Page 63 - Employee Handbook 1-2015 rev9

applies to levels of Spanish equivalent to the first two years of college-level foreign
language study. Classes must be a minimum of 30 contact hours in length.
 Workplace Training – The city will, from time to time, provide work site classes in
Spanish and will pay the fees associated with this work site training. Employees who
enroll in these classes must sign an agreement with the city that if they fail to
successfully complete this training, they will reimburse the city for their participation
expense. Requirements for successful completion and the reimbursable cost will be
published with each class announcement.
 Time away from work – The work of the city must come first. Employees and their
supervisors will work together to ensure that attendance and time away from work is
manageable. The employee is responsible for furnishing documentation to the
supervisor as to meeting time and location for the Spanish class. The supervisor will
ensure that the employee knows the allowable time he/she may be away from the
work site. The city will provide up to two hours a week of regular paid work time for
employees to attend a Spanish class. If classes meet more than two hours a week, the
employee will need to use accrued leave time in excess of the possible two hours of
city-allowed time.
 One-Time Financial Incentive – Upon successful completion of an approved
Spanish language course (of at least 30 instruction hours in length), the City of
Winston-Salem will pay its employees a one-time cash incentive of $100.00 gross.
This incentive may be claimed only once. To be eligible, Spanish instruction cannot
be a requirement of the employee’s current position. If eligible, an employee should
request this incentive when submitting the application for education assistance.
 Spanish Language Certification Information – An incentive of $1,100 added to
base pay is authorized for demonstrated competency in oral Spanish when there is an
existing business need for the employee to use Spanish in their position.

The employee must submit a completed Spanish Language Certification Application to
his/her supervisor. Once the supervisor completes the supervisory section of the application, the
department/division/office head must approve the form before sending it to the City Manager’s
Office for the approval of the appropriate Assistant City Manager. The form is available at
http://wshome.cityofws.org/wshome/forms/forms.

If the application is approved, the employee will then take an exam of oral Spanish
language skills that is tailored specifically to the work area. Upon satisfactory completion of this
exam, the employee will be eligible for the salary increase.

If an employee receiving the Spanish Language Incentive is promoted to a position where
the Spanish language skills will be utilized, the employee may be recertified for the incentive by
completing the Spanish Language Recertification application available at
http://wshome.cityofws.org/wshome/forms/forms.

AA. Employee Development

The Employee Development division of the Human Resources Department is committed
to providing relevant and effective learning opportunities to help each employee perform at a

City of Winston-Salem Employee Handbook November 2014 Revision 54