3.08.010 General Personnel Policies Purpose
A. Statement of Purpose. The purpose of these general policies is to maintain a high level of support for efficient and effective City service through systematic and uniform application of professional personnel practices. The fundamental objectives of these policies are to:
1. Maintain high ethical standards in local government.
2. Promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the City service.
3. Maintain a uniform job classification plan based upon the relative duties and responsibilities of positions in the City service.
4. Provide fair and equal opportunity to all persons who enter City service, regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, or religious or political belief through proper personnel administration.
5. Promote high morale among City employees by providing good working conditions and opportunity for advancement.
6. Develop a program of recruitment, advancement and tenure that will make City service attractive as a career and encourage employees to give their best service to the City.
B. Scope and Coverage. These personnel policies shall apply to all employees of the City of Ashland. AMC 3.08.020 contains policies also applicable to elected officials and appointive officers. These policies are in addition to and in no way replace, modify or infringe upon existing union contracts or other agreements between the City and its employees. Any existing employee union contract or agreement with a nonunion employee group is hereby incorporated by reference as further statement of the City’s personnel policy with regard to wages, hours and conditions of employment. In the event of a conflict between these policies and a collective bargaining agreement, the terms of the collective bargaining agreement shall prevail.
C. Definitions of Terms.
1. Confidential Employee. As defined in ORS 243.650(6), a confidential employee is one who assists and acts in a confidential capacity to a person who formulates, determines, and effectuates management policies in the area of collective bargaining. Confidential employees are paid hourly for work performed and they are subject to payment for overtime according to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
2. Department Head. A person directly responsible to the City Manager, Mayor or City Council for the administration of a department. Department Heads are exempt from overtime payment.
3. Division Manager. A person directly responsible to a Department Head or the City Manager for the operational functions of a City department or division. Division Managers are exempt from overtime payment.
4. Mid-Level Supervisor. A person reporting to a Division Manager or Department Head who may receive overtime payment for work outside his/her normal scope and duties. Mid-level supervisory positions require autonomy, independent decision making, planning, and may provide supervision to other personnel.
5. Employee. A nonelected person who is hired and paid a wage or salary to work for the City who has completed the probationary period.
6. Management Employee or Manager. The City Manager, Department Head, or a supervisor, as defined below.
7. Probationary Employee. A person appointed to a regular position but who has not completed a probationary period during which the employee is required to demonstrate fitness for the position by actual performance of the duties of the position.
8. Supervisor. Any person responsible to a higher divisional or departmental level authority who directs the work of others and who is not in a collective bargaining unit.
9. Lead Worker. Any person assigned with oversight or leadership over a project or work group for a specific duration. A lead worker may control resources and direct work activities to achieve a desired outcome through peer direction, but he or she does not have full supervisory authority.
10. Public Official. Any person holding public office as a paid employee, appointed or elected official. For the purpose of this chapter, a paid employee is a public official and appointed or elected officials are public officials whether or not they are paid.
11. Temporary Employee. An employee who has been hired by the City to work for a period not to exceed 18 months. Some temporary positions may also be limited duration positions.
12. Seasonal Employee. An employee hired for the purpose of meeting short-term work load needs of the City. Seasonal employment shall not normally exceed 1,036 hours per fiscal year.
13. Limited Duration Position. A position funded by a discrete revenue source with a known expiration date. An employee in a limited duration position may be terminated on the date the funding expires, and such termination shall be considered a voluntary termination. Based upon the terms of the funding source, the conditions of compensation and benefits may differ from the compensation and benefits payable to regular City employees performing substantially similar work. The term of employment of an individual in a limited duration position may exceed eighteen (18) months without conferring with the individual. The City may, in its sole discretion and based upon additional discrete revenue, extend the term of employment past the initial funding expiration date and such extension shall not change the limited duration status of the employee.
14. On-Call Employee. An employee who does not have regular hours of work or a regularly assigned work schedule and who is available to work on an as-needed basis. There is no guarantee of any hours of work for any on-call employee.
15. Part-Time Employee. An employee who works less than 40 hours per week.
16. Hourly Employee. An employee who works less than half-time on a year-round basis. (Ord. 3192 § 45, amended, 11/17/2020; Ord. 3078, amended, 11/20/2012; Ord. 2943, amended, 10/16/2007; Ord. 2746, amended, 1994)