoon shall be considered a separate appearance for purposes of compensation under Section 5.2.B., including separate four hour minimums.
E. If an employee is subpoenaed for an appearance and is then contacted and cancelled on the day of the appearance, such employee shall receive compensation as provided above in paragraphs (a)-(d). Such employee is required to obtain the name of the individual who contacted him and cancelled the appearance and must list that name on the time coming slip to his supervisor.
F. Employees shall receive two (2) hours compensation at their overtime rate of pay if canceled the day “immediately preceding” the day of the appearance and such cancellation is:
1. Less than twenty-four (24) hours the day before the court appearance (Section 5.2 E applies for cancellation “the day of”) and;
2. The employee would have been entitled to compensation as provided in this Article, i.e., not scheduled to work the same hours as the court appearance, off duty, etc.
Employees shall submit an overtime slip for said cancellation indicating the original court date as the “date earned” and making a notation in the narrative section identifying the person that canceled the court appearance, the date, and the “actual time” canceled.
Employees scheduled for multiple “off duty” court appearances “on the same day” are only eligible for separate two (2) hour compensations if the appearances covered “both” morning and afternoon court sessions.
Multiple appearances for the morning “or” afternoon are eligible for the only one (1) compensation of two (2) hours.
5.3 Payment of Overtime
Overtime pay shall be paid at the next possible pay period, except as otherwise noted in this Agreement.
5.4 Call Back
Employees who are called back to duty either before or after their regular work shift shall receive a minimum of two(2) hours compensation at the overtime rate or compensation at the overtime rate for all hours (or fractions thereof) actually worked, whichever is greater, with such hours being compensated through overtime pay.
5.5 Hire Backs for Special Events
A. Definition: Hire-backs for Special Events shall be defined as an assignment outside an employee’s regularly scheduled work hours to police applicant testing, performing security duties, and traffic and crowd control at scheduled times/dates. Authority for determination of whether a situation requires off-duty personnel to be hired back rests with the Chief of Police.
B. Payment: Payment for such hirebacks shall be at the employee’s overtime rate of pay, except for the annual 4th of July, Waterfront (hours defined as 5:00 p.m. the Thursday prior to Labor day until noon Labor Day including the Labor Day Parade) and New Year’s Eve special events. The hourly rate of pay for employees for the listed events shall be at double the employee’s regular hourly rate of pay.
The Chief or his designee may at his discretion adjust the starting times of employees scheduled to work on the same day as the listed events. Said employees shall be paid at double the employee’s regular hourly rate of pay for all time outside their regularly scheduled starting time while working said events.
Any employee who is working one of the above events in an overtime capacity and is assigned another task outside of said event would continue to receive double employee’s regular hourly rate of pay during the hours of said events. After said hours the employee will revert back to their regular hourly rate of overtime pay.
C. Eligible Personnel for Special Event Hire-backs. Effective February 1, 2002, and each February 1st thereafter, the Department shall establish three (3) separate hire-back lists. One list is for each of the following: general hire-backs, the annual 4th of July event and the Waterfront event.
The lists shall be maintained in departmental seniority order and shall include all employees who have successfully completed their FTO training. As employees successfully complete their FTO training, they shall be added to the lists according to their departmental seniority date.
D. Hireback Postings and Acceptance: As hireback assignments become known, they will be posted a reasonable time prior to the date of the assignment. The posting period will be not less than ten (10) days, unless there is not a sufficient time span between the posting date and the date of the assignment. Each notice of a hireback assignment will contain the date of the assignment, time of the assignment, number of employees required and a brief description of the assignment. Postings will be made in the Patrol roll call room. Any employee interested in a particular assignment should sign-up on that notice, regardless of the number of employees required for that assignment.
The Patrol administrative sergeant, or such other person as designated by the Chief, will review all posting notices after the posting period has expired and will give the assignment to the most senior employee that has signed-up for the assignment. Assignments requiring sergeants shall be made according to seniority in rank.
The Department shall provide the Union President, or his designee, copies of requests for hire-backs for special events when the event is posted for sign-up. The Department shall also provide a copy of the final job assignments for such events listing the names of the employees assigned, hours to be worked by each employee and if the employee was forced or volunteered to work the hireback no later than two (2) business days after the final job assignments are made.
E. Insufficient Number of Volunteers: In the event an insufficient number of employees volunteer for a particular hireback assignment, the department shall be able to force employees to work these situations. Forcing shall be done off the appropriate eligibility list (as explained above) but maintained in inverse seniority order.
When a forced work situation occurs, employees will be forced to work it in inverse seniority order. No employee shall be forced to work another forced hire-back event until each eligible employee on the forced list has been forced to work an assignment.
Employees are not eligible for force back if they are: scheduled for duty, have TC, on vacation or have regularly scheduled days off immediately before or after vacation, off work with extended illness, utilizing FMLA, assigned to light duty or administrative duty, or assigned training approved by the Department.
Sergeants are subject to additional force backs to fill supervisory positions for hire-back events. Assignments requiring sergeants shall be made according to seniority in rank.
Employees may not decline to work a forced situation, however, they may find a replacement to work the situation for them. If an employee forced to work a hire-back event finds a volunteer employee to take that assignment, the employee who was originally forced will be credited as if he had worked the forced hire-back .
F. Miscellaneous: Employees may be on TC or vacation and still be eligible to volunteer for a special event hireback. Employees whose TC or vacation requests have been approved after they have been advised of a forced hireback for special event are not excused from that duty because of such TC or vacation.
New employees successfully completing their FTO training will be added to the lists in their proper seniority position.
Assignment to special event hirebacks will be made without regard to rank or grade in that sergeants and investigators will be allowed to work non-supervisory or non-investigatory assignments. If an assignment specifically requires supervisors and or investigators, those assignments will be given only to personnel of the appropriate rank or grade.
Employees who are involved in the planning of a Special Event as part of their regular duties shall be allowed to work the Event and shall not be required to bid pursuant to Section D of this Article.
Employees who are deemed to have performed inadequately or who have failed to report to a hireback without giving reasonable notice to the hireback supervisor on hireback assignments may be subject to department disciplinary action.
G. Hirebacks for Recruit Testing: Hirebacks for recruit testing shall be first offered to employees that have worked such assignment previously. If an insufficient number of such employees sign-up to work the applicant testing, then the procedure set forth herein shall apply to obtaining additional personnel to work the testing hireback.
H. Use of Bike/RHA Units Use for Special Events: The Chief of Police shall determine whether employees assigned to the Bike/RHA Units should be utilized as hire-backs for special events for the following events: Bike Races, Parades, Downtown Pride Tour, Multiple Runs, Marathons, events held at the Metro Centre (located at 300 Elm Street in Rockford) Wing Ding, the annual Ethnic Festival, Hoops for Life, On The Waterfront, and “perimeter security” for events held at Davis Park (with traffic or crowd control being posted as a general hire-back.
Should the Chief of Police determine that employees not assigned to the Bike/RHA Units would also be required for the aforementioned or agreed upon events then such additional manpower shall be filled by the utilization of the Hire-back for Special Events procedure described herein.
If the Chief of Police determines that employees assigned to the Bike/RHA Units are to be hired-back for the aforementioned or agreed upon events, only employees assigned to the Bike/RHA Units shall be subject to force-back for the bike unit positions. If additional manpower is required under the preceding paragraph, the general hire-back/force-back procedures as described herein shall be utilized for those positions.
The daily work schedules of Bike/RHA Units employees shall not be changed, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to avoid payment of overtime to work Special Event Hire-backs. This section shall not prohibit the flexing of Bike/RHA Units employee’s hours on their regularly scheduled work days.
Voluntary and force back assignments shall be done in the same manner as described in Sections D and E of this Article.
The Chief of Police and the Union President, or their designees, must meet and mutually agree for the use of the Bike/RHA Units to work a special event as a hire-back for any event not specifically listed herein and such use may not be unreasonably denie
5.6 Cancellation of Hireback for Special Events
If a hire back is cancelled less than twenty-four (24) hours before the actual time of work occurs, it will be compensated for at the call back rate as specified in Article 5.4 of this Agreement. If a hire back is cancelled more than twenty-four (24) hours before the actual time of work occurs, then there will be no compensation.
ARTICLE 5A
TEN-HOUR SHIFTS
This Article shall pertain to those employees who by agreement are assigned to a ten (10) hour per day schedule, as follows:
5A.1 Shift Selection.
A. Employees shall sign up for shifts by listing their first and second choices and turning them into designated Department personnel. Shift selection will then be made by seniority, when there are too many for the staffing level set by the Department. If too few employees sign up for a particular shift based on their choices, assignment will be made by assigning the least senior employees.
B. Sergeants shall sign up for, and be assigned to shifts by seniority in rank, as set forth in section A., above. Such assignment shall be made prior to the selection described in section A., above.
C. Employees who have less than four (4) years of service on the Department shall not be assigned as set forth in subsection A., but instead shall be rotated by the Department so that they will have worked on all three (3) shifts during this four (4) year period. After the fourth year, employees will be assigned to shifts as set forth in section A., above.
D. Employees assigned to the Traffic or Identification Units shall sign up for shifts as noted in Section A except that shift selection will then be made by seniority based on the length of time assigned to the unit as investigator. Department seniority shall determine shift selection when investigators were assigned to the unit on the same date.
5A.2 Shift Trades
Employees shall be allowed to trade work days with other employees within their shift, provided no overtime results for the Department as a result of the trade, and prior written notice is given to the shift supervisor, on a form to be provided by the Department.
Trades with other employees of the Patrol Division subject to this Article normally assigned to a different shift will be allowed in extraordinary emergency situations upon approval of the department.
Employees that trade work days, subsequently miss that work day due to illness, shall work another day of the department’s choice. The employee owing the work day is the employee that was scheduled to work for the employee making the trade.
5A.3 Shift Transfers
Transfers from shifts may be made in the following manner:
A. The process of shift selection described above shall begin October 1 of each year, and shall be completed by November 1. All shifts will be re-selected each year.
B. Employees requesting a transfer at times other than those set forth above, may do so by submitting a written request to the Chief of Police, setting out the reasons for the request. Such transfers will only be made for reasons of continuing family or employee medical necessity. An employee who moves in this manner shall have his slot filled from among those on the shift to which the employee moves, in accordance with the normal selection procedures. Should the shift which the employee is requesting be short of manpower, then no exchange of employees would be required.
C. The Department shall have the authority to move an employee off a shift if it deems such a move to be in the best interests of the Department/employee. The Department shall discuss such move with the President of the Union prior to the movement being made. The slot vacated shall be filled utilizing the normal selection procedures. An employee moved by the Department may be kept on the new shift through the next normal selection cycle (i.e., a maximum of twenty-four (24) months). employees shall not be moved for disciplinary reasons.
D. Openings created in Patrol, Traffic, and I.D. by retirements, promotions, or termination of employment, if the Chief determines that such openings be filled, shall be subject to the seniority bidding procedures contained herein for employees holding the same rank within each unit as the opening to be filled. Such bidding shall commence the Department being notified in writing of the opening, or official action is announced to create the opening, and shall last for fourteen (14) calendar days. This rebidding process shall apply only to the opening created and shall not apply to the openings created by this process.
ARTICLE 6
VACATIONS
6.1 Vacations
he following schedule sets forth the amount of vacation for which an employee may qualify according to seniority, which, for purposes of this section, includes time spent as a cadet:.
