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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 2026-4816ORDINANCE NO. 2026-4816 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 78 OF THE MIAMI BEACH CITY CODE, ENTITLED "PERSONNEL," BY AMENDING ARTICLE V, ENTITLED "CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEE'S LEAVE," BY AMENDING SECTION 78-282 ENTITLED "DEFINITIONS" CLARIFYING THE DEFINITION OF "IMMEDIATE FAMILY" BY ELIMINATIING DUPLICATIVE LANGUAGE; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-285 TO ALLOW SERVICE MEMBERS TO CASH OUT ON HOURS ACCRUED IN EXCESS OF THE CARRY -FORWARD CAP OTHERWISE FORFEITED AS A RESULT OF ACTIVE MILITARY DUTY; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-286 TO INCREASE THE CAP ON THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ANNUAL LEAVE HOURS THAT MAY BE ACCRUED FROM 500 HOURS TO 600 HOURS RETROACTIVE TO DECEMBER 31, 2025; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-290 SUBJECTING PAID HOLIDAYS TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROVISIONS GOVERNING HOLIDAY PAY, IF APPLICABLE; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-292 TO AUTHORIZE TRANSFER OF PART OR ALL ACCRUED LEAVE TO AN EMPLOYEE'S 457(b) ACCOUNT UPON RETIREMENT, RESIGNATION, TERMINATION OR DEATH AND AUTHORIZE THE USE OF ACCRUED LEAVE TO BE USED TO EXTINGUISH A DEBT OWED TO THE CITY SUCH AS REIMBURSEMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS THROUGH PAYROLL OR UNPAID INSURANCE PREMIUMS; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT WITH THIS ORDINANCE; AND FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, CODIFICATION, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, Chapter 78 of the Miami Beach City Code governs personnel policies for classified employees, including the rules and procedures relating to the accrual, use, and payment of employee leave; and WHEREAS, Section 78-282 of the City Code sets forth definitions applicable to classified employee leave, including the definition of "immediate family," which the Administration has identified as containing duplicative or redundant language that requires clarification to improve consistency and readability; and WHEREAS, Section 78-285 establishes special provisions for employees on military leave, and the Administration recommends amending this section to ensure that service members who exceed annual leave carry -forward caps due to active military service may cash out excess accrued hours that would otherwise be forfeited, thereby supporting employees fulfilling military obligations; and WHEREAS, Section 78-286 governs annual leave accumulation and currently limits classified employees to a maximum accrual of 500 hours; and WHEREAS, the Administration recommends increasing the annual leave cap from 500 to 600 hours, retroactive to December 31, 2025, for employees employed with the City on the effective date of this ordinance, thereby providing a more competitive and equitable leave accrual structure; and WHEREAS, Section 78-290 addresses how holidays are charged against annual and sick leave, and the proposed amendment clarifies that paid holidays remain subject to applicable collective bargaining agreement provisions governing holiday pay; and WHEREAS, Section 78-292 governs the payment of annual and sick leave upon an employee's resignation, retirement, termination, or death, and the amendments authorize employees to direct some or all of these accrued leave payments into the employee's City -sponsored 457(b) deferred compensation account, subject to statutory limits; and WHEREAS, the amendments further authorize the use of accrued leave to extinguish debts owed to the City — including overpayments, missed insurance premiums, or other approved obligations — ensuring consistent and administratively efficient processes for reconciling outstanding balances; and WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Commission desire to update Chapter 78 to reflect current operational needs, clarify existing provisions, and provide improved flexibility and fairness in the administration of classified employee leave policies. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: SECTION 1: Article V of Chapter 78, entitled "Classified Employee's Leave" is hereby amended as follows: CHAPTER 78. PERSONNEL ARTICLE V. CLASSIFIED G^nci OYFF EMPLOYEES' LEAVE Sec. 78-282. - Definitions: amounts of leave. (a) Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this division, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning: Immediate family membe shall mean a group of any of the following living together as a unit: spouse, including registered domestic partner as that term is defined in the city's domestic partnership ordinance, children, stepchildren, adopted children, mother, father, sister, brother, stepbrother, grandmother, grandfather, grandchildren, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and any person in the general family whose ties would normally be considered immediate family and who is living w4h within the same household (proof may be required). Sec. 78-285. - Special provisions for employees on military leave. All employees shall be entitled to military leave of absence from their respective duties in accordance with the provisions of, and subject to the conditions set forth in F.S. ch. 115, and USERRA. Employees holding regular status who serve in the Armed Forces with military leave of absence from the city and who return to active employment with the city in accordance with the terms of the military leave of absence, shall upon such return to employment with the city, be granted leave in the same amount as if they had been working for the city. Upon return to active employment with the city, the employee shall be paid in cash for the vacation hours in excess of the carry -forward cap provide in section 78-286 he would have been entitled to use had he not been called into military service. Such payment will be at the rate of pay received upon return to employment with the city