Employees may be reimbursed for tuition and related fees paid for taking courses of study in an off-duty status if the subject matter content is closely related to present or probable future work assignments, and limited to programs of instruction that correspond to courses offered by independent bona fide institutions of learning. Limits to the amount of reimbursable expense may be set by the Human Resources Director with the County Executive’s concurrence. 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. 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.
Employees must apply on the prescribed form with all information needed to evaluate the request to their department head who shall recommend approval or disapproval and forward the request to the Human Resources Director whose decision shall be final. To be reimbursed the 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 a request for reimbursement accompanied by a copy of the school grade report or a certificate of completion to the Human Resources Department who shall, if the employee satisfactorily completes the course, forward it to the Controller for payment. Reimbursement will include the costs of tuition and related fees. The County will reimburse for books and other required course materials (excluding laptops and other electronic devices) under conditions specified in the Tuition Reimbursement program. Reimbursement for books will only be made for community college, undergraduate level or graduate level courses.