SOP Manual - Cleveland Fire Department

Cleveland Fire Department
Operations Manual
Sick Leave Policy
Purpose
To assure the proper and fair use of employee sick leave and other absences due to illness or injury.
Objective
To provide guidelines to assist any member who becomes ill or sustains an injury.
Scope
This policy applies to all Fire Department personnel.
Responsibility
It is the responsibility of every Fire Department member to notify the proper office in the event they will be
off-duty for sickness or injury.
Policy
All Fire Department employees shall adhere to the following policy when off-duty due to sickness or
injury.
Sickness Notification
A. A member needing to be off-duty on sick leave must report by telephone to the Battalion
Commander or Shift Supervisor at least one hour (60) minutes prior to the start of their shift. The
officer in charge (OIC) will then report this as soon as possible to the appropriate Supervisor. If
the Battalion Commander or Shift Supervisor cannot be reached, the employee shall contact the
Deputy Chief or the Fire Chief. Forty (40) hour employees must notify the Deputy Chief.
Notification of whereabouts is not required in cases of prolonged illness or injury, when such
illness or injury has been medically verified and approval has been received from the Battalion
Commander.
B. Unforeseen cases of accidents or illness that may occur while en route to work shall be reported by
the member to the respective on-duty Battalion Commander as soon as circumstances will allow.
C. An employee, on three (3) separate occurrences within 12 months (beginning January 1 of each
calendar year), may take sick leave without an excuse from a physician. After these three (3)
occurrences a doctor’s excuse will be required before the employee is allowed to return to work.
In the event it is an extended illness or injury which qualifies the employee for Family Medical
Leave, the employee will obtain from the attending physician and provide to the Deputy Chief or
Fire Chief documentation which includes a diagnosis and an expected date that the employee will
be able to return to full duty. Forms to obtain this information from the physician will be provided
to the employee.
D. In the event the employee is unable to obtain a physician’ s release to return to duty and cannot
adequately substantiate that the reason for their absence was for an approved illness or injury, then
it will be assumed that the employee has abused a benefit provided to them and may be subject to
disciplinary action.
Effective: June 1, 1997 Revised: 5/14/2009 Page | 73
Approved by: Chief Chuck Atchley