Chapter 2.82 — PERSONNEL RULES FOR CLASSIFIED AND

NONCLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES Sections:

• 2.82.010 Application--Incorporation in personnel system.

• 2.82.020 Equal employment opportunity.

• 2.82.030 Light duty appointments.

• 2.82.040 Loyalty oath.

• 2.82.050 Positions changed from elective to appointive.

• 2.82.100 Employment of members of family.

• 2.82.110 Employee activities.

• 2.82.120 Prohibition of incompatible activities.

• 2.82.130 Improper use of city equipment prohibited.

• 2.82.200 Confidentiality of records.

• 2.82.210 Access to personnel file.

• 2.82.300 City officials--Financial interests.

• 2.82.310 Conflicts of interest--Contracts, sales and purchases.

• 2.82.320 Adoption of a conflict of interest code.

• 2.82.330 Interpretation.

• 2.82.340 Violation.

• 2.82.400 Hourly, part-time, seasonal, volunteer, emergency and other employees.

A. This chapter shall apply to all offices, positions, and employments in the service of the city, whether elective, appointive, management, classified, hourly, seasonal, part-time, contractual, volunteer, emergency, or other. In addition, the provisions of Chapter 2.80 govern those employees in the classified service and those of Chapter 2.84 govern management employees. B. The provisions of this chapter are deemed to be included in the personnel system of the city as are all rules and regulations adopted by resolution or otherwise pursuant hereto. In the event of any inconsistency between the provisions of this chapter and those of Chapters 2.80 or 2.84, the provisions of Chapters 2.80 and 2.84 shall govern as to the employees covered thereunder (i.e., classified and management employees, respectively), and the provisions hereof and the rules and regulations adopted pursuant hereto shall govern as to all other employees. C. Unless otherwise specified, the words and terms used in this chapter shall have the meaning as defined in Section 2.80.025. D. The city manager is authorized to issue written guidelines to implement and enforce the personnel system and this chapter, and to make adjustments to avoid or eliminate inequities resulting from its application. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. Equal employment opportunity shall be accorded to all persons regardless of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, handicap, marital status, or political opinions and affiliations. All persons shall receive equal treatment in matters affecting recruitment, hiring, promotion, discipline, compensation, assignments, benefits, training, layoff, and recall practices and any other matters affecting employment. B. The city shall establish an affirmative action program with a goal of equality of opportunity in all personnel actions. Special recruitment efforts among minorities, women, disadvantaged individuals, and handicapped persons do not conflict with the merit system and assure equality of opportunity in employment with the city. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. It is the policy of the city to favor the employment and the utilization of physically and/or mentally permanently disabled employees who are injured as a result of their duties and responsibilities as employees. The city reserves the right to make available a permanent light-duty position to any employee who may be determined to be permanently disabled from performing the functions and duties of such position which such employee may occupy at the time of a work-related injury. The city shall in no instance be obligated to provide a permanent light-duty position for an employee. B. The duties and responsibilities of the permanent light-duty position shall be such that the disabled employee will be capable of performing them, notwithstanding such employee's disability. Such light-duty position may be made available in any department of the city, and need not be in the particular department in which such employee worked at the time of the work-related injury. Such position shall be termed a permanent light-duty position and may be created or modified at any time, including, but not limited to, subsequent to the occurrence of the work-related injury of any particular employee. C. The permanent light-duty position need not have the same or even substantially similar duties or responsibilities to the position held by a permanently disabled employee at the time of a work-related injury, but shall be a position which provides substantially the same salary and benefits provided by the position held by the permanently disabled employee at the time he or she sustained a work-related injury. D. Failure of a permanently disabled employee to accept a permanent light-duty position within thirty days of its tender to him/her shall constitute an absolute waiver and forfeiture of any right to disability retirement, including, but not limited to, such right which may be provided by the Government Code, and shall constitute a ground for termination of such employee. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

All employees subject to these rules shall, before they enter upon the duties of their employment, take the oath prescribed in the California Constitution. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

In the event that the people of the city shall, at a municipal election or special election at which such question is submitted, elect to change the status of any one or more of the elective officers of the city to that of appointive officers, then at the expiration of the term of office of any such officer, the person holding the office at the time of the expiration of his/her term shall be retained in the office without examination or performance test and thereafter shall be subject in all other respects to the provisions of the personnel system, as contained in Chapter 2.80. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. An applicant may not be denied the right to file an application and be considered for employment. However, an applicant may not be employed in a department or office in which a relative (spouse, child, step-child, parent, step-parent, parent-in-law, legal guardian, brother, sister, step-brother, step-sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandchild, grandparent, or any other individual related by blood or marriage living in the same household as a city employee) is employed if potential conflicts of interest or other hazards are created which are greater for married couples or related individuals than for unrelated persons by virtue of, for example, their:

1. Performing joint duties; or
2. Sharing responsibilities or authority; or
3. Reporting to the same immediate supervisor; or
4. Being supervised by or supervising a relative; or
5. Being related to the relevant department head. B. When an otherwise eligible applicant is refused appointment to the classified service by virtue of this section, the name of the eligible shall remain on the eligibility list for openings in the same classification except that where similar potential conflicts or extra hazards may arise through appointment of the eligible, appointment to other such openings may still be refused. C. Where two relatives are working in the same department at the time of the adoption of this section, the employees may continue in their positions so long as their mutual employment causes the city no loss of funds, time, or productivity. D. When two employees of the city become married so as to create a situation in which potential conflicts or other hazards greater than those associated with unmarried employees may arise through, for example, the performance of joint duties, sharing responsibility or authority, reporting to the same immediate supervisor, or supervising one another, then every attempt will be made to transfer one employee to a position where no such potential conflict exists. In the event such a transfer is not feasible, the employees shall be given the opportunity to make the decision as to which one shall resign. In the event that neither employee resigns, the least senior employee shall be terminated. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

During the employee's work day, he/she is expected to devote his/her full time in the performance of his/her assigned duties as a city employee. An employee shall not engage in any employment, activity, or enterprise which is inconsistent, incompatible, or in conflict with his/her duties, functions, or responsibilities as a city employee, nor shall he/she engage in any outside activity which will directly or indirectly contribute to the lessening of his/her effectiveness as a city employee. No employee shall engage in any type of activity relating to an employee organization during such time an employee is on duty, except as expressly provided in the personnel system. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

Unless the appointing authority specifically determines otherwise, the following activities shall be deemed to be inconsistent, incompatible and in conflict with an employee's functions or responsibilities as a city employee and shall be prohibited by this chapter: A. Involves the use for private gain or advantage of city time, facilities, equipment and supplies, prestige, influence, or confidential information of one's city office or employment; or B. Involves receipt or acceptance by the employee of any money or other consideration from anyone other than the city for the performance of an act which the employee, if not performing such act, would be required or expected to render in the regular course or hours of his/her city employment or as a part of his/her duties as city employee; or C. Involves the performance of an act in other than his/her capacity as a city employee which act may later be directly or indirectly related to the control, inspection, review, audit, or enforcement by such employee or the department by which he/she is employed; or D. Involves conditions or facts such as time demands which would probably directly or indirectly lessen the efficiency of

the employee in his/her regular city employment, or conditions in which there is a substantial danger of injury or illness to the employee; or E. Involves the solicitation or provision of work, service, or employment for compensation with a person or business doing or planning to do business with the city over which the employee has some control or influence in his/her official capacity at the time of the transaction, or where any part of his/her efforts will be subject to approval by any other officer, employee, board, or commission of the city. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. No city-owned equipment, automobiles, trucks, instruments, tools, supplies, machines, badges, identification cards, or other items which are the property of the city shall be used by an employee except upon prior approval of the appointing authority. B. No employee shall allow any unauthorized person to rent, borrow, or use any of the items mentioned above except upon prior approval of the appointing authority. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

The personnel files of all employees are considered to be confidential and shall not be available for review by anyone except the employee, the employee's supervisor, the department head, the personnel officer, the city attorney, the city council, and a civil or criminal court pursuant to subpoena, or, at the request of the city council, the civil service commission. Background check files of all employees are considered to be confidential and shall not be available for review by anyone except the employee's department head, the personnel officer, the city attorney, and the city council. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

Any employee service shall have the right to review, during regular office hours and with reasonable notice, his/her personnel file and any and all documents contained within, except that, the employee shall not have the right to review any information collected during the course of a preemployment background investigation, including psychological and medical examinations, which information shall not be maintained in the regular personnel file. The employee shall also have the right to add responsive, explanatory, or other supplemental information to his/her personnel file. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

No city official at any level of city government shall make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use his or her official position to influence a governmental decision in which he or she knows or has reason to know he or she has a financial interest. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

City officers or employees shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members. Nor shall city officers or employees be purchasers at any sale or vendors at any purchase made by them in their official capacity. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. The city council shall have the authority to and shall adopt a conflict of interest code pursuant to the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Government Code Sections 81000, et seq.). B. The conflict of interest code adopted by the city council shall (1) require employees of the city who participate in the city's decision-making process to disclose financial interests which may foreseeably influence their participation in the decision-making and (2) prohibit employees who have such financial interests from participating in the decision-making process. C. Said code shall provide that employees violating any provisions of the code will be subject to the administrative, criminal, and civil sanctions provided in the Political Reform Act of 1974 and to the criminal sanctions contained herein for the violation of the Signal Hill Municipal Code.

(Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

The provisions of the foregoing Sections 2.82.300 through 2.82.320 are intended to be interpreted in accordance with state law and the rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

Any employee who violates the provisions of this chapter, including but not limited to Section 2.82.110, 2.82.120, 2.82.130, 2.82.300, or 2.82.310, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for up to six months, or both, and shall be subject to any remedies or penalties provided in state law and/or the disciplinary procedures set forth in Chapter 2.80, if applicable. Violation of any of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute cause for dismissal from the service of the city. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. Hourly, part-time, seasonal, volunteer, and emergency employees are not a part of the classified service as described in Chapter 2.80 and shall not have the benefits and rights, including disciplinary rights described therein. The benefits and rights of such employees shall be set forth in written rules and regulations adopted by the city manager which shall be consistent with the policies of the city council. B. Contractual employees shall be retained in accordance with the applicable provisions of Chapter 3.20 and shall be governed by the terms of their contract. (Ord. 86-04-974 § 1 (part), 1986)