Length of Service Vacation
First full month through the Eight (8) hours per month
completion of one (1st) year (Eighty (80) hours maximum)
First day of the second Eighty (80) hours
year through completion
of five (5th) years
First day of the sixth (6th) One hundred-twenty (120)
year through completion hours
of fourteen (14th) years
First day of the fifteen (15th) One hundred-sixty (160) hours
year through completion of
the twenty-fourth (24th) year
First day of the twenty- Two hundred (200) hours
fifth (25th) year and over
6.2 Vacation Accreditation and Use
Vacation will be accredited to the employee on January 1 of each year of this Agreement based on his/her length of seniority on that date. However, when an employee passes an anniversary date which qualified the employee for an extra forty (40) hours of vacation, those forty (40) hours then will be credited to the employee. Vacation may be taken at any time throughout the calendar year within administrative guidelines as established by the Chief of Police and Article 6.3 of this Agreement. However, new employees shall not use any vacation until after the completion of twelve (12) months of duty.
Employees who resign from the Police Department with less than one (1) year of seniority shall not be entitled to any vacation benefits.
6.3 Vacation Selection
A. Seniority shall be used in selecting vacation periods, however, the Chief of Police or his designee(s) shall determine the number and classifications of employees to be on vacation at any given time.
B. Vacations may be selected in the following manner:
1. If vacations are selected in blocks of weeks each week shall consist of seven consecutive calendar days, beginning on a Sunday.
2. For employees on ten(10)-hour schedules pursuant to Article 5A, who select weeks of vacation which result in having ten (10) hours remaining to be used shall have such hours converted as set forth in subsections 3-6, below; employees who select weeks of vacation which result in requiring an additional ten (10) hours to be used shall be allowed to use accumulated holiday, compensatory or vacation time coming to make up the difference. Hours so used shall be guaranteed as vacation time, as set forth by current Department practices.
3. Any employee may designate one(1) or two (2) forty-(40-)hour blocks of his vacation to be used as time off in one (1)-hour increments. The total vacation time taken in this manner shall not exceed eighty (80) hours in one (1) year. This forty (40) or eighty (80) hours shall be the equivalent of one(1) or two(2) seven- 7-day calendar weeks vacation.
4. Once an employee elects to take a week of his vacation in less than one-(1-)week increments, forty (40) or eighty (80) hours will be recorded as "vacation time coming" in the compensatory time record. The employee will then take this "vacation time coming” as off duty time in the same manner as currently used for taking off on compensatory time.
5. For such time selected as "vacation time coming"it is the employee's responsibility to use all of this time during the calendar year.
6. As with regular vacation time taken in week long blocks of time, "vacation time coming" cannot be allowed to accumulate and cannot be carried over from one year to the next without: (a) an extraordinary reason as approved in writing by the Chief of Police, or (b) the employee has completed twenty-five (25) years of service. Employees who have completed twenty-five (25) years of service can carry over from one year to the next a maximum of five (5) weeks vacation. Such carry over can only be converted to pay, and only upon termination of employment.
7. Prime Time vacation periods shall be from the first Sunday in June through the Labor Day weekend in September and the calendar weeks that include Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
Bidding by seniority for prime time vacation periods shall be as follows:
A. First and second round picks by seniority will be used to select vacations “during prime time only.”
B. First round prime time vacations picks will start on the Sunday of the last full week of January and will last four (4) weeks.
C. Second round prime time vacations picks by seniority will begin immediately after the first round pick end and will last four (4) weeks.
D. All other vacation picks, “and all picks outside prime time,” will be on a first requested – first honored basis.
6.4 Prorata Vacation
Employees shall, upon retirement, layoff, discharge or resignation, be entitled to vacation pay for leave earned but not used as of the date of separation. This shall include a prorata calculation of any vacation earned since January 1 of the year of separation.
6.5 Miscellaneous
Employees on approved military leave as provided herein shall continue to accrue length of service for purposes of determining future vacation benefits upon return to department service.
6.6 Personal Leave Day
All employees who have five (5) or more years of seniority shall receive a personal leave day. All employees who have fifteen (15) or more years shall receive two (2) personal leave days. These days shall be credited as eight (8) hours of compensatory time, to be used in accordance with Article 5.1.
ARTICLE 7
LEAVES OF ABSENCE
7.1 Funeral Leave
Where there is a death in the employee's immediate family, the employee shall be granted three (3) consecutive calendar days off, one of which must be the day of the funeral. Regularly scheduled work days off during the leave shall be with pay.
"Immediate family" shall include: Father, mother, spouse, children, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother, sister, grandparents, grandparents of spouse, grandchildren, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, step-parents, step-children, step-siblings or step-grandchildren. This leave shall not be granted for the day(s) an employee is on approved leave or vacation or holiday as provided herein.
The Chief of Police may, in his discretion, authorize time off without pay in situations not covered in this Article.
7.2 Military Leave
Employees who are duly enrolled members of a reserve unit of the Armed Forces of the United States, including the National Guard, shall be granted a leave of absence not to exceed two (2) calendar weeks per year for the purpose of attending camps or schools. employees who are called to duty by reason of civil disobedience, rioting or other emergencies shall be granted a leave of absence not to exceed two (2) calendar weeks or ten (10) working days. employees on approved military leave shall be paid the difference between their military pay, excluding expense allowances, and their straight time pay. The employee shall keep the military check and receive the difference from the City upon submitting proof of the amount of military pay received.
7.3 Jury Service Leave
Employees who are called for jury service in any court of the State of Illinois or of the United States shall be granted paid leave of absence to serve as a juror if such duty is on an employee’s regularly scheduled work day. Such employees shall be entitled to the option of either receiving their jury duty pay or receiving their regular straight time pay from the City. If the employee chooses to receive his regular straight time pay from the City, the full amount of jury duty pay, excluding expense allowances, shall be reimbursed to the City by the employee.
In the event that an employee reports for jury duty and that day is a regularly scheduled work day, that day shall constitute a jury service day for that employee notwithstanding the length of time he actually serves that day; such jury service day shall be that employee’s work/duty day, and he shall not have to work any shift that begins on the same day as his jury service.
7.4 Family Medical Leave
Employees shall be granted all the rights of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Employees shall not be required to use paid leave under this Agreement prior to invoking their right to FMLA Qualifying Leave.
7.5A. Sick Leave
Sick leave shall be administered pursuant to the past practice of the parties hereto,
except as provided in Article 7.5 B below.
7.5 B Use Of Paid Leave For FMLA Purposes
Employees may use sick leave for the employee’s own Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) eligible conditions. The use of paid sick leave for FMLA for the care of eligible persons other than the employee may also be used to a maximum of sixty (60) hours in a twelve-month period. Paid sick leave shall only be used for serious health conditions as defined under FMLA, and therefore not used for the birth or adoption of a child. The twelve-month period shall begin with the first hour of sick leave taken for
FMLA.
ARTICLE 8
CONTRACT GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
8.1 Grievance Procedure
As used herein, "Grievance" shall mean any dispute or complaint concerning the interpretation of, application of, or compliance with, the terms of this Agreement.
It is the intent and purpose of both parties to use their individual and collective best efforts to settle and resolve their differences on a prompt and informal basis. Where such informal efforts are unsuccessful in resolving an issue which is believed to be a violation of this Agreement the following procedure shall be followed.
Either the Union or the City may initiate this Grievance Procedure by filing written notice of a grievance with the other not later than thirty (30) calendar days from the latter of the occurrence giving rise to the grievance or from the filing party's notice in fact of the occurrence giving rise to the grievance. The Union shall file said written notice to the City by delivery thereof to the Police Chief, and the City shall serve said notice to the Union by delivery thereof to the President of the Union. The aforesaid written notice shall include a full and detailed statement of all facts giving rise to the grievance, including names and dates, together with the portion or portions of the Agreement thereby placed in issue.
Within fourteen (14) calendar days of receipt of the notice of grievance, the designated representative of the City shall meet with the President of the Union, or his designated representative, for the purpose of resolving the grievance. If the parties are unable to resolve the grievance at this meeting, the party against whom the grievance was filed will issue a written decision denying or granting the grievance within fourteen (14) calendar days of the date of the meeting. Within fourteen (14) calendar days of receipt of the written statement denying the grievance, the grieving party (City or Union) may take the grievance to Arbitration under the procedures detailed in the following Section providing the other party with written Notice of Intent to Arbitrate.
If the last day of any of the time periods listed above falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the deadline shall be moved to the first calendar day following the weekend or holiday.
8.2 Contract Arbitration
Within fourteen (14) calendar days of service of Notice of Intent to Arbitrate, the parties, by their designated representative, shall attempt to mutually agree to the joint designation of an impartial Arbitrator. If the parties are unable to reach such an agreement within said fourteen (14) day period, they shall jointly request the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to furnish them a list of the names of seven (7) Arbitrators. Within fourteen (14) calendar days or receipt of said list, the parties shall alternately strike names from the list until only one (1) remains who shall be the Arbitrator. The party requesting the Arbitration shall strike first.
The Arbitrator shall have power, authority and jurisdiction to interpret, apply and determine compliance with this Agreement and shall not add to, subtract from or modify in any way its terms and provisions.
The decision of the Arbitrator shall be final and binding upon both parties hereto. The Arbitrator will have thirty (30) days after conducting a hearing to reach a decision.
8.3 Release Time and Time Limitations
A. Release Time
During the grievance meeting and during the arbitration hearing, the grievant, a designated representative from the Union, and up to three (3) employee witnesses shall, during working time, be granted release time, and time spent in such attendance shall be counted as time worked.
A Union representative shall be granted reasonable release time for investigating and processing each grievance, prior to or after the time of filing. The representative shall request such time from the Chief of Police, who shall not unreasonably deny such request.
B. Time Limitations
Unless mutually agreed upon in writing beforehand, the failure of either party to comply with the time requirements shall be deemed to mean that each accepts the other's position at the last stage of the Grievance Procedure.
8.4 Employee Rights
Nothing in this Agreement prevents an employee from presenting a grievance to the City and having the grievance heard and settled without the intervention of an employee organization; provided that the Union is afforded the opportunity to be present at such conferences and that any settlement made shall not be inconsistent with the terms of any Agreement in effect between the City and the Union.
Nothing shall be construed to limit the Union's right to exercise its discretion to refuse to process grievances of employees which it believes to be not meritorious.
ARTICLE 9
UNIFORMS
9.1 Uniforms or Annual Clothing Allowance
The City shall issue uniforms, including shoes and required accoutrements, to all uniformed employees and shall replace any such items which become unserviceable through normal usage. Issue, replacement, and return of uniforms (including the requirements that upon an employee's separation from the Department, he must return all uniform items) shall be governed by Directives from the Chief of Police.
All non-uniformed employees shall receive an Annual Clothing Allowance of $400.00. Claims for clothing items of non-uniformed employees which are damaged in the line of duty, may be submitted to the City Legal Department under existing claims procedures.
9.2 Cleaning Allowance
All employees shall receive an annual cleaning allowance of $200.00.
9.3 Payment
Payment of all cash allowances pursuant to this Article shall be issued in two (2) equal installments on February and August 15th of each year. Employees assigned to the rank of Investigator shall receive a prorata share of the clothing and cleaning allowance described in this Article, based upon the amount of time the employee spent in the rank of Investigator during the previous six (6) months. Upon an employee's retirement, the earned allowances provided in this article shall be paid on a pro-rated basis to that employee.
