Soledad Municipal Code Ch. 2.24 Personnel System

As used in this chapter:

A. "Administrative employees" means those employees who, by resolution of the city council, are specifically designated as such and are given specific job titles.

B. "Classified employees" means those employees who, by resolution of the city council, are specifically designated as such and are given specific job titles. The term does not include administrative employees or police employees.

C. "Date of hiring" means the date on which an employee commenced his or her current term of continuous employment by the city. A promotion, demotion, reassignment, or a return from leave of absence without pay, shall not alter the date of hiring.

D. "Permanent, full-time employee" means an employee who has completed his probationary period of employment and who has been hired on a permanent basis for full-time work.

E. "Police employees" means those employees who, by resolution of the city council, are specifically designated as such; however, the term does not include clerical employees of the police department who, by resolution of the city council, have been specifically designated as classified employees.

F. "Probationary employee" means an employee who has not completed the probationary period for new employees and who has not achieved the status of a permanent, full-time employee.

G. "Temporary assignment" means the assignment of a permanent, full-time employee to a position having a job title different from the position occupied by him prior to such assignment.

H. "Unclassified employees" means those persons who hold the following positions:

1. Elected officials;

2. Ambulance standby serviceperson;

3. Ambulance driver;

4. Ambulance steward;

5. Fire chief;

6. Fire engineer; and

7. Reserve police officer.

(Prior code §§ 17-1—17-8)

The purpose of this chapter is to establish a basic compensation policy and plan for municipal employment by the city which will recognize efficient service and will aid in establishing the principle of equal pay for equal work for municipal employment.

(Prior code § 17-9)

Compensation plans for classified employees, police employees, and administrative employees of the city shall be established, and from time to time may be amended, by resolution of the city council. Each compensation plan shall consist of a job title and a normal hiring wage rate; it may include a plan for the awarding of merit increases based upon job performance; it may also contain such other relevant provisions as the city council deems appropriate.

(Prior code § 17-10)

Where any monthly salary established for a particular job title is converted to an hourly basis, the hourly salary shall be twelve times the monthly salary, divided by two thousand eighty.

(Prior code § 17-11)

The city manager has the sole and exclusive right to hire and discharge all employees of the city. He may recommend job titles and normal hiring wages rates for all city employees and, subject to the provisions of compensation plans established by the city council pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.24.030, he may grant merit increases in salary in cases where, in his judgment, after consideration of evaluation reports of department heads and supervisors, an increase in salary is deserved.

(Prior code § 17-13)

Each new employee shall serve a probationary period. In the case of police employees, the probationary period shall be twelve months; in the case of all other employees, the probationary period shall be six months. When the duties of a job, as set forth in the job description, require licensing or certification by any public or private agency, or the completion of a course of training given by any such agency, the employee shall be on probation from the date of hiring until the date on which such licensing or certification is obtained, or course of training is satisfactorily completed, and thereafter for the full probationary period specified in the second sentence of this section.

(Ord. 450 § 1, 1986: prior code § 17-14)

Prior to the expiration of the probationary period, each new employee shall be evaluated by his or her department head or supervisor, who shall thereupon present a written evaluation report to the city manager containing one of the following recommendations:

A. That the employment be continued with a salary increase of four and one-half percent;

B. That the employee be promoted to a higher job classification;

C. That the employment be continued without any change in salary; or

D. That the employment be terminated.

(Prior code § 17-15)

Annually, on the anniversary date of hiring, each employee shall be evaluated by his or her department head or supervisor, who then shall present a written evaluation report to the city manager. The first such evaluation shall take place on the second anniversary of the date of hiring.

(Prior code § 17-16)

An employee may be assigned by the city manager to a position having a different job title, on a temporary basis. While acting in such temporary capacity, the employee shall receive compensation at the normal hiring step rate for the position to which he or she has been assigned; provided, that in no event shall the employee's compensation be reduced. The temporary assignment shall be on an interim basis only, until the person regularly holding the position returns to duty or until his or her successor is hired. Temporary assignment shall be for a period not exceeding six months; an employee temporarily assigned to a position for longer than six months shall automatically be entitled to that position on a permanent basis.

(Prior code § 17-17)

The provisions of this chapter are not intended to limit or restrict in any way the right of the city, acting through the city council and its authorized representatives, to meet and confer, or to enter into a written memorandum of understanding, with a recognized employee organization (as that term is defined in Section 3501 of the Government Code) concerning matters relating to the employment of members of that organization by the city. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between the provisions of any such memorandum of understanding and the provisions of this chapter, the provisions of the memorandum of understanding shall be controlling.

(Prior code § 17-23)