Section 31. Tuition Reimbursement

The County may reimburse an employee for tuition and related fees paid for taking courses of study in an off-duty status if the subject matter content of the course is closely related to the employee’s present or probable future work assignments. Limits to the amount of reimbursable expense may be set by the Human Resources Director with concurrence of the County Manager. There must be a reasonable expectation that the employee’s work performance or value to the County will be enhanced as a result of the course of study. Courses taken as part of a program of study for a college undergraduate or graduate degree will be evaluated individually for job relatedness under the above-described criteria. The employee must both begin and successfully complete the course while employed by the County.

The employee must submit an application on the prescribed form to their department head with all information needed for an evaluation of the request. The department head shall recommend approval or disapproval and forward the request to the Human Resources Director whose decision shall be final. In order to be reimbursed the employee’s application must have been approved before enrolling in the course. If a course is approved and later found to be unavailable, a substitute course may be approved after enrollment. Upon completion of the course, the employee must submit to Human Resources a request for reimbursement accompanied by a copy of the school grade report or a certificate of completion. The Human Resources Department shall, if the employee satisfactorily completes the course, forward it to the Controller for payment. Reimbursement may include the costs of tuition and related fees, but may not include costs of books or materials which become the property of the employee.