ARTICLE 10
INSURANCE
10.1 Paid Premiums of employees
Effective January 1, 1996 employees who have single coverage shall pay $20.00 per month as a premium for health and dental care. Effective January 1, 2000, the monthly premium shall be twenty-five dollars ($25.00). Those with dependent coverage shall pay $30.00 per month. Effective January 1, 2000, the monthly premium shall be thirty-five dollars ($35.00) per month. The City agrees to pay the remainder of the cost of the health and dental insurance under the City's designated health and dental plan for the employee and his dependents.
The co-payment by the City and employee shall be maintained at 80 percent (seventy (70) percent effective January 1, 2000) by the City and 20 percent (thirty (30) percent effective January 1, 2000) by the employee up to $3,000 after satisfaction of the employee's deductible in any given calendar year. Further, the life-time maximum benefit for persons covered by the plan shall be $1,000,000. Effective January 1, 2000 the life-time maximum benefit for persons covered by the plan shall be one-million and five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000). The deductible shall be $125.00 per person per year to a maximum of $375.00 per family per year. Effective January 1, 2000 the deductible shall be one-hundred and fifty dollars ($150.00) per person per year to a maximum of four-hundred and fifty dollars ($450.00).
However, should the City reach agreement with a preferred provider, the following shall govern: for services obtained by employees through the preferred provider, there shall be no deductible, and the co-payment shall be 90 percent (eighty (80) percent effective January 1, 2000) by the City and 10 percent (twenty (20) percent effective January 1, 2000) by the employee up to three thousand dollars ($3,000) in any calendar year. For services obtained through non-preferred providers, the deductible shall be as described in paragraph two(2) above and the co-payment percentages shall be 70 percent (sixty (60 percent effective January 1, 2000) City and 30 percent (forty (40) percent effective January 1, 2000) employee up to three-thousand dollars ($3,000) after satisfaction of the employee's deductible in any given calendar year.
10.2 Summary of Benefits
The City agrees to maintain the benefits in the City insurance plan in effect as of the date of approval of the January 1, 1990, through December 31, 1991, Agreement except as otherwise noted in this Agreement as to co-payment percentages and deductibles, prescription drug plan and precertification. Any changes in any written documents pertaining to the City insurance plan shall be submitted to the Union President prior to their consideration by City governing bodies.
Payment or nonpayment of a particular claim shall not be subject to the grievance procedure. Appeals of claim denials shall be made within ninety (90) days to the City's Third Party Administrator, as set forth in the plan document. Appeals of these decisions shall be made to the Director of Personnel of the City.
The City/TPA shall provide information regarding health claim denial to the affected employee upon request.
The City shall provide flexible spending accounts in accordance with Section 125 of the I.R.S. Code at no premium cost to the employee.
The City shall pay for a routine dental prophylaxis (cleaning) two (2) times per calendar year.
The employees shall comply with the pre-certification program in effect with other City employees at the time of the execution of this Agreement (and there shall be no penalty for non-compliance).
Employees shall also be enrolled in the National Medical Health Card program, or a prescription card equivalent.
However, effective January 1, 2000, employees in the National Medical Health Card program shall be subject to the following conditions:
1. The employee co-pay for generic prescription medication and brand prescription medication where no generic equivalent is available shall be fifteen dollars ($15.00) per prescription. Where the actual cost of the prescription is less than fifteen dollars ($15.00) that actual cost shall apply.
2. The employee co-pay for brand prescriptions where generic equivalent is available shall be fifteen dollars (15.00) plus the price difference between the brand and generic equivalent. Where the physician mandates “no substitution” only, the not to exceed fifteen dollar ($15.00) co-pay shall apply.
3. The co-pay provisions apply to prescriptions in 30-day increments. Maintenance drugs/prescriptions may continue to be issued in 90-day increments; however, three (3) individual co-pays shall apply. Effective January 1, 2000, maintenance drugs/prescriptions issued in 90-day supplies via mail order shall be limited to two (2) co-pays as described in items 1 and 2 above. Maintenance drugs are those as identified in the Medispan Master Drug List.
All employees covered by this Agreement shall be eligible for participating in the Employer’s Coalition On Health (ECOH) Plan primary care network.
10.2(b) Employer’s Coalition on Health (ECOH)
Effective January 1, 2000: For employee’s who are enrolled in the Employer’s Coalition on Health (ECOH, all primary care services shall be covered at one hundred (100) percent with no co-pays or deductibles. For all referral services within ECOH, by the employee’s ECOH primary care physician, the co-pay shall be maintained at ninety (90) percent by the City and ten (10) percent by the employee, up to the first three thousand dollars ($3,000).
10.3 Death Benefit
Effective January 1, 1999: The City shall provide, at no cost to the employee, a death benefit in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each employee who dies while employed by the City.
ARTICLE 11
SAVINGS CLAUSE
If any Article or Section, or portion thereof of this Agreement should be held invalid by operation of law or by any tribunal of competent and final jurisdiction, or if compliance with or enforcement of any Article or Section, or portion thereof, should be restrained by such tribunal pending the final determination of its validity, the remainder of this Agreement shall not be invalidated or otherwise affected thereby.
In the event that any Article or Section, or portion thereof, is held invalid or enforcement thereof or compliance therewith has been restrained as above set forth, the parties shall immediately enter into collective bargaining negotiations for the purpose of arriving at a mutually satisfactory replacement for such Article or Section, or portion thereof.
ARTICLE 12
NO STRIKE - NO LOCK OUT
The Union, its officers and agents, and the employees agree not to instigate, promote, sponsor, engage in, or condone any strike, slowdown, picketing (other than informational picketing which shall be permitted), concerted stoppage of work or any other intentional interruption of operations. The City will not lock out any employees during the period this Agreement remains in effect as the result of a labor dispute with the Union.
Upon notification by the City to the Union in writing that certain of its members are, or may be, engaged in a violation of this provision, the Union shall cease, provide the City with a copy of such an order, and a responsible official of the Union shall make public that order. The Union agrees to take all reasonable effective and affirmative action to secure compliance with the order as promptly as possible. Failure of the Union to issue the order and take the action required herein shall be considered in determining whether or not the Union has violated this provision.
Any or all of the employees who violate any of the provisions of this section may be disqualified or disciplined by the City. In any arbitration proceeding involving breach of this provision, the sole question for the arbitrator to determine is whether the employee engaged in the prohibited activity.
Either party which violates this Article shall be subject to the laws of the State and Federal Government and the rules and regulations of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners.
ARTICLE 13
INDEMNIFICATION - LEGAL COUNSEL
Whenever any employee incurs potential civil liability for actions arising in the course of his employment, the City's liability shall be governed by 65 ILCS 5/ 1-4-6. The City further agrees, in the aforementioned situations, to furnish the employee counsel from the City of Rockford, Department of Law.
In the event the employee has reasons for desiring outside counsel, the employee shall present those reasons to the Legal Director along with the name of the attorney requested by the employee. If the employee and the Legal Director do not agree as to the appropriateness of hiring outside counsel, the employee and Legal Director shall select a mutually agreeable third party, who shall decide the appropriateness of the Legal Director's decision to furnish counsel from the Department of Law.
In the event the Legal Director or the mutually agreeable third party decides it is appropriate to hire outside counsel, the City agrees to furnish the employee his requested legal counsel unless the Legal Director reasonably believes said counsel lacks the demonstrated knowledge and experience to adequately defend the employee.
Counsel shall be provided through all stages up to and including a single appeal unless and/or until the employee is found guilty of criminal liability or willful and wanton misconduct in violation of State and Federal law. If a further appeal is involved in any civil action, the Legal Director, in his sole discretion, may assume the defense of such appeal. No other legal representation will be provided.
Whenever an employee is summoned before the Police and Fire Commission, upon a complaint from any party other than the City, regarding either preliminary hearings or actual hearings covering a disciplinary action which may be taken against the employee, the City shall furnish the employee counsel as provided herein. The City's liability to provide such counsel shall extend only through the local Circuit Court and the City shall assume no liability for such expenses as a result of appeal taken therefrom.
Whenever the City is a Complainant before the Police and Fire Commission, the City shall have no liability whatsoever to provide legal counsel or other expenses of the employee's defense against said complaint.
Any disagreement as to the selection of counsel or fees for said counsel shall not be subject to the grievance procedure or binding arbitration.
ARTICLE 14
WAGES
14.1 Wage Plan
The basic wage plan for all employee shall be shown in Appendix A.
14.2 Longevity Pay
For each five (5) years of service there will be an increase of two per cent (2%) of the base rate of an eligible employee to a maximum of ten per cent (10%).
Longevity pay shall be prorated on each individual pay period over the calendar year from January 1st to December 31st. An employee becomes eligible for longevity on the anniversary date of his employment, including time spent as a cadet..
14.3 Training Program
Employees who are required to attend training programs scheduled outside of regular duty hours shall be paid at the rate of one and one-half (1-1/2) times their straight time hourly rate of pay for all hours spent at such required training programs, except for meal breaks
For purposes of this Article only, when an employee attends a school requiring overnight travel, he shall receive only his regular pay regardless of the hours spent in training.
Employees work schedules and days off will not be adjusted without their consent to avoid payment of overtime compensation except in the case of training. The Department may change an employee's work schedule or days off a maximum of three (3) times during a calendar year in order to have the employee attend training programs.
Employees assigned to ten-hour per day schedules per Article 5A attending training sessions which last less than ten (10) hours but more than seven (7) hours (which includes time taken for meal breaks), shall not be required by the Department to perform other duties to finish a ten (10) hour shift. Such training sessions shall be considered as the employee’s full duty day.
14.4 Special Pay
Employees who are designated by the Department as SWAT members Bomb Disposal Officers, Interpreters, designated Firearms Instructors, or Critical Incident Negotiators shall be compensated in the amount of six hundred dollars ($600.00) per year, payable in equal portions on each paycheck during the year.
Effective January 1,1999, employees who are designated Field Training Officers, and designated as such by the Department, shall be compensated in the amount of sixteen hundred dollars ($1600.00) per year, payable in the same manner.
Employees designated as such shall begin earning the proportional payments in the first pay period following their designation and shall earn such payments so long as they continue as designated above. The Department shall designate these employees for each year by January 1, and shall notify the Union President of such designations and any changes during the course of the year.
To be eligible for appointment as a Field Training Officer, SWAT member Bomb Disposal Officer, Critical Incident Negotiator, Firearms Instructor of the Department, an employee must have completed a minimum of three (3) years of full time service as a sworn officer of the Department.
Effective January 1, 2001, to be eligible for appointment as Interpreter, an employee must have successfully completed his eighteen (18) months of probation.
SWAT members, Bomb Disposal Officers and Critical Incident Negotiators, may have their schedules adjusted as necessary for training purposes, without accrual of overtime to the City.
Employees designated as Interpreters shall be employees who may be called back to perform such duties. Any employee may be called on, without additional compensation, to interpret when the employee is already on duty.
14.5 Temporary Assignments
Employees who are temporarily assigned to a rank or position with a higher rate of pay shall not receive the higher rate of pay unless they are so assigned for a period of thirty (30) consecutive days. employees who are so assigned for a period of thirty (30) days or more shall receive the higher rate of pay for all time served in the rank or position from the first day of temporary assignment.
