Intro
EXECUTIVE ORDER 99-31
TO: MEMBERS OF THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE
CLERK OF THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE
FROM: KATHERYN J. SHIELDS
COUNTY EXECUTIVE
DATE: OCTOBER 6, 1999
RE: AMENDMENT TO PERSONNEL RULES
Title
I hereby promulgate the following amendments to the Jackson County Personnel Rules:
Rule 2 Definitions of Terms
Probationary Employee. An employee during the first six months of County employment in a merit position, except Sheriff's deputies whose probation lasts one year following the completion of training, and Park Rangers whose probation lasts six months following the completion of training.
Section 9.8 - Using Sick Leave
A. An employee using unscheduled sick leave must contact the appointing authority within one hour of the start of the employee's scheduled work day. Sick leave may be granted by the appointing authority when the employee, employee's spouse, employee's child, employee's parent, [or other immediate family member] and any other person who resides permanently with the employee is ill, or for medical, dental, or optical examinations and treatment when such examination or treatment cannot reasonably be scheduled outside the employee's work hours. Sick leave usage for known medical appointments should be scheduled with and approved by the appointing authority in advance.
B. An appointing authority may require a physician's statement specifying diagnosis and course of treatment before allowing an employee to return to work after use of sick leave if:
1. The employee has less than 40 hours accrued sick leave; or
2. The employee has used five days of sick leave during the previous 30 calendar days; or
3. The employee has used sick leave for three consecutive work days.
C. If a physician's statement has been requested pursuant to subsection B. above but is not produced by the employee, the employee's previous absence from the workplace will be credited as leave without pay.
Section 9.12 - Volunteer Firemen
Any merit employee whose residence is in a community where the employee is an active member of the volunteer fire department and whose place of employment is in close proximity of the community may, with the approval of his appointing authority, respond to fire calls during regular employment hours without loss of sick leave or vacation not to exceed eight hours of pay per day.
Section 9.13 - Jury Duty
Any merit employee who is selected for jury duty shall be authorized a leave of absence for the duration of jury service. There will be no loss of compensation for this period, not to exceed eight hours of pay per day, if the employee pays to the County the amount paid to the employee for jury duty. The merit employee may retain the mileage paid him for his jury service.
Section 9.16 - Death in the Immediate Family
A full time employee, with the prior approval of the appointing authority, shall be granted time off with pay not to exceed three working days for a death in his immediate family. Compensation shall not exceed eight hours of pay per day with a maximum benefit of twenty-four hours. Immediate family is defined as the employee's spouse, children (including step and adopted children), mother, father, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, sisters, half sisters, step sisters and sisters-in-law, brothers, half brothers, step brothers and brothers-in-law, grandparents, stepparents, grandchildren and any other person if they reside permanently with the employee.
Section 15.11 - Drug Free Workplace Personnel Action
Personnel action may be taken against any employee for drug abuse violations occurring on Jackson County property, in the workplace, during the hours of County employment, or while acting in the course and scope of County employment. The following procedures will be applicable and stated penalties may be instituted:
A. An employee convicted of any criminal drug statute for a violation occurring on Jackson County property, in the workplace, during the hours of County employment, or while acting in the course and scope of County employment shall notify the Personnel Department no later than five (5) days after such convictions; and
B. Within thirty (30) days of receiving notice of any criminal drug statute conviction for a violation occurring on Jackson County property, in the workplace, during the hours of County employment, or while acting in the course and scope of County employment, the employee's supervisor will take appropriate personnel action against such employee, up to and including termination; or
C. Within thirty (30) days of receiving notice of any criminal drug statute conviction for a violation occurring on Jackson County property, in the workplace, during the hours of County employment, or while acting in the course and scope of County employment, the employee's supervisor may require such employee to satisfactorily complete a drug abuse assistance or rehabilitation program approved for such purposes; and
D. Workers' compensation benefits may be reduced or eliminated if the employee is intoxicated through the use of drugs or alcohol and injured in an accident while in the course and scope of County employment.
Section 17.14 - Internet Usage
A complete and accurate copy of Jackson County's Internet Acceptable Usage Policy is hereby made a part hereof by reference and shall be included in the text of the Personnel Rules of Jackson County. The Internet Acceptable Usage Policy is referenced in part and summarized below.
The County has software and systems in place that can monitor and record all Internet usage. The security systems are capable of recording (for each and every user) each World Wide Web site visit, each chat, newsgroup or e-mail message, and each file transfer into and out of the internal networks, and the County reserves the right to do so at any time. No employee should have any expectation of privacy as to his or her Internet usage and the County reserves the right to inspect any and all files stored in private areas of our network in order to assure compliance with policy. The County expects users to utilize the Internet [primarily] for job-related purposes.
The display of any kind of sexually explicit image or document on any County system is a violation of this rule as well as Personnel Rule 18 - Sexual Harassment Policy. Sexually explicit material may not be archived, stored, distributed, edited or recorded using the County's network or computing resources. The County uses independently supplied software and data to identify inappropriate or sexually explicit Internet sites.
The County's Internet facilities and computing resources must not be used knowingly to violate the laws and regulations of the Untied States or any other nation, or the laws and regulations of any state, city, province or other local jurisdiction in any material way. Any software or files downloaded via the Internet into the County network become the property of the County. Any such files or software may be used only in ways that are consistent with their licenses or copyrights. No employee may use County facilities knowingly to download or distribute pirated software/data or propagate any virus, worm, Trojan horse, or trap-door program code.
Each employee using the Internet facilities of the County shall identify himself or herself honestly, accurately and completely (including one's County affiliation and function where requested) when participating in chats or newsgroups, or when setting up accounts on outside computer systems. Only those employees or officials who are duly authorized to speak to the media, to analysts or in public gatherings on behalf of the County may speak/write in the name of the County to any newsgroup or chat room. The County retains the copyright to any material posted to any forum, newsgroups, chat or World Wide Web page by any employee in the course of his of her duties.
Use of County Internet access facilities to commit infractions such as misuse of County assets or resources, sexual harassment, unauthorized public speaking and misappropriation or theft of intellectual property are also prohibited by general County policy, and will be sanctioned under the relevant provisions of the Personnel Rules. The County prohibits the sharing of user identifications and passwords obtained for access to Internet sites and any file that is downloaded must be scanned for viruses before it is run or accessed.
No employee shall attempt to disable, defeat or circumvent any County security facility. Any computer used for independent dial-up or leased-line connections to any outside computer or network must be physically isolated from the County's internal networks. Only those Internet services and functions with documented business purposes for the County will be enabled at the Internet firewall.
Drafter
_______________________ ____________________________________
Dated Katheryn J. Shields, County Executive