9.0 LEAVE POLICIES - GENERAL PROVISIONS
It is D19 CSB's objective to establish uniform policies by which employees are permitted to take time off from work. The following is a list of the leave policies:
Policy 9.1a Annual Leave
Policy 9.1b Annual Leave Buy-Back
Policy 9.2 Sick Leave
Policy 9.3 Compensatory Leave
Policy 9.4 Maternity Leave
Policy 9.5 Military Leave
Policy 9.6 Workers' Compensation Leave
Policy 9.7 Family and Medical Leave
Policy 9.8 Leave Without Pay
Policy 9.9 Civil Leave
Policy 9.10 Sick Leave Bank Policy
Policy 9.11 Educational and Religious Leave
Policy 9.12 Administrative Leave
Policy 9.13 Leave to Assist Schools
Policy 9.14 Emergency/Disaster Leave
If an employee could not have anticipated the need for a leave of absence, the employee should request approval for the leave with his/her supervisor within 60 minutes after the employee’s start time. In reviewing the request for approval, D19 CSB will consider, among other things, the circumstances necessitating leave and whether the employee could have anticipated the need.
9.0.3 Maintenance of Records Related to Leaves of Absence
Payment for leaves of absence is an expenditure of D19 CSB's funds and, therefore, records related to employee leaves of absence are subject to audit.
District 19 Community Services Board must maintain accurate and up-to-date leave records in sufficient detail that they can be evaluated during an audit by D19 CSB's internal auditor, the State Internal Auditor, or the Auditor of Public Accounts. All leave must be approved on the Leave Request form. Employees and supervisors are responsible for attaching copy to timesheet.
The termination report of an active employee (employee not on leave) shall state the termination date as the last day that the employee actually worked and shall include the amounts to be paid for accrued leave.
The termination report of an employee on leave with pay shall state the termination date as the last day that the employee actually worked, except the termination date shall be stated as the last day of paid sick leave for employees who are on personal sick leave due to illness or disability or last day of paid military leave if on military leave with pay.
The termination report of an employee on leave without pay who fails to return to D19 CSB service shall state the termination date as the last day the employee actually worked.
9.0.4 Treatment of Accrued Leave on Change of Status
Upon certain changes in employment status, including an employee's termination from D19 CSB service, an employee may receive payment for all or a portion of his or her accrued annual, sick, compensatory and/ or overtime leave. For further information regarding treatment of leave balances, see the applicable sections of those policies.
9.0.5 Authority and Interpretation
The Executive Director is responsible for official interpretation of this policy. Questions regarding the application of this policy should be directed to the Human Resources Director.
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Revised 10/23/03
Revised 4/26/01
The amount of annual leave an employee can earn each month or year and the maximum amount of leave that can be accumulated depends on the number of years of continuous service the employee has, as shown in the following table:
Number of hours |
Number of |
Maximum leave |
|
Less than 5 years |
4 |
96 |
192 |
| 5 to less than 10 | 5 |
120 |
240 |
| 10 to less than 20 | 6 |
144 |
288 |
| 20 or more years | 7 |
168 |
336 |
An employee earns annual leave credits for every semi-monthly pay period in which he/ she loses no time. For pay periods in which there is lost time, either due to leave without pay, separation from employment, or because of docking of pay for any reason, no annual leave credit is earned. Also, no annual leave is earned if an employee is absent from work for a period of more than 60 consecutive calendar days.
Annual leave credits may be used at the option of the employee to provide paid absences for vacation and other personal purposes including sickness. Use of annual leave must be approved by the employee's supervisor before the leave becomes effective. Annual leave will be granted, as far as practicable, at the times desired by the employees but subject also to the needs of the agency and the requirements of the work unit. For purposes of leave reporting, a full day of annual leave will be recorded as seven hours. (The hour granted for lunch within the standard workday is not included when calculating hour of annual leave taken.) Annual leave credits used will be recorded on the leave record to the nearest 15 minutes.
When the need for or time of an absence charged to annual leave cannot be anticipated and when conditions warrant, the supervisor may grant leave after the absence. The employee is expected to notify the supervisor when the need for such a leave becomes apparent. Employees who are ill during scheduled annual leave may reschedule the annual leave and charge the lost time to sick leave, provided that they bring a physician's certificate.
If an employee resigns or is removed or laid off, he/ she will be paid for his/ her accumulated annual leave not to exceed the maximum number of hours that can be carried forward at the end of the calendar year. An employee's estate will be paid for unused leave in the event of his/ her death.
If an employee leaves D19 CSB employment and is subsequently re-employed by the Board in a salaried position, either full-time or part-time, no later than 6 calendar months following the effective date of the employee's original separation, all creditable employment before the date of separation shall be considered in determining the rate of annual leave accrual ("Rate of annual leave accrual" refers to the number of hours of annual leave earned each month.) Employees hired directly from other Virginia Community Services Boards will be allowed to transfer up to 10 years of their service within the Virginia CSB for purposes of determining annual leave accrual rate. Service must represent the most recent employment without any breaks in employment.
When using Emergency Family and Medical Leave, annual leave benefits continue to accrue while using earned leave credits, up to 60 consecutive calendar days. After 60 days, annual leave benefits cease to be earned.