Except in cases of immediate need, each temporary assignment shall be posted for a minimum of one (1) week before such vacancy is to be filled. In cases of such immediate need, the Chief of Police or his designee shall notify the President of the Union in writing of his reasons for declaring an immediate need, unless directed not to do so by another Governmental Police Agency. When such temporary assignment is to continue for a period of longer than twenty-one (21) days, in cases of immediate need, the position shall nevertheless be posted as otherwise provided herein or soon as practical. The Department shall post the name of the person to fill such vacancy as soon as it has selected the person.
No person shall be assigned to such position for a period longer than six (6) months, unless that individual's continued participation is reasonably deemed essential by the Chief of Police. The City shall not make such temporary assignments to avoid or circumvent making promotions. The Chief of Police or his designee shall notify the President of the Union of his reasons for declaring such individual's continued temporary assignment to be deemed essential in writing, unless directed not to do so by another Governmental Police Agency.
14.6 Non-Bargaining Unit Work
Full-duty employees shall not perform work duties regularly assigned to non-unit employees (e.g. Communications and Records Bureau, carpentry, plumbing, painting and other craft work, etc.) except as call-backs.
14.7 Sergeant's Out of Rank Pay
When a sergeant is temporarily assigned to a rank or position with a higher rate of pay, he shall be paid five (5) percent above his base salary retroactive to the first hour worked when such assignment exceeds four (4) hours; however, such sergeant shall continue to be eligible for overtime and other benefits as provided to sergeants under the Agreement. All such assignments are the perogative of the Chief of Police.
ARTICLE 15
MISCELLANEOUS
15.1 Negotiations
This Agreement constitutes the entire Agreement between the parties and no verbal statement shall supersede or modify any of its provisions. Waiver of any breach of this Agreement by either party shall not constitute a waiver of any future breach of this Agreement. The City shall provide a printed copy of this Agreement to each member of the unit within thirty (30) days of its ratification by the parties.
15.2 Non-Discrimination
The parties agree that their respective policies and the application of interpretation of this Agreement shall not violate the rights or discriminate against any employee because of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, affiliation or non-affiliation with the Union or political affiliation. However, the parties agree that any alleged breaches of this provision shall be processed according to the appropriate Federal and State procedure rather than through Article 8, "Contract Grievance Procedure", of this Agreement. All references in this Agreement to the male employee shall be equally applicable to female employees and all references to the singular shall be equally applicable to the plural.
15.3 Conflicting Ordinances and Resolution
The City agrees that in the event there is a conflict between the terms of this Agreement and any ordinance, resolution, Rule and Regulation of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, Order, Rule and Regulation of the Police Department, or the Personnel Rules and Regulations of the City, the terms of this Agreement shall prevail. The foregoing shall not limit the right of the Chief of Police of Police to issue reasonable rules, regulations and general orders. To the extent that a subject is not otherwise covered by the terms of this Agreement, the current Personnel Rules and Regulations of the City shall apply to bargaining unit employees.
15.4 Grandfather Clause
No employee shall, due to the execution of this Agreement, suffer a reduction in wages, benefits or seniority as set forth in this Agreement.
15.5 Parking
The City shall provide at no cost to the employee one (1) parking space within three (3) blocks of the Public Safety Building. When an employee is on duty away from the Public Safety Building without a City-owned car, the City shall provide at no cost to the employee one (1) parking space within three (3) blocks of that tour of duty.
15.6 Employee Assistance Program
The City and the Union agree to aid in the maintenance of a mutually satisfactory employee Assistance Program for the benefit of bargaining unit members, and other City employees. The costs of any such program shall be borne by the City. The City agrees to maintain a committee to implement such a program, with representation on the committee consisting of members of this Union, members of AFSCME Local 1058, members of IAFF Local 413, and non-represented City employees, in addition to City representatives. Voting memberships on this committee shall be divided equally between City representatives and City employees.
The City and the Union agree that no information derived from such a program shall be used to demote or economically harm an employee.
The City shall train its management staff, and otherwise inform members of the Department in the proper use of the Critical Incident Team and shall encourage utilization of the team in appropriate circumstances. The Chief of Police and Union President, or their designees, shall consult on a regular basis as to the successful use of the team by the Department.
15.7 Residency
Employees may live anywhere in Winnebago County or anywhere within an area fifteen (15) miles from the Public Safety Building.
Upon original appointment an appointee may reside outside said limits but shall be required, as a condition of employment, to comply with said residency requirement within six (6) months after termination of the appointee’s probationary period.
15.8 Off Duty Employment
A. All employees who work off-duty jobs must submit an Officer’s Report containing the following information (for jobs where multiple employees work, only one Officers Report is required):
1. a detailed description of all job duties including the days and hours of employment.
2. indicate whether the uniform or plain clothes is worn on the job.
3. name, address, and phone number of the person or business hiring the employee(s).
4. a list of employees that normally work the job.
B. In addition to the Officer’s Report, the off-duty employer must provide the following:
1. a letter to the Chief of Police verifying that the officer is an employee. Subcontracting is not permitted unless the subcontractor meets these requirements.
2. obtain and at all times the employee is so employed by Employer, maintain an insurance policy issued by a company licensed to do business in the State of Illinois providing coverage to the employer and all employees including the employee providing commercial general liability coverage with combined single limits of $1,000,000.00. The City of Rockford shall be listed as co-insured on this policy.
3. furnish proof of such insurance coverage by filing with the Police Department a certificate of insurance listing the City of Rockford as certificate holder and providing insurance coverage, and by filing with the Police Department a copy of the Employer’s commercial general liability policy.
4. execute and file with the Police Department an Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement. Agreement forms will be furnished by the administration.
C. The Department will review all requests and respond in writing whether they have been approved or denied based on the above listed requirements. Employees will be permitted to work only those jobs that have been approved through this evaluation process. Requests to work for an establishment that sells or provides liquor to patrons will generally be denied except for functions sponsored by charitable organizations which will be considered on a case by case basis.
D. Employees currently working for off-duty employers will have until February 1, 2001 to comply with this article. The information may be required on an annual basis. This article does not apply to employees working Department hirebacks or for employees working security for the Rockford School District.
15.9 Discipline
In addition to the rights guaranteed by the laws of the State of Illinois and the United States of America and the Rules and Regulations of the Rockford Fire and Police Commission, the parties agree that bargaining unit employees shall have the following rights in discipline cases.
A. Discipline in the Rockford Police Department shall be for cause and shall be progressive and corrective, designed to improve, not merely punish behavior. Employees may be disciplined by an oral reprimand, corrective action/recognition notice, a written reprimand, a suspension from duty, and/or termination. The disciplinary action slips known as “corrective action/recognition notices” or “green slips” in an employee’s file shall accumulate each year until completion of an employee’s annual evaluation pursuant to Article 15.11. Upon completion of the evaluation, accumulated slips shall be destroyed and a new accumulation (if any) begun. Written reprimands may be used for disciplinary purposes for a period of time not to exceed two (2) years, except for vehicle violations, which may be used for a period not to exceed three (3) years.
B. Employees shall be entitled to have an Union representative present at any conference with the Employer which may result in disciplinary action against them in accordance with NLRB v. Weingarten. The Employer shall, at the time he schedules the conference with the employee, notify the employee of this right. The Union shall ensure that representatives are available at any time for this purpose. If an employee requests an Union representative at such a meeting, and a representative does not arrive within thirty (30) minutes, the meeting may proceed without a representative. The role of an Union representative at such a meeting shall be limited to advising the employee of his rights and shall not include the representative being an advocate for the employee. The Union President, or designee, shall be provided (by the Chief of Police) a copy of the notice to the employee advising him of disciplinary action being taken against him. Such notice shall be furnished simultaneously with its service upon the employee. The Chief of Police shall timely notify the Union President whenever (1) an employee is removed from his regular assignment and is instead assigned to his home and (2) when that employee is returned to a regular assignment.
C. Within five (5) business days of the receipt by Internal Affairs of a complaint against an employee, the employee shall receive notification in writing of the allegations made against the employee including the name of the complainant (which may be a member of the Department) and a copy of the complaint, unless exceptional circumstances exist. Investigation of the complaint shall be completed by Internal Affairs within a reasonable time, but no later than sixty-five (65) days after receipt of the complaint by Internal Affairs, unless exceptional circumstances exist.
Disciplinary action based upon the complaint shall be commenced no later than twenty-one (21) days. The notification deadlines specified above and deadline for commencement of disciplinary action shall not apply if such action would interfere with a pending criminal investigation. A list of known witnesses shall be provided to the employee no later than the start of any probable cause hearing before the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners. The Union President, or his designee, shall receive written notification the Internal Affairs investigation has been concluded within three (3) calendar days of such conclusion, if authorized by the employee.
D. The provisions of the Uniform Peace Officers Disciplinary Act, 50 ILCS 725/1 et seq. shall apply to all disciplinary investigations of employee conduct except to the extent to which the provisions of this Agreement provide specifically to the contrary.
E. If an employee is compelled to provide a written Officer’s Report he shall have until 5:00 p.m. of the fifth business day after being actually served the request to submit his Officer’s Report on the day it is due.
F. It is acknowledged the Chief of police has lawful authority to suspend employees for a period not to exceed five (5) calendar days, with cause. It is also acknowledged the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners has lawful authority to suspend employees for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days, with cause. Such days of suspension shall be eight (8) hour days.
G. Any unfounded, unsubstantiated, or not sustained citizen or internal complaint filed against an employee shall not be used for purposes adverse to the employee after two (2) years of the original filing of the complaint.
15.10 Daylight Savings Time
Employees scheduled to work on any shift which would include the hour which clocks are either turned forward or backward to adjust for Daylight Savings Time will have their starting times adjusted so that they are only scheduled to work their normal eight (8) or ten (10) hour shift.
15.11 Yearly Evaluations
A round table discussion of supervisors shall be conducted prior to completion of an employee's yearly evaluation. For patrol, three (3) sergeants and the shift commander shall conduct the discussion and the sergeant actually writing the employee’s yearly evaluation shall be from the same day off group which works with the employee being evaluated no less than three (3) work days per week. The other two (2) sergeants shall be from day off groups which work with the employee being evaluated no less than two (2) days per week.
In areas where there are less than three (3) supervisors for an employee, all supervisors shall participate. In all cases, all supervisors who participated in the employee’s evaluation shall sign the evaluation. Roundtable discussions may be scheduled by the Chief of Police or his designee.
15.12 Critical/Major Incident Employee Rights Procedures
A. Definition. For purposes of this Article, Critical/Major Incident shall be defined as any time an employee shoots a person, or intentionally discharges his weapon at a person, or any other incident that results in life threatening injuries or death.
B. Union Representation. In the event an employee is involved in a critical/major incident the Union shall be immediately notified of the incident by the employer. The Union shall provide a list to be kept in the Shift Commander's office of who is on-call for such notification at all times. An employee shall not be eligible to act as the Union representative if he is a material witness to the incident, a supervisor who is working at the time of the incident, or an employee assigned to investigate or gather evidence regarding the incident. The obligation of the City has been met when a listed eligible Union representative is actually contacted. When the Union representative arrives at the scene of the incident, he may consult with the involved employee(s) concerning the employee's rights and responsibilities under this Agreement.
The Union representative's conduct shall not interfere with the ongoing criminal or internal investigation into the incident. The Union representative shall be afforded release time hereunder if he is otherwise on-duty; if off-duty, no compensation shall be required. The shift commander shall approve the response of an on-duty Union representative if operationally practical, such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.
