3.75.030 Oral reprimands, written reprimands and suspensions with pay.
A. Oral reprimands, written reprimands, and suspensions with pay shall be administered without a pre-disciplinary hearing. Oral reprimands, written reprimands, and suspensions with pay will be documented on a discipline action form (report) and will be maintained in the employee’s central personnel file and a copy may be maintained in the department evaluation file. The mayor shall be notified of the disciplinary action taken. The employee shall be given an opportunity to review the report with his or her department head. The employee will be required to sign the report. Signing the report shall be construed only as an acknowledgement of receipt, and will not be considered an admission of wrongdoing by the employee or an agreement by the employee. If the employee disagrees with the facts or conclusions contained in the report, the employee will be permitted to submit a statement of disagreement within five business days after reviewing the report with the employee’s department head. The statement shall clearly and concisely set forth the employee’s reasons for disagreeing with the report. The employee’s statement shall be appended to the report.
B. The report will note whether the employee made a comment or responded within the required time frame, and the report shall then be forwarded to the human resources department. The original report will be maintained in the employee’s central personnel file in the human resources department and a copy may be retained in the department evaluation file. Disciplinary action reports concerning employees who have separated from city service shall remain a part of the central personnel file.
C. The department head may, if appropriate, complete periodic reviews of the employee’s progress in correcting the cause of the original discipline. Progress reports shall be made a part of the employee’s central personnel file and may be retained in the department evaluation file.
D. An employee may request a discipline action report be removed from his or her personnel file as follows:
1. Oral and Written Reprimands. Not earlier than 12 months after the date in which the discipline action report was issued.
2. Suspensions with Pay. Not earlier than 24 months after the date in which the discipline action report was issued, except that if the allegations made against the employee that warranted the suspension with pay are found to be unsubstantiated, the report shall immediately be removed from the employee’s central personnel file and department evaluation file.
E. A request to remove a discipline action report shall be submitted to the employee’s department head, in writing, signed and dated by the employee. If there have been no further disciplinary actions of any type during the preceding 12-month period for oral and written reprimands or the preceding 24-month period for suspensions with pay, the discipline action report may be removed from the employee’s department evaluation file and the employee’s central personnel file, within five business days of the date of the employee’s written request. The employee shall be informed in writing as to the removal of the discipline action report. Once the discipline action report is removed from the employee’s central personnel file and the employee’s department evaluation file, the report cannot be used or referenced in future disciplinary proceedings.
F. A copy of the employee’s request must be maintained by the human resources department and may not be destroyed for the length of the employee’s service plus six years or the time required by the current city retention schedule. (Ord. 16-22 § 3, 2016; Ord. 03-33(SUB)(AM) § 2, 2003)