Chapter 3.55
PAID TIME OFF (“PTO”), HOLIDAYS, AND LEAVES OF ABSENCE
Sections:
3.55.020 Paid Time Off/leaves of absence.
3.55.060 Administrative leave.
3.55.090 Nonmedical leave without pay.
3.55.100 Unpaid medical leave (FMLA) and pregnancy disability leave.
3.55.130 Minimum Paid Sick Leave.
3.55.010 Responsibility.
The general manager shall determine and record the accounting procedures for attendance and leaves. Where deviations occur from such records, the final decision will be subject to the approval of the general manager. [Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § A].
3.55.020 Paid Time Off/leaves of absence.
A. Purpose. Paid Time Off (“PTO”) is a bank of accrued time that can be used for sick, vacation, family care or personal time. With supervisor approval, employees may use their PTO at their own discretion, as long as they are in accordance with the guidelines defined below.
The district encourages the employee to take a minimum of four consecutive PTO days for rest and relaxation every 12 months of employment.
B. Responsibility. The general manager (or his designee) shall determine and record the accounting procedures for PTO and other leaves. Where deviations occur from such records, the final decision will be subject to the approval of the general manager.
The general manager shall have the authority to increase the initial PTO bank for new hires.
Employees are responsible for managing their PTO and are expected to have accrued hours for both planned and unplanned situations for which they are requesting time off from work.
C. Paid Time Off Accrual. PTO is credited to the employee on a pay period basis. All regular, full-time employees accrue PTO in accordance with the following schedules:
|
Years of Service Completed – Nonexempt Employees |
Earned PTO Hours per Year – Nonexempt Employees |
|---|---|
|
1 through 5 |
176 |
|
6 through 10 |
216 |
|
11 through 15 |
256 |
|
16 through subsequent years |
288 |
|
Years of Service Completed – Exempt Employees |
Earned PTO Hours per Year – Exempt Employees |
|---|---|
|
1 through 5 |
215 |
|
6 through 10 |
256 |
|
11 through 15 |
288 |
|
16 through subsequent years |
288 |
Administrative leave is not included in the above nor is leave for bereavement, jury/witness duty, medical disability, or military leave. Floating holidays are not included in the above, nor are any of the designated district holidays.
PTO cannot be taken before it is accrued. Employees on unpaid leave status shall not accrue PTO.
D. Maximum Accruals. An employee’s accrued PTO reaches its maximum in accordance with the following schedule:
|
Years of Service Completed |
Maximum Accrual |
|---|---|
|
1 through 5 |
448 |
|
6 through 10 |
528 |
|
11 through 15 |
608 |
|
16 through subsequent years |
672 |
When PTO accrual reaches the maximum, additional PTO leave will not accrue until use brings the total below the maximum.
E. Approval. All regular, full-time employees shall be entitled to take their accrued PTO upon approval of their supervisor. All employees shall request PTO at least eight working days in advance, and supervisor response shall be delivered within three days of the employee’s PTO request. PTO should not be requested/approved for less than 15 minutes’ duration. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure that adequate coverage is maintained in the department. PTO that has not been accrued cannot be taken, and should not be approved.
F. Scheduling PTO. PTO shall be requested and approved at least eight working days in advance. If, due to illness or emergency, PTO is taken on an unscheduled basis, the employee must contact their supervisor prior to the starting time of their regular duties. At the supervisor’s direction, contact may be made via telephone, text and/or email. The employee is responsible for ascertaining that the supervisor has received the unscheduled PTO request. Failure to personally notify the supervisor may result in the leave being taken without pay, at the supervisor’s discretion. An employee who is on an unscheduled absence due to illness may be required to submit a doctor’s certificate stating that the employee was ill. If said certificate is not presented upon the request of the supervisor or general manager, leave shall be without pay. The general manager has the authority to request such a certificate, regardless of the length of time of absence.
Departmental PTO scheduling shall be coordinated by the supervisor to maintain adequate personnel at all times. If unforeseen circumstances occur, and there are no other reasonable alternatives, employees may be required to postpone their approved PTO to provide adequate coverage for staffing and deadlines.
Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that PTO taken by employees in their department is notated on the appropriate days on the district calendar.