C.A. On Scene Preliminary Information. When medically practical, employees involved in a critical/major incident shall be compelled by verbal order, the Rules and Regulations of the Rockford Police Department, and by Department General Order #1967-04 to provide preliminary information to the first supervisor that arrives at the scene. The involved employee may also be ordered, in the presence of a Union representative witness, to conduct a walk-through of the incident with no more than four departmental personnel and the Union representative. The involved employee shall be removed from the scene immediately following the walk-through. If an employee is unable to provided information for medical reasons they shall provide this preliminary information as soon as is medically practical.
D. Post-Incident Report. Employees that are involved in critical/major incidents shall prepare and submit a complete Supplemental Report within 24 hours of being removed from the scene. More time to complete the report may be granted by the Chief of Police, or his designee, on a case by case basis. (i.e. if the employee was injured, etc.)
E. Post-Incident Interview/Interrogation. In the event an employee is subject to interview or interrogation as a result of being involved in a critical/major incident, the employee shall have the right to have an attorney and a Union representative present during such interview or interrogation.
F. The "rights" notification card shown below explaining application of the Garrity Rule in situations arising under paragraph A, above, will be provided by the Union to each employee. Whether or not the Garrity Rule is asserted during an ensuing criminal trial and issues related to the use of compelled statements during such a trial are issues which are exempt from application of Article 8 (Grievance Procedure) as nonarbitrable subjects.
"Your Rights Against Self-Incrimination”
"When you are involved in an incident and you prepare any written report to the Department (e.g., Officer's Report, Incident Report, Supplement Report, Accident Report, Witness Statement, Insurance Form) or give any oral statement to another employee, arising from the incident, YOU HAVE BEEN COMPELLED TO DO SO by Department mandate. Such compelled statements are subject to the Garrity Rule which precludes their use as evidence in criminal proceedings in which you are charged with a crime arising from the incident.
If you are given your Miranda rights, any statements you make thereafter are voluntary and not compelled; they would not be subject to the Garrity Rule of preclusion and could be used against you in court."
15.13 Promotions to Sergeant
Promotions shall be made according to the rules of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners (B.F.P.C.) except as provided herein. The Department shall notify the President of the Union of any proposed changes of which it is aware in the rules of the B.F.P.C. not less than thirty (30) days prior to the adoption of said change by the Commission. The Department shall also be required to notify the Union President of any upcoming promotional examinations and a list of recommended study materials not less than sixty (60) days prior to the examination.
An employee must have completed a minimum of five (5) years with the Department as a full time sworn police officer in order to be eligible to take the Sergeant’s Exam.
All grades are based on a maximum of one hundred (100) points. The various components of the Sergeant’s promotional exam will be as follows and will be weighted as follows:
% Attributed to Final
Overall Weighted Grade
Written examination shall be a maximum of 46.25 points 46.25%
Oral exam shall be a maximum of 46.25 points 46.25%
Seniority shall be a maximum of 7.5 points 7.50%
(Employees shall receive one-half point for each year of
service with the Department starting with the sixth year to
a maximum of 20 years for a maximum of 7.5 points)
Psychological examinations shall be advisory only.
Yearly evaluations shall be advisory only.
A minimum total score of seventy (70) percent is required on both the written and oral examination in order to be eligible for the promotional list.
15.14 Drug Free Workplace
I. POLICY: It is the policy and commitment of the City and the Union to provide a workplace which is free from the use of illegal drugs in order to protect the employees as well as the health and safety of the public. The City and the Union encourage employees to voluntarily utilize the City’s employee assistance program. Employees who voluntarily seek such assistance, prior to any order to submit to testing herein, shall not be subject to discipline for seeking such assistance, but shall still be subject to the testing and discipline provided in this article.
II. ILLEGAL DRUGS PROHIBITED
1. Any employee who consumes, possesses, distributes, or tests positive for illegal drugs may be recommended for termination by the Chief to the Fire and Police Commission on a confirmatory test.
2. Any employee who fails to notify the City within five (5) days after they are charged with a criminal drug offense regardless of when or where that act take place will be recommended for termination by the Chief to the Fire and Police Commission.
3. Any employee convicted of a criminal drug offense regardless of when or where that act takes place, will be recommended for termination by the Chief to the Fire and Police Commission.
III. PROCEDURE
A. The Chief or his designee may order any employee to submit to an immediate test of his blood, and/or urine at any time he has reasonable suspicion to believe the employee to be under the influence of illegal drugs. The basis for the reasonable suspicion shall be documented and, upon request, given to the employee in writing within a reasonable period of time. If the results of the drug tests are negative the Union shall have the right to challenge whether reasonable suspicion existed for the ordering of the test.
In addition, the Chief shall have the right to order random tests for the presence of illegal drugs of all employees. In addition to “employees” as defined in this Agreement, the random test pool shall include all other sworn officers in the Rockford Police Department.
A test for the presence of illegal drugs shall also be a part of any medical examination ordered by the City in connection with promotions, recall, or the return to duty after leaves. All test ordered by the City shall be at the expense of the City.
The refusal by any employee to submit to and complete any testing provided for under this Article, or the employee providing a positive test, adulterated test, substituted test, or invalid test, shall result in that employee being recommended for termination by the Chief of the Fire and Police Commission.
Employees who submit to such test shall not be deemed to have waived or otherwise impaired their rights to contest any aspect of the testing as may be provided by law or this Agreement. For reasonable suspicion testing, employees shall have the right to Union representation during the testing procedure, except during actual collection of the sample. The testing procedure for reasonable suspicion testing shall not be delayed beyond ninety (90) minutes due to unavailability of a Union representative.
B. The City agrees that its testing procedure for the presence of illegal drugs shall conform to the following:
(1) Use only a SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) certified or licensed laboratory to test body fluids or materials for illegal drugs whose collection, handling, testing and preservation of sample and reporting are in accordance with SAMHSA standards;
(2) Establish a chain of custody procedure for both sample collection and testing that will insure the integrity of and identity of each sample and test result;
(3) Collect a sufficient sample of the same body fluid or material to permit for an initial screening, a confirmatory test, and sufficient amount to be set aside and reserved for later testing if requested by the employee. In the case of urine testing, it shall be a split sample;
(4) Collect all samples in such a manner as to preserve the individual employee’s right to privacy, insure a high degree of security for the sample and its freedom from adulteration. Proper testing may be conducted to prevent the submission of a false or adulterated sample;
(5) Confirm any sample that tests positive in the intital screening for illegal drugs by use of gas chromatography, with mass spectrometry or an equivalent scientifically accurate and accepted method that provides quantitative data about the drug metabolites
(6) Provide the employee tested with an opportunity to have an additional portion of the same blood or urine sample tested by a licensed testing facility of his own choosing, at his own expense;
(7) Require that the clinical laboratory report to the City through its Medical Review Officer positive results only in the case where both the initial and confirmatory test results are positive as to the same sample;
(8) Provide each officer with a report of the confirmed positive results of each drug test that includes the types of test conducted, the results of each test, the detection level use by the laboratory and any other information provided to the City by the laboratory;
(9) Insure that all positive samples are maintained for a period of not less than 120 days to permit additional testing at the election of and the expense of the employee;
(10) Insure that no officer is subject to any discipline during any testing
procedure pending the results thereof;
(11) The body fluid sample is first tested using the initial drug screening procedure. An initial positive test result will not be considered conclusive; rather, it will be classified as “confirmation pending.” Notification of test results to the City shall be held until the confirmation test results are obtained;
(12) A body fluid specimen testing positive will undergo an additional confirmatory test. The confirmation procedure shall be technologically different and more sensitive that the initial screening test;
(13) Personnel utilized for testing will be certified as qualified to collect samples or adequately trained in collection procedures;
(14) Concentration of an illegal drug at or above the levels established by SAMHSA shall be considered a positive test result when using the initial immunoassay drug screening test and confirmatory test.
(15) For random drug tests, the following additional conditions shall apply:
(a) The City will contract with an independent third party to provide random selection services through use of a computerized random number generator program based on unique 3-digit identification numbers developed by the City for random testing process. The City shall specify the percentage of commissioned positions (which shall be at least 25%) that are to be tested annually, and the number of dates on which the body substance specimens are to be collected. The random number generator will then select the dates, the individuals to be tested on each date, and the shift and/or units on which the collections shall begin.
(b) To maintain the security of the selection system, the contractor shall deal exclusively with the Chief of Police or his designee, for purposes of notifying the City of testing dates and individuals selected, verifying and updating the pool and supplemental selection of individuals, if necessary.
(c ) When the department contact person is notified of a testing date by the selection contractor, he shall contact the President of the Union, or such other individual as has been previously designated in writing by the President on the test date. In the absence of the President or designated alternate, the department shall attempt to notify the officers of the Union in descending order of their office. It shall be the obligation of the Union representative to promptly come to the office of the Chief to participate in the verification of the random drug test pool roster, and verification of the selection of officers to be tested.
(d) Upon the arrival of the Union representative, the department contact person shall notify the selection contractor to fax the existing random drug test pool roster and the roster of randomly selected employees. The department contact person and the Union representative will then check the selection list against the updated roster to insure that all of the numbers selected are on the roster and scheduled to work that day. Any officer not scheduled to work on the day of testing will be removed from the list within one week after the testing date, the department shall deliver to the Union “signed off” copies of all documents described above.
(e) The department contact person will then create a list of names from the identification numbers and will sort the list by unit and shift for notification of the officers to be tested. After the start of the shift on which the testing is to begin, the department contact person shall deliver the respective lists of names in sealed envelopes to the shift commanders of the officers to be tested. It shall be the responsibility of the shift commander to insure that all of the officers in his command to be tested report to the collection site as promptly as practical, but in any event before they secure from the shift.
(f) Any officer selected who is on authorized time off which was applied for an approved prior to notice to the department of the date of the test shall be required to report to the collection site on his/her first day back from pre-approved leave. Any officer who requests leave of any type after the department has been notified of the testing date shall be required to report to the collection site on the shift he would otherwise have been required to report unless he is excused by the Chief for good cause shown. Any officer so excused shall be required to report to the collection site on his first day back to work.
(g) When an officer is selected in the random process, he shall promptly report to the appropriate collection site upon the direction of his commanding officer or supervisor. The officer shall provide specimens of urine sufficient to allow for “split sample” collection and processing of the specimens.
(h) The City will direct the laboratory to provide the Union, at the Union’s mailing address, copies of the quarterly statistical summary which shows the number and types of test performed and the number of tests showing positive or negative, as well as copies of the proficiency reports of the laboratory at the same time they are sent to the City.
15.15 FITNESS FOR DUTY
No employee shall be required to undergo psychological, psychiatric or physiological testing unless the Chief of Police has reasonable cause to believe the employee is then unfit for duty. Basis for the reasonable cause shall be set forth in writing to the employee at the time the employee is ordered to undergo such testing.
Employees shall have the right to Union representation when being informed of the need for testing, and shall have the right to secure similar testing at their own expense from psychiatrists, psychologists, or physicians of their own choosing. The City and employee shall utilize the service of qualified medical doctors, psychiatrist or psychologists.
The employee shall be provided a copy of any and all information, reports and opinions within five (5) business days the City receives such. Information, reports and opinions shall not be released or disseminated in any manner without the express written consent of the affected employee.
