Each of the following shall be entitled for each completed eighty hours of service to sick leave of four and six-tenths hours with pay:

(A) Employees in the various offices of the county, municipal, and civil service township service, other than superintendents and management employees, as defined in section 5126.20 of the Revised Code, of county boards of developmental disabilities;

(B) Employees of any state college or university;

(C) Any employee of any board of education for whom sick leave is not provided by section 3319.141 of the Revised Code, provided that the employee is not a substitute, adult education instructor who is scheduled to work the full-time equivalent of less than one hundred twenty days per school year, or a person who is employed on an as-needed, seasonal, or intermittent basis.

Employees may use sick leave, upon approval of the responsible administrative officer of the employing unit, for absence due to personal illness, pregnancy, injury, exposure to contagious disease that could be communicated to other employees, and illness, injury, or death in the employee's immediate family. Unused sick leave shall be cumulative without limit. When sick leave is used, it shall be deducted from the employee's credit on the basis of one hour for every one hour of absence from previously scheduled work.

The previously accumulated sick leave of an employee who has been separated from the public service shall be placed to the employee's credit upon the employee's re-employment in the public service, provided that the re-employment takes place within ten years of the date on which the employee was last terminated from public service. This ten-year period shall be tolled for any period during which the employee holds elective public office, whether by election or by appointment.

An employee who transfers from one public agency to another shall be credited with the unused balance of the employee's accumulated sick leave up to the maximum of the sick leave accumulation permitted in the public agency to which the employee transfers.

The appointing authorities of the various offices of the county service may permit all or any part of a person's accrued but unused sick leave acquired during service with any regional council of government established in accordance with Chapter 167. of the Revised Code to be credited to the employee upon a transfer as if the employee were transferring from one public agency to another under this section.

The appointing authority of each employing unit shall require an employee to furnish a satisfactory written, signed statement to justify the use of sick leave. If medical attention is required, a certificate stating the nature of the illness from a licensed physician shall be required to justify the use of sick leave. Falsification of either a written, signed statement or a physician's certificate shall be grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal.

This section does not interfere with existing unused sick leave credit in any agency of government where attendance records are maintained and credit has been given employees for unused sick leave.

Notwithstanding this section or any other section of the Revised Code, any appointing authority of a county office, department, commission, board, or body may, upon notification to the board of county commissioners, establish alternative schedules of sick leave for employees of the appointing authority for whom the state employment relations board has not established an appropriate bargaining unit pursuant to section 4117.06 of the Revised Code, as long as the alternative schedules are not inconsistent with the provisions of at least one collective bargaining agreement covering other employees of that appointing authority, if such a collective bargaining agreement exists. If no such collective bargaining agreement exists, an appointing authority may, upon notification to the board of county commissioners, establish an alternative schedule of sick leave for its employees that does not diminish the sick leave benefits granted by this section.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.128, SB 316, §101.01, eff. 9/24/2012.

Amended by 128th General Assemblych.128, SB 79, §1, eff. 10/6/2009.

Effective Date: 06-14-2000; 05-18-2005; 07-01-2007

Note: The amendment to this section by 129th General AssemblyFile No.10, SB 5, §1 was rejected by voters in the November, 2011 election.