Vacation / Personal Time Benefits

Vacation / personal time off with pay is available to eligible employees to provide opportunities for rest, relaxation, and personal pursuits. New probationary full-time employees are not eligible to use vacation / personal time until after completion of their initial six (6) months of service. Thereafter, vacation / personal may be taken as accrued. Employees shall not take vacation leave before it is accrued. Regular and shift employees are eligible to use vacation time as described in this policy:

VACATION LEAVE ACCRUAL

Annual vacation leave credit shall be accrued annually from the employee's original employment date in accordance with Attachment A.

Upon institution of the twenty-seven day work period and six (6) Kelly Days, regular full-time and probationary shift personnel may join up to three vacation days to their assigned Kelly Days.

Each employee shall be allowed one personal day off with pay each calendar year, to be taken in increments not less than four (4) hours for reasons personal to the employee. The personal day can be scheduled in advance or requested immediately from the supervisor for situations deemed urgent and/or related to the individual or family needs without regard to minimum staffing. The employee requesting personal time must wait for coverage of his/her duties before leaving their post unless approved by the shift supervisor/Management. If the personal day is not used within the calendar year issued the employee will forfeit the hours.

This is in addition to the aforementioned scheduled vacation days.

The length of eligible service is calculated on the basis of a "benefit year." This is the 12-month period that begins with the employee's date of hire and annually thereafter. An employee's benefit year may be extended for any significant leave of absence except military leave of absence. Military leave has no effect on this calculation. (See individual leave of absence policies for more information.)

Paid vacation time can be used in minimum increments of one hour, not to exceed a 24 hour shift for shift employees or an 8 hour day for regular employees, unless otherwise specified in the memorandum of understanding. To take vacation, employees should request advance approval from their supervisors. Requests will be reviewed based on a number of factors, including operational needs and staffing requirements. Vacation requests for each year will be selected by each shift on the first three days of March. Any vacation time not selected at that time can be selected later on a short term basis and cannot create an overtime situation. The District will recognize seniority of the employee in arranging vacation schedules.

Vacation time off is paid at the employee's base pay rate at the time of vacation.

Upon termination of employment, employees who have completed a minimum of one full year's service may be paid for unused vacation / personal time that has been earned. However, if the employee has already used more vacation / personal time than he/she has earned according to a pro rata formula for the current year, the amount of these unearned vacation / personal hours will be deducted from the employee's final check. Also, if Sni Valley, in its sole discretion, terminates employment for cause, forfeiture of unused vacation / personal time may result, depending upon the circumstances of termination.

Each employee will accrue vacation time according to attachment “A”. Vacation time will accrue the year before the benefit is available to the employee, i.e., (hours accrued in 2006 are to be used in the 2007 calendar year). Only the accrued hours for the next calendar year maybe rolled over.

Any unused vacation / personal hours as of December 31st of each year, except those cancelled by a Chief officer due to an emergency situation or those approved by a Chief officer as a special circumstance, will be forfeited by the employee. Vacation / personal hours that are cancelled by a Chief officer will be rolled over to the next calendar year.

New hires with a hire date on or after February 1st of any calendar year will start accruing vacation / personal time from the 1st day of employment. The probationary employee must complete 6 months of employment before vacation / personal time can be used. After completing their probationary period the employee can use their accrued vacation time as long as it does not cause overtime. Any remaining hours as of December 31st due to their start date will roll over to the next year.

Policy No.  303  Issued  9/28/2000  Applicable  1/17/2007