ARTICLE 16
INVESTIGATORS AND SPECIAL UNITS
16.1 Assignment to Investigator Position
Assignment to the position of Investigator within the Rockford Police Department shall be made based upon ascertained merit and qualifications for the position. Employees currently holding such position shall not be required to submit to the assessment process of sub-paragraph (A) below in order to continue in such assignment, but may be removed therefrom according to the procedure set forth below in sub-paragraph (B).
A. Ascertaining Merit and Qualifications
Employees desiring to be assigned to the Investigator position shall sign up on a provided list up to twenty-one (21)days prior to the giving of the written exam. Posting of the notice of written examination shall be no less than forty-five (45) days prior to the written exam being given. The City and the Union shall jointly develop an assessment and evaluation process. The written exam shall be administered by a qualified third party selected by the City and Union. Such assessment and evaluation process shall be based upon the bon-a-fide skills and qualifications necessary to perform the duties of an Investigator.
All employees shall be fairly evaluated according to the foregoing. Employees shall be evaluated by their Patrol Shift Commander and three Sergeants. The Sergeants shall be from the same day-off group as the employee being evaluated or from a day-off group which works with the employee being evaluated no less than two (2) days per week.. In areas where there are less than three (3) Supervisors for an employee, all supervisors and commander(s) of the employee (except the Chief, Deputy Chiefs and Assistant Deputy Chiefs) shall participate . An employee on temporary assignment shall be evaluated by the Patrol Shift Commander and Supervisor(s) to whom he was assigned prior to the temporary assignment and his current Commander(s) and Supervisor(s).
Evaluators must have supervised the employee being evaluated for more than ninety (90) days.
A minimum score of seventy (70) percent is required to pass the written exam, and the final list shall be comprised of individuals whose evaluations are within the top seventy-five (75) percent of those individuals who passed the written exam. If tied evaluation scores effect the determination of the seventy-five (75) percent, the written score shall be the determining factor. The City shall counsel with and discuss the results of the assessment with any employee who requests such a conference.
The Investigator testing process shall commence when there are less than three (3) candidates remaining on the most current Investigator list or within ninety (90) days of the expiration of said list, whichever occurs first. Assignment to Investigator shall not be made from the supplemental list until all candidates from the previous list have been assigned to Investigator or the list has expired. Should an opening occur prior to the expiration of the list, that opening shall be filled from the existing list.
Each list shall expire one (1) year after the first candidate is assigned off the list to Investigator. When the first candidate is assigned to Investigator, off an established list, it shall be noted on the list of candidates and the expiration date clearly indicated.
B. Removal
No employee shall be removed from their assignment as an Investigator without just cause. In the event that the City determines that an employee assigned to an Investigator position is not satisfactorily meeting the performance evaluation criteria, jointly developed for his position, the City shall notify such employee in writing and give specific goals and objectives necessary to improve his performance.
The employee shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity, not less than sixty (60) days, in which to improve his work performance and make progress in meeting those goals and objectives, after which the City may elect to remove him from such assignment or to provide a reasonable additional period of time in which to further improve work performance.
Employees assigned to the Detective Division, which includes Burglary, Forgery, Gangs, General Case, Metro Narcotics, Violent Crimes, and Youth, may be moved from one unit to another, at management’s discretion, but may not be moved to the Traffic or Identification Units without their consent or without just cause. Investigators may not be reassigned to the
Patrol Division unless Article 16.1 Section “B” Paragraph (1) applies.
C. Eligibility
Employees shall not be eligible for assignment to Investigator unless they have completed four (4) years of full-time service as a sworn police officer with the Department. Such employee must have his four (4) years of service as of the date of the written exam.
Employees must have a minimum average score of thirty-six (36) from their two (2) most recent yearly evaluations to be eligible to take the written exam for Investigator.
D. Assignment
Employees placed on the Investigator eligibility list shall be in alphabetical order, and the Chief of Police shall have sole discretion on which employee is to be assigned from said list when an Investigator opening occurs.
When an Investigator opening occurs, the Chief of Police shall assign an employee from the active Investigator list within sixty (60) calendar days of such opening. The Chief of Police shall determine when the newly assigned employees shall be reassigned from their current duties to their new duties.
Employees may, at the discretion of the Chief of Police, be assigned as an Investigator for the following positions: one (1) Research and Development Investigator, one (1) Personal Services Investigator, and one (1) Training Officer. Such assignments shall be exempt from the foregoing assessment process and shall be assigned from employees who have completed four (4) years of full time service as a sworn police officer with the Department. Investigators so assigned to these positions must undergo the foregoing testing and assessment process prior to their assignment to any other Investigator position.
16.2 Investigator Hours
Employees assigned to the Detective and Youth Units shall work a rotating five (5) day, eight (8) hour per day – four (4) day, ten (10) hour per day work schedule as follows:
A. Approximately one-half of the employees assigned to said units shall work five (5) consecutive eight (8) hour days (Monday through Friday) and the other one-half shall work four (4) consecutive ten (10) hour days (Monday through Thursday). The shifts will then rotate the following week to the opposite work schedule.
B. Supervisors in said units shall work five (5) consecutive eight (8) hour days (Monday through Friday) all weeks. On a rotating basis, each week, one (1) supervisor’s hours will be adjusted so his eight (8) hour shift ending time matches those investigators working the ten (10) hour day. The detective supervisors will be compensated and Traffic Units.
C. The Chief of Police or his designee, shall assign employees to one shift or the other.
D. Employees assigned to the Gang or Narcotics units will be paid the 1600-0200 hours shift differential and their starting times may be adjusted as necessary. These employees will work eight (8) hour shifts Monday through Friday.
16.3 On-Call Assignments
and one (1) Sergeant assigned to the Investigative Bureau, excluding Sergeants assigned to the Identification or Domestic Violence Unit shall serve on a Primary On-Call group for weekend assignments. Employees assigned to the Gang, Identification and Metro Narcotics Units shall not be subject to On -Call assignments. However, the Sergeant assigned to the Gang Unit shall be included for On-Call assignment. The Primary On-Call group shall be rotating groups of those Investigators coming off the five (5) day – eight hour workweek as described in Article 16.2 (Investigator Hours). The Chief of Police or his designee shall determine the composition of each group.
When an 125.00).
Primary On-Call groups shall answer and respond to all pages or callbacks and shall be fit to report to duty. Primary On-Call personnel must respond within twenty (20) minutes after being paged and must report to duty within one (1) hour after being called back.
Primary On-Call personnel may, at the employees option, be assigned a vehicle to take home for duty related use while on-call.
Effective by January 31, 2003, Investigators assigned to the Gang Unit shall be included in the rotation roster. However, such employees may volunteer to be On-Call if there are openings for any specific weekend with approval of the On-Call supervisor during the year 2002. Any Gang Unit Investigators serving an On-Call weekend shall be compensated as above.
Employees assigned to Identification, Gangs, and Metro Narcotics will not be subject to the Primary On-Call group and may be called back for special circumstances for situations normally assigned to their units. Where a situation occurs that the Chief of Police, or his designee, determine that a particular employee or employee of a particular unit’s training or experience may provide special skills, the Chief of Police, or his designee, may call back that particular employee without regard to Primary On-Call assignments. However, this provision is not intended to circumvent Article 5.5 (Hirebacks for Special Events).
Primary On-Call Personnel shall be allowed to trade with other Investigators assigned to their same unit with advance notice to the appropriate supervisor.
16.4 Pagers
Pagers issued to employees should be worn or monitored whenever practicable.
This includes on and off duty time, holidays and during use of compensatory time (TC), but does not include funeral leave or vacation time.
While employees are at their residence, the pager should be worn or monitored if the employee is not readily available to answer the telephone or the telephone is being answered by an answering machine. When a call is made by the Department, a message will be left at home (if possible) and on the issued pager.
Once a pager is called, employees shall respond within thirty (30) minutes of being paged. If an employee will incur long distance telephone charges, the call may be made collect.
All Detective Sergeants, the Identification Sergeant, the Traffic Sergeant, and Investigators required to carry pagers shall receive a yearly bonus of three-hundred and sixty-five ($365.00) payable in two (2) equal installments on the 15th day of February and August of each year beginning February 15, 2001, for the previous six months.
Employees newly assigned to Investigator rank and required to carry a pager shall receive a prorata share of the pager bonus based upon the amount of time assigned as an Investigator during the previous six (6) months.
16.5 Special Unit Assignments – Service Qualifications
A. Unless specifically provided to the contrary in this agreement, no employee with less than five (5) years service with the City as a sworn Police Officer shall be assigned to a special unit provided for in this Article.
B. Beginning 1/1/2002, except for the canine unit, no employee may serve more than five (5) consecutive years in any one special unit provided for in this Article. For those employees in special units as of 1/1/2002, the five (5) years shall begin as of that date.
C. No employee shall be removed from such special units without articulable reasons relating to job performance, or elimination of the unit positions, or upon the request of the employee.
16.6 Assignment to K-9 Handler
Dog handling and training requires a significant time commitment, while no minimum or maximum time limit is imposed, interested employees should realize this assignment normally may extend for several years.
In addition to the criteria set forth in Article 16.5 of this Agreement the criteria and working conditions for K-9 handlers are:
A. To be considered for a K-9 handler, a officer must have completed no less than five (5) years service with the City as a sworn Police Officer and hold the rank of patrol officer.
B. Selection and/or removal of employees to and/or from the position of K-9 handler shall be done at the sole discretion of the Chief of Police.
C. Employees shall have one (1) hour per duty day for kennel time.
D. Employees shall be compensated one (1) hour per day off for kennel time which shall be subject to the employee’s overtime rate of pay.
E. All supplies, equipment, and special uniforms will be provided by the Department.
F. One marked vehicle fully equipped for K-9 service will be permanently assigned to each K-9 officer.
G. Call-back for K-9 handlers will be pursuant to Article 5.4 of this Agreement.
H. K-9 handlers will be provided a Department pager.
I. K-9 handlers shall receive the appropriate shift differential from Appendix A adds to their hour rate of pay when assigned to work any shift that begins after 1530 hours.
J. Employees shall receive a $600.00 per year stipend.
16.7 Assignment to Rockford Housing Authority Unit (RHA)
The criteria and working conditions for the Rockford Housing Authority Unit (RHA) are:
A. Employees will be assigned to patrol the following housing developments daily: Fairgrounds, Orton Keyes, Jane Adams, Blackhawk, Concord, and any other housing development owned or managed by the Rockford Housing Authority as deemed necessary.
B. Employees will perform motorized, foot, and bike patrol in housing developments as assigned by the RHA supervisor.
C. The duties will be community policing which will include, but not limited to: establishing rapport with the development tenants, identifying significant specific problems affecting the developments and the tenants, and working together with the tenants and the management of the Rockford Housing Authority to develop solutions for such problems (involving both traditional and non-traditional criminal justice oriented methods).
D. Work hours and days of work will be based on a forty (40) hour work week; however, the actual days and hours of work may vary weekly as the need develops. Employees will receive as much advance notice as possible of what hours and days they will be working.
E. Employees will generally be assigned to a specific development to facilitate rapport building with the tenants; however, daily staffing levels will dictate some flexibility to assure daily coverage for the housing developments.
F. Area patrol units shall be assigned routine calls for police services; however, RHA officers may be used for back-up purposes on appropriate calls for police service.
The purpose of the RHA patrols is to enhance the quality of police services and significantly reduce the number of calls from, and level of, criminal activity within the developments.