All supervisory levels including the general manager must approve any scheduled PTO request that is greater than 30 consecutive calendar days.
G. Compensation in Lieu of PTO. At any time during the year, an employee may be granted compensation in lieu of PTO at full pay with the approval of the general manager; however, the employee must have taken a minimum of five consecutive days off during the prior year, and the employee cannot request less than 20 hours each time they elect compensation in lieu of PTO. The consecutive days off may include PTO, non-work scheduled days, weekends, holidays, floating holidays, and administrative leave, with the exception of administrative leave given for an investigation or other disciplinary action. The compensated days will be deducted from the employee’s PTO accrual leaving a balance of no less than 80 hours. No more than two buy-outs per calendar year will be allowed unless approved by the general manager.
H. Attendance. Individual attendance records are reviewed and evaluated as unscheduled absences and late arrivals occur. The criteria used in evaluating the acceptability of an individual attendance record includes, but is not limited to, frequency, length and pattern of incidents; circumstances and reasons surrounding incidents; the employee’s history; and the impact on district operation. If the number of unscheduled absences within the most recent 12-month period, regardless of the reason, is excessive, it will be addressed as a performance issue and subject to progressive discipline.
I. PTO and CalPERS Service Credit. Retiring employees who wish to report accrued sick time to CalPERS for additional service credit, in accordance with the district’s contract with CalPERS, will be in accordance with the following schedule:
|
Years of Service |
PERS Reportable Sick Time = Percentage of Accrued PTO |
|---|---|
|
1 – 5 |
55% |
|
6 – 10 |
44% |
|
11 – 15 |
38% |
|
16+ |
33% |
J. Terminating Employees. Upon termination of employment for any reason, accumulated PTO will be paid in full at the employee’s rate of pay in effect at termination. [Res. 14-01 Att. A; Res. 13-14 Att. A; Res. 12-18 Att. A; Res. 11-22 Exh. A; Res. 11-21 Exh. A; Res. 11-03 Att. A § 8; Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § B].
3.55.030 Sick leave.
Superseded by Res. 11-21. [Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § C].
3.55.040 Holidays.
All employees who work a 4/10 schedule (four days per week, 10 hours per day) shall receive the following 10 holidays with pay. This schedule of holidays shall be effective each January 1st. To be eligible for holiday pay, an employee must work a full shift both preceding and following the holiday, unless other arrangements, such as paid time off (“PTO”), administrative leave or floating holiday leave, are made with the supervisor.
|
New Year’s Day |
January 1st |
|
Martin Luther King Day |
3rd Monday in January |
|
Presidents’ Birthday |
3rd Monday in February |
|
Memorial Day |
Last Monday in May |
|
Independence Day |
July 4th |
|
Labor Day |
1st Monday in September |
|
Veterans’ Day |
November 11th |
|
Thanksgiving Day |
4th Thursday in November |
|
Christmas |
December 25th |
|
One floating holiday |
Discretion of employee |
For employees who work a 4/10 Monday through Thursday schedule, if a holiday falls on Friday or Saturday, employees will receive 10 hours of floating holiday time. If a holiday falls on Sunday, the following Monday will be observed.
For employees who work a 4/10 Tuesday through Friday schedule, if a holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday, employees will receive 10 hours of floating holiday time. If a holiday falls on Monday, the following Tuesday will be observed.
In addition to the above holidays, district employees will also receive an additional half-day holiday for both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so that district offices may close at noon on both of these days.
In the event these half-day holidays fall on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, employees who work a 4/10 schedule Monday through Thursday will be credited with 10 hours of floating holiday hours for both days combined. For employees who work a 4/10 Tuesday through Friday schedule if these half-day holidays fall on Saturday or Sunday, the employees will be credited with 10 hours of floating holiday hours for both days.
In the years when the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve holidays fall on a Monday, all district offices will close to the public for the full day and employees regularly scheduled to work on Monday will be required to use a half-day of paid time off on both of those days.
In the years when the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day holidays fall on a Wednesday, the district (with the exception of employees who work a 5/8 Monday through Friday schedule and employees who work a 4/10 Tuesday through Friday schedule) will close to the public on the Thursday following each holiday. Employees will be required to use 10 hours’ paid time off on each of those days.
