(a) The purpose of the Town of St. John sick leave bank is to relieve full-time regular Town employees from undue financial burdens due to absences from work on a long-term basis because they are experiencing an extended illness or condition. The extended sick leave policy is intended to provide a maximum benefit to regular full-time Town employees who have utilized regular sick leave, vacation leave and accrued comp time in accordance to the prescribed policies.

(b) A sick leave bank of sick days is established only for employees who donate sixteen (16) hours of unused days. All donated hours lose their identity as belonging to an individual and become the property of the sick leave bank.

(c) Employees eligible to use sick leave bank hours must have donated the required days. Such employees must have exhausted all available paid sick days, compensatory time, and vacation days. Such employees must have been off work for an extended illness for at least fifteen (15) consecutive working days.

(d) A Sick Leave Bank Board, comprised of three (3) members, is established by the Town Council to consider employee requests for use of sick bank hours. The Sick Leave Bank Board shall consist of the Town Manager, Clerk-Treasurer, and one (1) department head, named by the Town Manager. Written application must be made by the employee, employee's immediate family, or authorized representative accompanied by a physician's certificate to support use of the sick leave bank hours for an employee's own medical illness. The certification must include a statement that the employee is unable to perform the functions of his/her position. The application specifying the requested number of hours shall be submitted to the Sick Leave Bank Board for use in making a decision. The medical certification and all medically related information shall remain strictly confidential and exempt under the Indiana Public Records Law. An application shall be acted on by the Sick Leave Bank Board by a majority vote of the Board. The applicant shall be informed of the decision by the Board.

(e) The annual enrollment period to join the sick leave bank shall be during the month of February of each year. Those new employees not yet eligible to accrue sick hours will also not be eligible to join the sick leave bank until the next calendar year enrollment period. At such time, the employee may join the bank by voluntarily donating sixteen (16) sick hours.

(f) Employees receiving benefits derived from public or private funds as full compensation of illness or disability causing the absence (i.e., workers' compensation, Social Security Disability) shall not be eligible for sick leave bank days. Any partial payment shall be deducted from the normal daily rate.

(g) Sixteen (16) sick hours are entered into the sick leave bank, by/from each employee who elects to join the bank.

(h) Employees who receive a written termination of services notice prior to the onset of an extended illness shall not be eligible for sick leave bank days.

(i) The maximum number of hours that may be granted per employee shall be two hundred (200) per application; and a maximum of four hundred (400) hours in any twelve (12) month period. Hours granted through the sick leave bank shall be repaid by the employee member, at the rate of sixteen (16) hours per calendar year. In the event the employee returns to work before exhausting all sick leave bank days, those days shall revert to the bank.

(j) From time to time it may be necessary for the Board to replenish the number of sick bank days, and shall have the authority to assess members' additional sick day donations.