G. Security patrols of the development when RHA officers are off-duty will continue using the Rockford Police Department Hire-back system. Staffing, frequency of patrol, and actual duties will be developed by Chief of Police and RHA management, based on availability of RHA funds.
H. Employees assigned to the RHA Unit must have completed no less than five (5) years service with the City as a sworn Police Officer, willing to work flexible schedules, possess strong interpersonal skills, be people oriented, and interested in learning and applying problem solving techniques.
I. If not enough officers volunteer for the RHA Unit the most junior officers will be assigned to the RHA Patrol Unit.
J. Employees assigned to the RHA Patrol Unit will have the option during the annual shift re-bidding process to indicate their desire to return to a regular patrol shift; unless, the Chief of Police deems that operation needs dictate that the employee stays with the Unit, the transfer will be approved and a replacement will be selected.
K. Employees assigned to the RHA Unit shall be compensated with a six-hundred dollar ($600.00) yearly stipend payable in equal portions on each paycheck during the year. In Addition, employees assigned to the RHA Unit shall have an amount equal to four (4) percent of their hourly wage added to their rate of pay.
L. Employees shall be assigned or removed from the unit solely at the discretion of the Chief of Police.
16.8 Assignment to Tactical Unit (TAC Unit)
The criteria and working conditions of the Tactical Unit (TAC Unit) are:
A. An employee must have completed no less than five (5) years service with the City as a sworn police officer to be eligible for assignment to the unit.
B. The Chief of Police shall have sole discretion for selection of the employees to be assigned to the unit.
C. Employees may be removed from assignment to the unit by the Chief of Police. The Chief of Police shall provide advance written notice to the President of the Union before removal of any employee from the unit.
D. Employees shall work ten (10) hour shifts with various starting and ending times and various days of work. Employees shall work a forty (40) hour work week which may include some weekend hours of work.
E. Employees assigned to the unit shall be required to work in either uniform or plain clothes as the unit supervisor deems necessary.
F. Employees assigned to the unit shall be compensated with a six-hundred dollar ($600.00) yearly stipend payable in equal portions on each paycheck during the year. In addition, employees assigned to the unit shall have the maximum shift differential from Appendix A added to their hourly rate of pay.
16.9 Assignment to Bike Unit
A. An employee must have completed no less than five (5) years service with the City as a sworn police officer to be eligible for assignment to the Bike Unit.
B. The Chief of Police shall have sole discretion for selection of the employees to be assigned to the Bike Unit.
C. Employees may be removed from assignment to the Bike Unit by the Chief of Police. The Chief of Police shall provide advance written notice to the Union President before removal of any employee from the Bike Unit.
D. Employees shall work eight (8) hour shifts with various starting and ending times. Employees shall work a forty (40) hour work week which may include some weekend hours of work.
E. Employees assigned to the Bike Unit shall be compensated with a six-hundred dollar ($600.00) annual stipend payable in equal portions on each paycheck during the fiscal year.
16.10 Assignment to Community Services Unit
A. The Chief of Police shall have sole discretion for selection of the employees to be assigned to the unit; however, employees shall have the option during the annual shift bidding process to bid for reassignment, provided the employee has completed no less than five (5) years service with the City as a sworn Police Officer.
B. Employees may be removed from assignment to the unit by the Chief of Police. The Chief of Police shall provide advance written notice to the President of the Union before removal of an employee from the unit. In addition, the Chief of Police shall inform the affected employee either verbally or in writing as to the reason(s) for their removal for informational purposes only.
C. Working hours shall be Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. The unit supervisor has the ability to change (flex) the working hours of unit employees up to two (2) times per week on forty-eight (48) hours advance notice to the employee of such change.
Any changes in hours shall be limited to eight (8) consecutive hours between 7:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M. on weekdays only.
Any and all work outside these specified hours shall be compensated at the employee’s overtime rate of pay unless such overtime is a Call Back after the employee has already worked their eight (8) consecutive hours for which the employee shall be compensated with a minimum of two (2) hours pay at their overtime rate of pay.
D. Employees assigned to the unit shall have the following holidays off:
New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and shall be compensated for the other days listed in Section 4.1 of this Agreement for 24-hour/7-day employees.
E. Employees that work in this position shall have forty-eight (48) hours of holiday time coming credited to their holiday bank on January 1 of each year to be used as compensatory time, in accordance with Article 4.4 of this Agreement.
Employees shall be considered uniformed employees, however, employees may be assigned to wear plain clothes on occasion, as determined by the unit supervisor.
F. Employees assigned to the unit shall be compensated with a six-hundred dollar ($600.00) yearly stipend payable in equal portions on each paycheck during the year.
16.11 Assignment to School Liaison Officer
A. Employees must have completed five (5) years with the City as a sworn police officer to apply for the School Unit.
B. Employees will be selected from those employees submitting letters of interest. The period to submit letters of interest shall be fourteen (14) days from the date of posting. Employees will be removed from the School Liaison
Program at the sole discretion of the Chief of Police. The Chief will give the PBPA President advance notice of the reason for the removal of an officer from the Liaison Program. Employees shall have the option during the annual shift bidding process to bid for reassignment, provided the employee shall have served at least one (1) full calendar in the unit at the time of the actual shift change.
C. Employees will take Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Memorial Day as mandatory holidays off and shall be compensated for the other days listed in section 4.1 of this Agreement for 24-hour/7-day employees.
D. Employees will be scheduled to work Monday through Friday while assigned to the School Liaison Unit. Starting times will be one half hour prior to the school start time.
E. Employees will work eight (8) consecutive hours while assigned to the School Liaison Unit.
F. Employees will be assigned to the day shift in patrol when school is not in session and they shall work Monday through Friday 0700-1500. This language shall not apply to breaks that are shorter than one (1) school week. During the summer when school is not in session they shall be assigned to a ten (10) hour work group on day shift patrol unless their assignment has been extended by the Chief or his designee.
G. Employees will be permitted to work “after school” events at their contractual overtime rate of pay.
H. Employees assigned to the School Unit shall be permitted to select vacations separately from the Day shift and their vacation selection shall not apply the staffing requirements of patrol shifts.
I. This Article shall be applicable to patrol officers assigned to the School Liaison Unit. The Department will assign a Sergeant to the School Liaison Unit for the entire calendar year. The Sergeant shall work eight (8) consecutive hours Monday through Friday with flexible starting times and shall have the same holidays as provided in section "C” above.
ARTICLE 17
SAFETY ISSUES
The Department shall take all reasonable steps for the protection and safety of employees during work hours and during performance of their duties. (The foregoing shall not be construed to require the Department to eliminate those risks which are inherent in the normal performance of police duties.) The Department and the Union agree to cooperate to the fullest extent reasonably possible to promote the use of safe equipment and facilities.
The Chief of Police shall designate three (3) sworn officers of the Department and the President of the Union shall designate three (3) employees to comprise a safety committee for the purpose of discussing safety and health issues relating to employees and recommend reasonable safety and health criteria relating to equipment, facilities and working conditions. The committee shall meet by mutual agreement not less than once every three (3) months, provided one party has notified the other party in writing at least three (3) days before the scheduled meeting that there is an item of business to discuss. Recommendations of the committee members shall be submitted in writing to the Chief of Police with a copy to the President of the Union, but shall not be binding upon the Department or Union.
The provisions contained within this Article shall not be subject to grievance procedure or binding arbitration.
ARTICLE 18
DURATION OF AGREEMENT
This Agreement shall be effective as of January 1, 2002, and shall remain in effect until midnight, December 31, 20044
If negotiations have not been satisfactorily completed at the anniversary date, neither party may terminate the Agreement unless it gives at least ten (10) days notice to the other party in writing during which time all provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
POLICEMEN'S BENEVOLENT AND CITY OF ROCKFORD, A MUNICIPAL
PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATION
ILLINOIS, LOCAL 6
___________________________________ _______________________________________
Doug Block Douglas P. Scott
President Mayor
___________________________________ _______________________________________
Scott Oswald Ronald N. Schultz
Vice President Legal Director
___________________________________ _______________________________________
Jeff Morris
Treasurer Assistant Deputy Chief
___________________________________ _______________________________________
Pat Hoey John Genens
Negotiator Assistant Deputy Chief
___________________________________ _______________________________________
Aureilo DeLaRosa John Becker
Negotiator Personnel Director
_____________________________________ _______________________________________
Kurt Whisenand Joseph P. Bruscato
Negotiator City Attorney
____________________________________
Eric Poertner
Union Labor Representative ATTEST:
_______________________________________
Ronald N. Schultz
Legal Director
ADDENDUM TO 2002-2004 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
BY AND BETWEEN
UNIT SIX OF THE POLICEMEN’S BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
AND
THE CITY OF ROCKFORD
This Addendum is made as of January 1, 2004, by and between Unit Six of the Policemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (the “Union”) and the City of Rockford, an Illinois municipal corporation (the “City”).
The Union and the City are parties to a collective bargaining agreement covering the period between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2004.
Appendix B to that Agreement provides for continued negotiations concerning health plan coverage issues to be effective January 1, 2004. Those negotiations have been conducted and the parties have agreed on new health plan provisions, which are hereby incorporated into the existing collective bargaining agreement through this Addendum.
Furthermore, the parties have agreed to extend the existing collective bargaining agreement to December 31, 2005, on the terms set forth in this Addendum.
NOW THEREFORE the Union and the City agree as follows:
1. Insurance. The Union and the City agree to delete Article 10, INSURANCE, in the existing collective bargaining agreement in its entirety, and substitute a new Article 10, INSURANCE, as attached and designated Exhibit A.
2. Wages. The Union and the City agree that the wages for 1/1/04 as set forth in Appendix A to the existing collective bargaining agreement shall remain in effect through March 31, 2005. Effective April 1, 2005, the wage scale attached and designated Exhibit B shall be paid to the employees as classified therein.
3. Term. Article 18, DURATION OF AGREEMENT, shall be amended as follows:
This Agreement shall be effective as of January 1, 2002, and shall remain in effect until midnight, December 31, 2005, and shall continue thereafter in full force and effect from year to year unless written notice of desire to terminate or amend this Agreement is given by either party to the other on or before August 1, 2005, or any succeeding August 1st. The Union shall serve the above notice on the Legal Director and the City shall serve the above notice on the President of the Union. In the event the above notification is given, the parties agree to enter into negotiations no later than September 1st of the year in which the notice is served.