and such vacation pay shall be charged against adjusted annual leave credit. Sec. 78-286. -Accumulation or forfeiture of annual leave and SiGk leave. At the end of each payroll year, all employees will be allowed no more than 500 600 annual leave hours to be accrued. Any hours of leave in excess of the above maximum will be forfeited on the last day of the last full pay period of the payroll year. Employees shall be permitted to carry vacation hours over the 500600-hour cap until March 31" of the following year. A request to further extend the excess hours may be approved by the department director and the human resources director. On the effective date of this ordinance, the 600-hour annual leave carry - forward cap shall be retroactively applied to employee leave balances on December 31, 2025 for employees employed with the city on the effective date of this ordinance. Sec. 78-290. — Charges against annual leave and sick leave. (c) Holidays. When holidays, designated as such by the city commission, fall within periods of sick leave or vacation with pay, no charge shall be made against the employee's leave credits for the holiday subject to any applicable collective bargaining agreement provision governing holiday pay. Sec. 78-292. — Payment for annual and sick leave. (a) Retirement or death. Any earned balance of annual leave and sick leave of an employee of the city, or who retires under the terms of any city pension plan, shall be paid to the beneficiary or employee respectively at the rate of compensation received by such regular employee at the time of his/her death or retirement. The employee may direct the city to pay any portion of any earned balance of annual leave and sick leave to the employee's deferred retirement account in a city sponsored 457(b) plan subject to the maximum payment prescribed by section 78-292(c) and subject to the maximum amount permitted by law. (c) Maximum payment. Upon resignation, retirement, termination, or death of an employee, the maximum annual leave for which an employee or his/her beneficiary may be paid is 620 hours. An employee or his/her beneficiary may be paid a maximum of 620 hours of accumulated sick leave when the employee has reached more than ten years of creditable service. An employee or his/her beneficiary may be paid one-half of the employee's accumulated sick leave, up to a maximum of 620 hours after their probationary period through ten years of creditable service. Subject to the cap on hours to be paid as set forth in this subsection (c), an employee may direct the city to pay any portion of the maximum payment due the employee to the employee's deferred retirement account in a city sponsored 457(b) plan, subject to the maximum amount permitted by law. Any benefit under this section must be bargained with the respective unions. (e) Repayments of overpayments. Accrued leave may be used to repay payroll overpayments, missed insurance premiums, or any other debt owed by the employee to the city or reasonable business transaction, which is approved by the city manager or designee at any time prior to or at separation from employment. SECTION 3. REPEALER. All ordinances or parts of ordinances and all section and parts of sections in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. SECTION 4. CODIFICATION. It is the intention of the City Commission, and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made part of the Code of the City of Miami Beach as amended; that the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered or re -lettered to accomplish such intention; and that the word "ordinance" may be changed to "section" or other appropriate word. SECTION 5. SEVERABILITY. If any section, subsection, clause or provision of this Ordinance is held invalid, the remainder shall not be affected by such invalidity. SECTION 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall take effect 10 days following the adoption. PASSED and ADOPTED this �D day of 2026. ATTEST: ' MAY 2 6 2026 Steven Meiner, Mayor Rafael E. Granado, City Clerk (Sponsored by Commissioner Monica Matteo Salinas) ............ APPROVED AS TO Af FORM & LANGUAGE KORP ORMEO` & FO ECUTION 131 City At orney ;Ew Date Ordinances - R5 A MIAMI BEACH COMMISSION MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission FROM: Eric Carpenter, City Manager DATE: May 20, 2026 9:15 a.m. Second Reading Public Hearing TITLE: AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 78 OF THE MIAMI BEACH CITY CODE, ENTITLED "PERSONNEL," BY AMENDING ARTICLE V, ENTITLED "CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES' LEAVE," BY AMENDING SECTION 78-282 ENTITLED "DEFINITIONS" CLARIFYING THE DEFINITION OF "IMMEDIATE FAMILY" BY ELIMINATING DUPLICATIVE LANGUAGE; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-285 TO ALLOW SERVICE MEMBERS TO CASH OUT ON HOURS ACCRUED IN EXCESS OF THE CARRY -FORWARD CAP OTHERWISE FORFEITED AS A RESULT OF ACTIVE MILITARY DUTY; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-286 TO INCREASE THE CAP ON THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ANNUAL LEAVE HOURS THAT MAY BE ACCRUED FROM 500 HOURS TO 600 HOURS RETROACTIVE TO DECEMBER 31, 2025; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-290 SUBJECTING PAID HOLIDAYS TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROVISIONS GOVERNING HOLIDAY PAY, IF APPLICABLE; BY AMENDING SECTION 78-292 TO AUTHORIZE TRANSFER OF PART OR ALL ACCRUED LEAVE TO AN EMPLOYEE'S 457(B) ACCOUNT UPON RETIREMENT, RESIGNATION, TERMINATION OR DEATH AND AUTHORIZE THE USE OF ACCRUED LEAVE TO BE USED TO EXTINGUISH A DEBT OWED TO THE CITY SUCH AS REIMBURSEMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS THROUGH PAYROLL OR UNPAID INSURANCE PREMIUMS; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT WITH THIS ORDINANCE; AND FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, CODIFICATION, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. RECOMMENDATION The Administration recommends adoption of this ordinance. BACKGROUND/HISTORY The city's workforce is