§ 112.401. Employee salaries, pension benefits and debts owed to City.

If an employee or retiree of the City is paid salary or wages or pension benefits in excess of the actual salary or wages or pension benefits due the employee or retiree, or if the employee is a debtor of the City, the amount by which the employee or retiree is overpaid, or the amount owed by the employee, plus interest accrued, shall constitute an offset by the City against future salary or wage or pension payments to the over paid person or owing employee and the Director of Finance and Administration or Board of Pension Trustees as appropriate shall place an automatic deduction against the future salary or wage or pension payments to the overpaid or owing employee or retiree to recover the amount overpaid to the employee or retiree or owing to the City; provided, with respect to employees, that:

(a)

Such deductions shall be made in compliance with applicable provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Customer Credit Protection Act.

(1)

Errors by the City resulting in underpayments or overpayments to employees or retirees shall be corrected to a retroactive date determined by the Director of Finance and Administration. In making such a determination, the Director of Finance and Administration should take into consideration the following:

(i)

The magnitude of the error;

(ii)

The length of time since the error began;

(iii)

The complexity of the calculation which caused the error;

(iv)

The employee's opportunity to recognize and report the error during or after its occurrence.

(2)

The Director of Finance and Administration shall, within 30 days of forgiving an overpayment, submit a report to the Council Auditor of said action.

(3)

Correction of payroll errors shall be distinguished from disputes about an employee's right to a particular payment under a collective bargaining agreement. Such disputes shall be resolved, and their effective date(s) determined, by the terms of the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

(b)

The Director of Finance and Administration shall not deduct:

(1)

The full amount of any wage overpayment from a single biweekly paycheck without the written consent of the employee except that obvious errors such as a double payroll entry shall be corrected as promptly as practicable.

(2)

In the case of an employee whose annual gross compensation is $20,000 or less, more than 20 percent of the employee's net pay after all mandatory deductions and withholdings.

(3)

In the case of an employee whose annual gross compensation is more than $20,000, more than 33 1/3 percent of the employee's net pay after all mandatory deductions and withholdings.

(c)

The Director of Finance and Administration is authorized, in lieu of an automatic deduction against future salary or wage payments, to accept payment in full of the amount of the overpayment, or of the indebtedness either in cash or by debit from the employee's leave bank.

(d)

If the employee resigns or is discharged from the City's employ, the Director of Finance and Administration shall offset the unpaid portion of the overpayment or indebtedness against all moneys due to the employee as a result of the employee's resignation or discharge, except moneys due from any pension fund of the City, and if, after the offset:

(1)

A portion of the overpayment or indebtedness remains unpaid, the Director of Finance and Administration shall render a bill to the employee for the unpaid portion.

(2)

The amount of the overpayment or indebtedness has been repaid in full and moneys remain due to the employee, the Director of Finance and Administration shall pay the employee the moneys remaining due.

(e)

The Director of Finance and Administration shall provide every employee, whose indebtedness is to be deducted from the employee's salary, with an opportunity to be heard regarding the accuracy of the indebtedness prior to the deduction.

The Director of Finance and Administration shall have the authority to waive interest in all collections wherein the collection is necessitated by a mistake made by the City.

(Ord. 76-185-105, § 1; Ord. 81-1047-479, § 1; Ord. 83-591-400, § 1; Ord. 90-206-208, § 4; Ord. 91-883-394, § 1; Ord. 2007-979-E, § 1; Ord. 2016-140-E , § 16)

Note— Former §§ 120.203, 112.303.