If negotiations have not been satisfactorily completed at the anniversary date, neither party may terminate the Agreement unless it gives at least ten (10) days notice to the other party in writing during which time all provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
POLICEMEN'S BENEVOLENT AND CITY OF ROCKFORD, A MUNICIPAL
PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATION
ILLINOIS, LOCAL 6
___________________________________ __________________________________________
Doug Block Douglas P. Scott
President Mayor
___________________________________ __________________________________________
Scott Oswald Ronald N. Schultz
Vice President Legal Director
___________________________________ __________________________________________
Rose Matthews Jeff Morris
Treasurer Assistant Deputy Chief
___________________________________ __________________________________________
Pat Hoey John Genens
Negotiator Assistant Deputy Chief
___________________________________ __________________________________________
Aureilo DeLaRosa Jessica Jones
Negotiator Personnel Director
___________________________________ __________________________________________
Kurt Whisenand Joseph P. Bruscato
Negotiator City Attorney
____________________________________ ATTEST:
Eric Poertner
Union Labor Representative _______________________________________
Ronald N. Schultz
Legal Director
EXHIBIT B
1/1/04 4/1/05
Patrol Officers Base Pay Base Pay
Start of 1 Year Patrol A $38,000 $39,368
Start of 2 Years Patrol B $41,000 $42,476
Start of 3 Years Patrol C $44,000 $45,584
Start of 4 Years Patrol D $47,000 $48,692
Start of 5 Years Patrol E $49,000 $50,764
Start of 6- 10 Years Patrol F $51,500 $53,354
Start of 11-15 Years Patrol G $54,230 $56,182
Start of 16 Years Patrol H $55,315 $57,306
Investigators
Start 5 Years/Dept. Inv A $51,940 $53,810
6-10 Years/Dept. Inv B $54,590 $56,555
11-15 Years/Dept. Inv C $57,484 $59,553
Start 16 Years/Dept. Inv D $58,633 $60,744
Sergeants
1st 18 Months Sgt A $64,496 $66,818
Comp of 18 months Sgt B $65,786 $68,154
Hourly rate based upon 2080 hour year
For employees covered by Article 5.A (ten hour shift):
• Employees who are regularly assigned to the afternoon shift shall have an amount equal to three (3) percent of their hourly wage added to their rate, not to exceed .75 cents per hour.
• Employees who are regularly assigned to the night shift shall have an amount equal to five (5) percent of their hourly wage added to their rate, not to exceed $1.25 per hour.
• The employees assigned to the 1800-0400 shift shall have an amount euql to four (4) percent of their hourly waged added to their rate, not to exceed $1.00.
For sergeants the “not to exceed” rates for shift differential shall be: afternoons - .90 cents per hour, nights - $1.40 per hour, 1800-0400 - $1.15 per hour.
EXHIBIT A
ARTICLE 10
INSURANCE
10.1 Paid Premiums of employees
Effective January 1, 2004 employees who have single coverage shall pay $25.00 per pay period (26 pay periods per year) as a premium for health and dental care. Effective January 1, 2004, the premium shall be thirty-five dollars ($35.00) per pay period (26 pay periods per year) for employees who have dependent coverage. The City agrees to pay the remainder of the cost of health and dental insurance under the City's designated health and dental plan adopted July 19, 2004, by Ordinance 2004-132-0 for the employee and covered dependents.
10.2 Deductibles and Co-pays.
(a) For claims outside the preferred provider network:
The co-payment by the City and employee shall be maintained at 60 per cent by the City and 40 percent by the employee up to $5,000 after satisfaction of the employee's deductible in any given calendar year. The deductible shall be $150.00 per person per year to a maximum of $450.00 per family per year. The maximum out of pocket costs shall be $2,150 for Single and $2,450 for Dependent and shall be integrated for in-network and out of network claims.
(b) For claims within the preferred provider network:
The City will offer a dual preferred provider network option to employees through ECOH that will include the River Valley Plan (Rockford Health Systems) and ECOH Network (Swedish American Health System and OSF St. Anthony Medical Center). Effective January 1, 2004 all services through these networks shall be 90/10 of the first $5,000. Plan holders can enroll in only one of the two ECOH network offerings if choosing ECOH. No deductible is charged under ECOH network offerings within the specific network for which the employee is enrolled. The City shall offer an enrollment period for PBPA Unit 6 bargaining members to enroll in the River Valley Network within sixty (60) days of ratification of this agreement by both parties.
Through the ECOH Network (Swedish American Health System and OSF St. Anthony Medical Center, inpatient and ancillary services provided by OSF St. Anthony will be at 100% with no deductible.
10.3 Summary of Benefits
The City agrees to maintain the benefits in the City insurance plan adopted July 19, 2004, by Ordinance 2004-132-O, except as otherwise noted in this Agreement. Any changes in any written documents pertaining to the City insurance plan shall be submitted to the Union President prior to their consideration by City governing bodies.
The lifetime maximum benefit for persons covered by the plan shall be $1,500,000.
Payment or nonpayment of a particular claim shall not be subject to the grievance procedure. Appeals of claim denials shall be made within ninety (90) days to the City's Third Party Administrator, as set forth in the plan document. Appeals of these decisions shall be made to the Director of Personnel of the City.
The City/TPA shall provide information regarding health claim denial to the affected employee upon request.
The City shall provide flexible spending accounts in accordance with Section 125 of the IRS Code at no premium cost to the employee. Effective January 1, 2004, the City shall offer a vision benefit plan on a voluntary basis through the employee’s Section 125 Flex Plan.
Effective January 1, 2004 the City shall maintain a national network repricing arrangement and cover employees/plan members at in-network benefit levels where services received are eligible for repricing.
Effective January 1, 2004, orthodontic services will be paid up front after receiving confirmation through the Third Party Administrator that a discount is offered by the provider for receiving advance payment.
The City shall pay for a routine dental prophylaxis (cleaning) two (2) times per calendar year.
The employees shall comply with the pre-certification program in effect with other City employees at the time of the execution of this Agreement (and there shall be no penalty for non-compliance).
Employees shall also be enrolled in the National Medical Health Card program, or a prescription card equivalent.
However, effective January 1, 2000, employees in the National Medical Health Card program shall be subject to the following conditions:
1. The employee co-pay for generic prescription medication and brand prescription medication where no generic equivalent is available shall be fifteen dollars ($15.00) per prescription. Where the actual cost of the prescription is less than fifteen dollars ($15.00) that actual cost shall apply.
2. The employee co-pay for brand prescriptions where generic equivalent is available shall be fifteen dollars (15.00) plus the price difference between the brand and generic equivalent. Where the physician mandates “no substitution” only, the not to exceed fifteen dollar ($15.00) co-pay shall apply.
3. The co-pay provisions apply to prescriptions in 30-day increments. Maintenance drugs/prescriptions may continue to be issued in 90-day increments; however, three (3) individual co-pays shall apply. Effective January 1, 2000, maintenance drugs/prescriptions issued in 90-day supplies via mail order shall be limited to two (2) co-pays as described in items 1 and 2 above. Maintenance drugs are those as identified in the Medispan Master Drug List.
10.4 Health Focus Group
Effective January 1, 2004, the City agrees that a Health Focus Group shall be maintained to monitor the costs of health insurance benefits, review proposals for costs savings measures, review wellness programs that could lower medical costs, and make recommendations to the City Finance and Personnel Committee.
Said group would consist of two (2) bargaining members and one (1) retired member from each of the three (3) bargaining units. The presidents for each bargaining unit shall make the appointments for both the active and retired members. Additionally, the City may appoint two (2) non-represented employees; two (2) exempt employees and one (1) retired employee to the group.
The group will be established regardless if any of the three (3) bargaining units do not want to participate.
The City reserves the right to change insurance carriers, self-insure or implement cost containment features so long as the overall coverage available under this Agreement is substantially the same. Any changes in coverage shall be subject to collective bargaining negotiations and prior to any implementation of plan changes the respective bargaining units must notify the City of their acceptance of such changes or reach an agreement through collective bargaining with the City.
10.5 Death Benefit
The City shall provide, at no cost to the employee, a death benefit in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each employee who dies while employed by the City.
10.6 Early Retirement Program
Current employees who are vested participants in the Policemen’s Retirement System shall be eligible for the Early Retirement Incentive Program, as provided in the paragraphs below:
Employees who already qualify or meet the necessary qualifying age and length of service for receiving a pension from the Policemen’s Pension Fund (minimum age 50 and length of service 20 years) during the 2004 calendar year, and who notify the City of Rockford of their intent to retire from the City of Rockford as provided below, shall be eligible to receive a $4,000 discount on the annual premium charge for City of Rockford Health Insurance. Such a discount will begin on the first month of insurance coverage as a retiree , that is not paid for from the retiring employee’s Flex 125 Plan, and shall not exceed $20,000 in discounts over the following 60 consecutive months. The discount will be pro-rated as a reduction based on monthly premium ($333.33/month). In the event the monthly charge for participants health insurance coverage is less than the subsidy/reduction amount, the subsidy shall only cover that charge and no additional monies would be due to the participant.
The retiree’s dependent, as eligible and defined under the City of Rockford Health Plan, shall continue to receive the balance of the subsidy through the end of that early retiree’s appropriate term. Should a retiree who participates in this program and is married to another City employee who remains an active employee, and the retiree is covered under their spouse’s health insurance, the retiree shall be permitted to elect to defer the monthly subsidy until the retiree invokes his/her right to said subsidy. Once the right is invoked, it is non-revocable.
2004 Early Retirement Procedure:
§ Eligible Employees Must Notify the City of their intent to retire not later than 5:00 PM on March 1st, 2004. An Employee’s decision to retire under this program is non-revocable.
§ Employees that have “completed a minimum of 30 years” of pension creditable service as defined by the Policemen’s Pension Fund, by May 1, 2004, must retire no later than their first regularly scheduled duty day in May of 2004.
§ Employees with “less than 30 years” of pension creditable service, as defined by the Policemen’s Pension Fund, and whose anniversary date for which the employee would received an increase of 2.5% in their pension rate is “PRIOR” to May 1st, must retire no later than their first regularly scheduled duty day in May of 2004.
§ Employees with “less than 30 years” of pension creditable service, as defined by the Policemen’s Pension Fund, and whose anniversary date for which the employee would receive an increase of 2.5% in their pension rate is “AFTER” May 1st, must retire no later than their first regularly scheduled duty day in the month immediately after their anniversary date.
§ Not more than 15 members shall be allowed to retire as part of this program during 2004. If more than 15 members notify the City of Rockford of their intent to retire per the conditions above, the first eligible employees shall be determined by seniority.
2005 Early Retirement Procedure:
§ Eligible Employees Must Notify the City of their intent to retire not later than 5:00 PM on September 1st, 2004. An Employee’s decision to retire under this program is non-revocable unless they experience a qualifying event defined as:
1. A change in Marital Status – the marriage, divorce, legal separation, annulment or the death of the employee’s legal spouse, and/or;
2. A change in the number of Dependents – an increase or decrease in the number of dependents the employee has due to birth, adoption, placement for adoption or the death of a dependent, and/or;
3. Termination of Employment of the retiree’s spouse
§ Not more than 15 members shall be allowed to retire as part of this program on their first duty day in April 2005. If more than 15 members sign-up to retire on their first duty day in April 2005, the most senior employees shall be permitted to elect to retire on December 31, 2005. Such election shall be for the exact number of employees in excess of 15.
§ Employees that have “completed a minimum of 30 years” of pension creditable service, as defined by the Policemen’s Pension Fund, by April 3, 2005, must retire no later than their first regularly scheduled duty day in April 2005, unless they are eligible to retire on December 31, 2005 due to an excess number of participants.
§ Employees with “less than 30 years” of pension creditable service, as defined by the Policemen’s Pension Fund, and whose anniversary date for which the employee would receive an increase of 2.5% in their pension rate is “PRIOR” to April 3, 2005, must retire no later than their first regularly scheduled duty day in April of 2005, unless they are eligible to retire on December 31, 2005 due to an excess number of participants.
§ Employees with “less than 30 years” of pension creditable service, as defined by the Policemen’s Pension Fund, and whose anniversary date for which the employee would receive an increase of 2.5% in their pension rate is “AFTER” April 2, 2005, must retire no later than their first regularly scheduled duty day in the month immediately after their anniversary date.
|
Contract 
