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5.4 Vacation Leave

  1. Employees shall not be entitled to vacation leave credit for the first six (6) months of service.  On the first day of the monthly pay period following completion of six (6) qualifying monthly pay periods of continuous service, all full-time employees covered by this Section shall receive a one-time vacation bonus of 42 hours of vacation credit.  Thereafter, for each additional qualifying monthly pay period, the employee shall be allowed credit for vacation with pay on the first day of the following monthly pay period as follows:

    7 months to 3 years                   7 hours per month
    37 months to 10 years               10 hours per month
    121 months to 15 years              12 hours per month
    181 months to 20 years             13 hours per month
    20 years and over                       14 hours per month

    An employee who returns to State service after an absence of six (6) months or longer, caused by a permanent separation, shall receive a one-time vacation bonus on the first monthly pay period following completion of six (6) qualifying pay periods of continuous service in accordance with the employee’s total State service before and after the absence.

  2. A full-time employee who has eleven (11) or more working days of service in a monthly pay period shall earn vacation credits as set forth under Subsection A., above.  Temporary or permanent separation for more than eleven (11) consecutive working days which fall into two consecutive qualifying pay periods shall disqualify the second pay period.
  3. Employees working less than full-time accrue vacation in accordance with the following schedule.

CHART FOR COMPUTING VACATION, SICK LEAVE, AND HOLIDAY CREDITS FOR ALL FRACTIONAL TIME BASE EMPLOYEES. SUPERCEDES ACCRUAL RATES IN MANAGEMENT MEMORANDUM 84-20-1

 

 HOURS OF MONTHLY VACATION CREDIT
PER VACATION GROUP

•SL/

HOL•

TIME
BASE

 7 10 11 12 13 14 15

8

1/5

 1.40 2.00 2.20 2.40 2.60 2.80 3.00

1.60

2/5

 2.80 4.00 4.40 4.80 5.20 5.60 6.00

3.20

3/5

 4.20 6.00 6.60 7.20 7.80 8.40 9.00

4.80

4/5

 5.60 8.00 8.80 9.60 10.40 11.20 12.00

6.40

1/8

0.88

 1.25 1.38 1.50 1.63 1.75 1.88

1.00

1/4

1.75

2.50

 2.75 3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75

2.00

3/8

 2.63 3.75 4.13 4.50 4.88 5.25

5.63

3.00

1/2

 3.50 5.00 5.50 6.00 6.50 7.00

7.50

4.00

5/8

 4.38 6.25 6.88 7.50 8.13 8.75 9.38

5.00

3/4

 5.25 7.50 8.25 9.00 9.75 10.50

11.25

6.00

7/8

6.13

 8.75 9.63 10.50 11.38 12.25 13.13

7.00

1/10

 0.70 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.30 1.40 1.50 0.80

3/10

2.10

 3.00 3.30 3.60 3.90 4.20 4.50

2.40

7/10

 4.90 7.00 7.70 8.40 9.10 9.80

10.50

5.60
9/10

6.30

9.00

9.90

10.80

11.70

12.60

13.50

7.20

*HOURS OF MONTHLY SICK LEAVE AND HOLIDAY CREDIT

D. If an employee does not use all of the vacation that the employee has accrued in a calendar year, the employee may carry over their accrued vacation credits to the following calendar year to a maximum of 640 hours. A department head or designee may permit an employee to carry over more than 640 hours of accrued vacation leave hours if an employee was unable to reduce their accrued hours because the employee:

    1. Was required to work as a result of fire, flood, or other extensive emergency;
    2. Was assigned work of a priority or critical nature over an extended period of time;
    3. Was absent on full salary for compensable injury;
    4. Was prevented by department regulations from taking vacation until December 31 because of sick leave; or
    5. Was on jury duty; or,
    6. Was prevented by the department head or designee from utilizing accrued vacation.

It is the employee’s responsibility to utilize all vacation hours in excess of the 640 hour cap by the end of each calendar year unless otherwise prevented from doing so as enumerated in paragraph D(1-6) above.  If on January 1 of each year an employee’s vacation leave bank exceeds the cap in this subsection, the department head or designee has the right to order the employee to submit a vacation request which will demonstrate how and when the employee plans to use any hours which will exceed the cap.  If the employee does not submit a plan or fails to use the time as planned for reasons other than those listed above, the department head or designee may then order the employee to take excess time at the convenience of the department.

The 640 hour cap shall be phased in according to the following schedule:

    • Effective July 1, 2025, a maximum of 832 hours may carry over to the following calendar year.
    • Effective January 1, 2026, a maximum of 768 hours may carry over to the following calendar.
    • Effective January 1, 2027, a maximum of 704 hours may carry over to the following calendar year.
    • Effective January 1, 2028, a maximum of 640 hours may carry over to the following calendar year.

E.  Upon termination from State employment, the employee shall be paid for accrued vacation credits for all accrued vacation time.

F.  Employees shall request to take vacation. The department head or designee shall approve the request unless there is an operational need to deny the request.

G.  Vacation requests must be submitted in accordance with departmental policies on this subject. When two or more employees ask for the same vacation time and the department head or designee cannot approve all the employees’ requests, approval shall be granted in chronological order of legitimate request, consistent with equity for all affected bargaining unit employees.

H.  Each department head or designee will make every effort to act on vacation requests in a timely manner.

I.  Vacations will be canceled only when operational needs require it.

J. Unit 9 employees are authorized to use existing fractional vacation hours that may have been accumulated.

K. Vacation leave credits may be used in thirty (30) (effective October 31, 2002, fifteen (15)) minute increments.