primarily divided into the classified and unclassified service. The classified service is further divided into five bargaining units represented by a local union chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ("AFSCME"), the Communication Workers of America ("CWA"), the Government Supervisors Association of Florida ("GSAF"), the International Association of Firefighters ("IAFF"), and the Fraternal Order of Police ("FOP"). The city strives to provide uniform employment benefits to the greatest extent possible among all employee classes. The proposed amendment to the Classified Leave Ordinance proposes to implement the uniform change bargained across all represented units, except GSAF, and update the ordinance to reflect current administrative practices. This is one of a pair of ordinances proposing the same changes for the employees in the classified and unclassified service. ANALYSIS Increase to Cap on Carry -Forward Annual Leave Hours. As of March 24, 2026, the city concluded bargaining with all bargaining agents for successor 487 of 1709 agreements and, subject to the Commission's ratification of the tentative agreement with CWA and AFSCME, the city will have labor peace until September 30, 2027, when four of five contracts are set to expire. All bargaining units to date, except GSAF, have bargained to raise the cap on carry -forward annual leave hours accrued from 500 hours to 600 hours. The amendment proposes to implement this change. Presently, an employee can only carry -forward a total of 500 hours of annual leave from year to year. With this ordinance change, any annual leave hours exceeding a 600-hour cap at year end needs to be used by March 31 of the following year, or else the employee forfeits those hours, unless the department requests a temporary extension of time to use the excess hours after March 31 and the request is approved. Because the Commission has already ratified the collective bargaining with IAFF and FOP, both of which have an increased carry -forward cap of 600 hours as of December 31, 2025, adopting the proposed amendment would conform the Ordinance to the provision of each of those agreements. Subject to the Commission's ratification of agreements with AFSCME and CWA, the proposed amendment would also cause the Ordinance to conform to those collective bargaining agreements. Finally, to maintain uniformity in leave benefits for all other classified employees not represented by a bargaining agent, and aid administration of leave benefits for all employees generally, the Administration proposed raising the carry -forward cap on annual leave hours for all classified and unclassified employees (as proposed by separate amendment to the respective Unclassified Leave Ordinance). In addition to raising the cap on carry -forward hours, the Administration proposes to enact the higher cap retroactively to December 31, 2025, for parity to align with the various bargaining agreements and to avoid leave adjustments as we review leave balances as of March 31. Charges Against Annual Leave and Sick Leave. The Administration proposes to amend the Ordinance to implement current administrative practices already in place affecting the use of annual leave and sick leave accruals by employees. First, the Administration proposes to allow employees who participate in a deferred retirement plan (457(b)), to direct the payment of accrued leave on a pre-tax basis to their deferred retirement account upon separation, at retirement, or death. This proposal does not increase the maximum amount of accrued hours that an employee would be entitled to receive payment for - presently set at 1,240 combined hours. Second, the Administration proposes to allow employees to forfeit accruals to repay any debt owed to the city. Typical debts owed by employees to the city involve an overpayment through payroll made in error or the repayment of missed premiums during an approved extended leave primarily involving the health circumstances of the employee or a qualifying relative of the employee. Finally, the Administration proposes to allow employees of active military service who could not use the annual leave hours accrued in excess of the carry - forward cap to receive an equivalent cash payment upon return to city service. Miscellaneous Additional Changes. The amendment proposes to consolidate the definition of "immediate family" for clarity and add the phrase "subject to any collective bargaining agreement provision governing holiday pay" to Section 78-290(c) in recognition of the substantial changes to holiday pay bargained with CWA and AFSCME. FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT There are no financial impacts resulting from the changes proposed in this ordinance in that the rate at which leave is accrued by employees and the caps on payouts of accrued time remain the same. Does this Ordinance require a Business Impact Estimate? Yes (FOR ORDINANCES ONLY) 488 of 1709 If applicable, the Business Impact Estimate (BIE) was published on: 4/30/2026 See BIE at: httPs•//www.miamibeachfl.gov/city-hall/city-clerk/meeting-notices/ FINANCIAL INFORMATION N/A CONCLUSION The Administration recommends adopting the ordinance amending the Classified Employees' Leave Ordinance to implement negotiated changes affecting the carry -forward cap on accrued annual leave hours and updating the Ordinance to reflect current administrative practices. Applicable Area Citywide Is this a "Residents Right to Know" item, pursuant to City Code Section 2-17? m Is this item related to a G.O. Bond Project? 212 Was this Agenda Item initially requested by a lobbyist which as defined in Code Sec. 2-481, includes a principal engaged in lobbying? No If so, specify the name of lobbyist(s) and principal(s): Department Human Resources Sponsor(s) Commissioner Monica Matteo-Salinas Co-sponsor(s) Condensed Title 9:15 a.m. 2nd Rdg, Amend Classified Employees' Leave -Annual Leave Accruals. (MMS) HR Previous Action (For City Clerk Use Only) First Reading Public Hearing on 4/22/2026 - R5 AH 489 of 1709