Employees who work a 5/8 schedule (five days a week, eight hours per day) shall receive the following 11 holidays with pay. This schedule of holidays shall be effective each January 1st. To be eligible for holiday pay, an employee must work a full shift both preceding and following the holiday, unless other arrangements, such as paid time off (“PTO”), administrative leave or floating holiday leave, are made with the supervisor.
|
New Year’s Day |
January 1st |
|
Martin Luther King Day |
3rd Monday in January |
|
Presidents’ Birthday |
3rd Monday in February |
|
Memorial Day |
Last Monday in May |
|
Independence Day |
July 4th |
|
Labor Day |
1st Monday in September |
|
Veterans’ Day |
November 11th |
|
Thanksgiving Day |
4th Thursday in November |
|
Thanksgiving Friday |
The Friday following Thanksgiving |
|
Christmas |
December 25th |
|
One floating holiday |
Discretion of employee |
If a holiday falls on Saturday, it will be observed on the preceding Friday. If a holiday falls on Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday.
In addition to the above holidays, district employees who work a 5/8 schedule will also receive an additional half-day holiday for both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so that district offices may close at noon on both of these days. In the event these half-day holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, employees will be credited with eight hours of floating holiday hours for both holidays combined.
Floating holiday time may be taken at the discretion of the employee, with the prior approval of the supervisor. Floating holiday time must be used during the calendar year it accrues and shall be paid off if not used during the year accrued. The exception to this rule is in the case floating holiday time is accrued in the month of December due to paid holidays falling on weekend days. In that case, the floating holiday time will be carried over to the following calendar year. [Res. 19-41 § 2 (Att. A); Res. 12-18 Att. A; amended by district 5/2012; Res. 11-21; Res. 11-03 Att. A § 6; Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § D].
3.55.050 Exempt employees.
If exempt employees work less than five hours of a 10-hour workday, they will be required to use Paid Time Off accruals (PTO, floating holiday, administrative leave) for time not worked due to personal reasons. If exempt employees work more than five hours of a 10-hour workday, they will not be required to use Paid Time Off accruals for time not worked due to personal reasons. If exempt employees do not have accrued time available, and they work for less than five hours of a 10-hour workday, their pay will be docked for time not worked for personal reasons. All time off must be approved by the supervisor. [Res. 14-01 Att. A; amended by district 5/2012; Res. 11-21; Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § E].
3.55.060 Administrative leave.
At the discretion of the general manager, exempt management employees may be granted up to five days’ administrative leave each calendar year. Such leave requires the prior approval of the general manager. Additional administrative leave may be authorized at the discretion of the general manager and/or board; provided, that any such additional leave is authorized in writing and signed by the general manager and/or president of the board of directors. An employee who leaves the district’s employ will receive compensation for any unused accrued administrative leave. Unused leave at the end of each year cannot be carried over to the subsequent calendar year and will be paid off.
Administrative leave may also be used when any employee is required to retain “active” status, but not be present in the workplace as determined by the general manager. This type of paid leave is usually used during incident investigations that involve the employee. The administrative leave is given as needed, therefore; in this case, there will be no unused leave. [Res. 12-18 Att. A; Res. 11-03 Att. A § 7; Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § F].
3.55.070 Bereavement leave.
Leave with pay for a death in an employee’s immediate family may be granted by supervisor for up to a maximum of three days per occurrence. A maximum of five days’ paid bereavement leave shall be granted if there is a death in the immediate family outside a 250-mile radius of Yucca Valley. The supervisor may authorize the use of accrued
Paid Time Off (“PTO”) to extend bereavement leave. Extended time off without pay must be approved by the general manager. “Immediate family” is defined as spouse, daughter, son, parent, brother, sister, grandchild, grandparent, foster child, and in-laws and step-relatives as listed.
When granting bereavement leave, the district may require the employee to produce a copy of the funeral notice or other evidence of the death. [Amended by district 5/2012; Res. 11-21; Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § G].