The date for determining maximum leave carryover limit (12/31) may be increased under exceptional circumstances by the Executive Director, if the employee in question is required to work due to special projects or staff shortages. This extension can be granted only for a period up to three months (3/31).
Adopted by Board of Directors 10/23/03
Some employees are prevented by the demands of their jobs from using all of their leave credits. The Leave Buy-Back provides these employees with an excellent alternative benefit. In using this benefit, the employee may elect to receive a lump sum payment at the regular rate of pay in 7-hour increments for annual leave. Sick leave credits may not be sold.
Leave is accrued at the following rate:
Years of Service |
# Hours Per Pay Period |
# Hours per Year |
Maximum Carry-Over |
Less than 5 years |
4 |
96 |
192 |
5 to less than 10 Years |
5 |
120 |
240 |
10 to less than 20 Years |
6 |
144 |
288 |
20 or more Years |
7 |
168 |
336 |
The maximum amount of leave that employees may accrue is reflected above. If an employee exceeds that limit on January 1 an adjustment to the maximum carry-over will be made. District 19 offers an optional "Leave Buy-Back" benefit. Each October employees will be given the opportunity to "sell back" up to 35 hours of accrued annual leave. The designated hours will be deducted from the employee's leave balance the last pay period of November and the employee will receive payments as "regular time" on the December 16 pay period. All applicable withholdings will be applied.
Employees are reminded that leave should be saved for use in the event of illness, family emergencies or for vacation.
In order to participate in the "Leave Buy-Back" program, an employee may not have used more than thirty-five (35) sick leave hours or gone on LWOP within the 12-month period ending October 31 of each year.
Sick leave is intended for employee illness. It may also be used for periodic medical or dental examinations and appointments. Employees are asked to exercise discretion in scheduling appointments in a fashion which is least disruptive to their work routine. This may mean scheduling appointments at the start or the end of the workday or in conjunction with one's lunch time. Should the use of sick leave for other than illness interfere with and/ or detract from a given employee's work, for example, resulting in considerable time away from work, this circumstance may be construed as unsatisfactory attendance and may become a supervisory issue. (See Sections 7.2.B and 7.2.1)
It should be noted that earned sick leave is also granted for maternity leave, family illness, death in an employee's immediate family, and workers' compensation leave. Policies governing these leaves are contained in this section.
When an employee is going to be out unexpectedly, he/ she must notify his/ her immediate supervisor within 60 minutes after the employee's scheduled start time for work.
Sick leave is provided at the rate of five hours per pay period (10 hours per month). Employees earn sick leave credits for every semi-monthly pay period in which there is no lost time. For pay periods in which an employee does lose time, either due to leave without pay or because of docking of pay for any reason, no sick leave credit is earned. Also, no sick leave credit is earned if an employee is absent from work for a period of more than 60 consecutive calendar days. There is no limitation on the number of sick leave days an employee can accumulate or carry over from one calendar year to the next. For reporting purposes, a full day of sick leave will be recorded as seven hours. (The hour granted for lunch within the standard workday is not included when calculating sick leave taken.) Sick leave is recorded on the leave record to the nearest 15 minutes.
If sick leave extends beyond three consecutive days, the employee will be required to provide a physician's statement specifying that absence from work was advised by the physician.
New employees or employees with little or no sick leave balance may anticipate and use, for sick leave only, up to the maximum amount of leave to be earned within that pay period (1/ 2 month) without leave penalty provided that any time over this earned leave, is leave without pay. If employee goes on leave without pay there will be no accrual of leave benefits for the pay period during which LWOP occurred. (See Section 9.8.2.) No leave can be anticipated beyond that of the current pay period. Employees on extended sick leave are not eligible for this provision.
Paid Family Leave - In the case of short-term and or commonplace illnesses or minor injuries, which necessitates the employee being available to provide care for a family member or death in the immediate family, sick leave can be used. Family is defined as the employee's parents, spouse, children, siblings, grandparents, in-laws (father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, or brother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law), or any relative living in the household of the employee. Use of earned sick leave for this purpose may not exceed 42 hours total in a calendar year.
When using Emergency Family and Medical Leave, sick leave benefits continue to accrue while using earned leave credits, up to 60 consecutive calendar days. After 60 days, sick leave benefits cease to be earned.
Compensatory leave may be granted to those employees who have accumulated such leave in performing their job responsibilities. Section 5.7.5, "Compensatory Time (Accrual)", contains guidelines about how compensatory time may be earned.
Compensatory leave will not be granted unless such leave has been previously accumulated. Earned compensatory leave must be used within six months. Whenever an employee takes leave (other than sick leave), such leave shall first be charged against accumulated compensatory leave, then against annual leave. Compensatory leave may be taken with the employee's immediate supervisor's authorization unless the employee's absence will seriously cause conflict or disruption within the scope of that employee's duties or obligations during the time that leave would be taken. The employee is responsible for all work or appointments postponed because of his/ her taking leave.
Terminating employees will receive compensation for authorized and unused compensatory leave balances at the regular pay rate received by the employee.