O-2009-3129 approving updated Employee Policy Handbook

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Procedure Employees believing they qualify for bilingual pay should request a Bilingual Pay request Form. The form is available in the Human Resources Department. If an employee receiving bilingual pay is promoted, transferred or demoted to a position where the language skill is not needed, voluntarily withdraws from the bilingual pay program, or fails to pass the required recertification tests, the employee's current department director will be responsible for issuing a Status Change Form to discontinue the bilingual certification pay. Human Resources will notify Department Directors when certification tests are due for participating employees. Certification Testin Human Resources will coordinate all testing procedures with the selected outside vendor agency. Employees must use the City's approved vendor for testing. The City will pay for one language proficiency test process per eligible employee per year. A year is defined as a rolling 12 -month period. Employees must demonstrate abilities for verbal and/or written language fluency on a certified test conducted by the approved outside vendor agency. Employees who pass language fluency tests will be required to re -test every four (4) years at the city's expense. Employees who fail to pass the initial requalification test will be provided one additional opportunity to retest within 30 days at the employee's expense to retain the language pay. Employees who fail to pass after the second attempt will forfeit any further monthly incentive pay. Employees who fail to take a test at the scheduled date and time will be required to pay the cost of the missed test. Bilingual Pay The city pays $50 per month for verbal proficiency. An employee proficient in verbal skills can earn an additional $25 per month by passing the reading and/or writing test. The city will not pay in excess of $75 per month under this policy. 8.17 Emergency Pay Policy When an emergency impacts City employees' work schedules and status during emergency conditions and a "state of emergency" has been declared by the Mayor, the City Manager may grant emergency administrative leave with pay before and/or after the occurrence of a disaster, whether natural or man-made. If it is determined that a civil emergency condition exists, including, but not limited to, riots, civil disorders, severe weather or hurricane conditions, other natural disasters, chemical incidents, or similar conditions, the City Manager may suspend all provisions of the City of La Porte's Employee Policies Handbook that may be in conflict with this section, not inconsistent with the City of La Porte Charter or state law. 57