3.55.080 Jury/witness leave.
An employee ordered to report for jury duty or to be a court witness for district-related business will receive full pay during his/her absence, provided the employee notifies his/her supervisor as soon as possible upon receipt of court notification. The employee must surrender his/her jury or witness pay to the district during the time period for which he/she is receiving full pay from the district. Time permitting, an employee must return to work for any day released early from serving as a juror or witness. The supervisor may check with the court to determine the actual hours of court duty for any particular day(s). [Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § H].
3.55.090 Nonmedical leave without pay.
The general manager, upon positive recommendation from the supervisor, may grant regular full-time employees a nonmedical leave of absence without pay not less than four consecutive work days and not to exceed 30 calendar days within any 12-month period. No leave without pay will be granted if the employee has accrued Paid Time Off (“PTO”), floating holiday, or administrative leave on the books. Nonmedical leave without pay requests must be in writing from the employee, including an explanation of the reason for the request. During the leave period, the employee shall not continue to accrue Paid Time Off (“PTO”), floating holiday, or administrative leave. Upon expiration of a regularly approved leave, the employee may be reinstated to the position held at the time the leave was granted with all benefits intact. Failure on the part of the employee to report promptly back to work may be cause for termination. [Res. 12-18 Att. A; amended by district 5/2012; Res. 11-21; Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § I].
3.55.100 Unpaid medical leave (FMLA) and pregnancy disability leave.
See Chapter 3.85 HDWDC. [Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § J].
3.55.110 Military leave.
Military leave will be granted in accordance with the provisions of state and federal law. If possible, advance notice shall be given to the manager concerning the time frames required for military leave.
A. If the employee’s military service is pursuant to military orders, the employee’s position will be maintained for him/her for the period required by law, although the district may fill it on a temporary basis, if needed. The employee may use Paid Time Off (“PTO”) during the period, but if leave is taken without pay, the employee shall not continue to accrue PTO and other additional benefits that regular full-time employees would receive unless otherwise required by law.
B. Employees on temporary military leaves of absence will be paid their normal salary of the first 30 days per fiscal year while engaged in the performance of ordered military duty. [Amended by district 5/2012; Res. 11-21; Res. 10-13 Art. 10 § K].
3.55.120 Other leaves.
The district may provide other leaves in accordance with the provisions of state and federal law. If possible, advance notice shall be given to the manager concerning the time frames required for other leaves. [Res. 12-18 Att. A].
3.55.130 Minimum Paid Sick Leave.
A. Eligibility. Any employee not otherwise provided paid leave sufficient to cover at least 24 hours of absence on an annual basis for the reasons set forth in this Paid Time Off policy shall be eligible for this Minimum Paid Sick Leave. An employee who, on or after July 1, 2015, works 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment is eligible for Minimum Paid Sick Leave. This policy is intended to comply with the requirements of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 at Labor Code Section 246(e)(2) and should be interpreted consistently.
B. Annual Grant of 24 Hours of Minimum Paid Sick Leave. Employees who are eligible as of July 1, 2015, will be granted 24 hours on July 1, 2015, for use during the remainder of that calendar year. Employees who are hired after July 1, 2015, shall be granted 24 hours upon hire for use during the calendar year of their hire. Every year thereafter, on January 1st, each covered employee shall receive an annual grant of 24 hours of Minimum Paid Sick Leave for use during that calendar year. This annual grant does not roll over to the next calendar year and is not paid out upon termination of employment. The Minimum Paid Sick Leave entitlement and its use shall be reflected on the covered employee’s regular pay stubs.
C. Use of Minimum Paid Sick Leave. Leave may be used for any purpose sick leave is otherwise typically used pursuant to policy and consistent with those uses set forth in the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (AB 1522). These uses include, but are not limited to, use by a covered employee for preventative care or diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition for the covered employee or his or her family member; and use by a covered employee who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. A covered employee may not be required to find a replacement worker in order to utilize Minimum Paid Sick Leave.
D. Procedural Requirements. Procedural requirements, including those requirements related to notice, request of use, acceptable uses, prohibited uses, minimum increments, and medical certification, shall be governed by existing policies relating to Paid Time Off. For those purposes, Minimum Paid Sick Leave shall be treated the same as Paid Time Off. [Res. 15-17].