1. PURPOSE
To establish the policies and procedures by which ODG employees shall receive time off from work for vacation or personal convenience.
2. POLICY
(a) An employee is provided opportunity to accrue annual leave in order to have periods of rest and relaxation from his or her job for health and well being, consistent with workload requirements of the ODG.
(b) Employees are encouraged to request annual leave in blocks of time sufficient to ensure rest and relaxation. However, annual leave may also be taken in brief amounts for the personal convenience of the employee.
(c) Annual leave credits are not accumulated and may not be used during the first six months’ employment.
(d) Accruals and caps are as follows:
(1) An employee shall be credited with 48 hours of annual leave upon completion of his or her first six months of service.
Accrual Rate and Accumulation Cap
- 0-5 years of service provides 3.69 hours accrual rate per pay period with a 240 hours cap
- 5-10 years of service provides 4.62 hours accrual rate per pay period with a 280 hours cap
- 10-15 years of service provides 5.54 hours accrual rate per pay period with a 320 hours cap
- 15-20 years of service provides 6.13 hours accrual rate per pay period with a 340 hours cap
- 20-30 years of service provides 6.46 hours accrual rate per pay period with a 360 hours cap
- 30+ years of service provides 7.38 hours accrual rate per pay period with a 360 hours cap
Accrual rate is the number of hours the employee shall accrue per complete pay period.
Accumulation Cap is the maximum number of hours an employee may accumulate.
Years is the range of the number of years of full-time service.
(e) A part-time employee earns leave on a pro-rated basis. For example, an employee who works a half-time schedule earns one-half of the regular accrual per pay period of annual leave. If he or she worked four days a week, he or she would earn four-fifths of the regular pay period accrual, etc.
(f) Except in the instance of reduction in force, and the applicable articles regarding reemployment credit and prior temporary service, an employee rehired by the ODG shall not receive credit for prior ODG employment in establishing his or her rate of annual leave accrual. An employee rehired after layoff shall not accrue leave credits for the period not on the payroll.
(g) An employee who is granted a leave of absence from an ODG position to enter the armed forces of the United States, served honorably therein, and applied for return to his/her position in ODG employment within ninety (90) days before or after termination from active service, or within thirty (30) days after release from active duty for training, shall receive credit for such time in computing total years of full-time employment for the purposes of determining the rate of annual leave accrual. He or she shall not, however, actually accrue annual leave credits while on military leave.
(h) Time spent on leave of absence without pay shall not be counted in determining rates of annual leave accrual, except that VISTA or Peace Corps service while on leave of absence without pay, or time spent on education leave with or without pay shall be counted in determining rates of annual leave accrual.
(i) Upon satisfactory completion of the first six months of employment in ODG service, annual leave shall be earned on the basis of completed full pay periods of service. A permanent status employee shall not be penalized his or her annual leave credit for any pay period during which the employee is off payroll or on an unpaid leave of absence for fewer than 20 hours. However, an employee who is off payroll or on an unpaid leave of absence for 20 hours or more during a pay period shall not accrue annual leave for that pay period. This 20 hour test shall be prorated accordingly for part-time employees. This test shall also apply to the bank of annual leave credited to the employee’s account upon completion of the first six months of employment. For example, an employee who was off payroll for two weeks during his or her second month of employment would be credited with only five days of leave at the end of the first six months. If the same employee was again off payroll for two weeks during the third month of employment, (s)he would only be credited with four days.
(j) An employee re-employed after layoff or a restored employee shall accrue annual leave upon completion of his or her first complete pay period of service.
(k) An employee on educational leave of absence without pay shall not accrue annual leave. (S)He shall, however, be entitled to normal school vacations and school holidays occurring within a school semester.
(l) Annual leave credits shall not be advanced for use prior to their being credited to the employee’s account.
(m) An employee granted leave of absence without pay may use his or her accumulated annual leave before entering upon leave-of-absence status, or (s)he may request that it be retained in his or her account until return to active duty.
(n) Vacation scheduling is the exclusive prerogative of the ODG. Leave must be requested in advance by the employee and is subject to approval by the DG. Such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld. Employees who request a prompt response in order to make travel or lodging reservations, shall have their leave request responded to no later than between three days and the stated deadline for making such reservations.
(o) An employee shall not be charged annual leave for absence on a legal holiday or on an administrative holiday.
(p) Up to 160 hours of annual leave accrued by an employee separating from the State service shall be paid as a lump sum with the final payment for active service. Employees separated on account of death or for State Retirement shall have all their annual leave balances paid as a lump sum. A separating employee who has been in an on payroll status for all of his or her regularly scheduled work days of the final payroll period of employment, shall be entitled to annual leave accrual for that payroll period.
(q) An employee who fails to give two weeks’ notice of resignation and this notice is not waived by the DG, shall forfeit the number of unused annual leave hours by which the notice is deficient.
3. RESPONSIBILITIES
Employees shall not take such leave unless the DG or appropriate supervisor has authorized the leave. Each employee shall notify his or her supervisor as soon as possible if (s)he is unable to report for work due to weather conditions, impassable roads, or other emergency situations.
The ODG or supervisor shall make a reasonable effort to schedule vacations in accordance with the wishes of employees consistent with the needs of the ODG, and report the use of annual leave in accordance with the provisions of this Article and the instructions contained on the payroll time report.