21.6 Personal Leave - Rules Pages

Attendance and Leave Manual

Absence With Pay (Part 21)

Section 21.6 - Personal Leave

R-1 Purpose

Personal leave is intended to provide employees with time off without loss of pay to attend to matters of personal business and religious observance.

See related contract provision C-2

It is not intended that personal leave be used either to augment or to substitute for vacation. While this rule mandates an annual crediting of five days personal leave to each employee, it does not guarantee the use of such leave upon request. The appointing authority may request evidence of the necessity of time off charged to personal leave credits, and, except in the event of an emergency, must approve use in advance.

See related contract provisions C-1, C-11

NOTE: The uses of personal leave authorized by the Attendance Rules as described above have been radically modified by negotiated agreement. Manual users should be especially careful to read and apply the references to the negotiated provisions below.

See related contract provisions C-1, C-5

Eligibility

All employees subject to the Attendance Rules are eligible to be granted personal leave except part-time employees who do not work a fixed number of hours, five days per week and employees designated as summer employees or summer replacements. (See Section 26.2 of this Manual.)

See related contract provisions in 26.1, C-1, C-5, C-8

Personal Leave Anniversary Date

The anniversary date for personal leave is the date the employee attains coverage under the Attendance Rules. (Note: the personal leave anniversary date for a per diem or hourly paid employee is not the date he/she started earning eligibility for coverage under the Attendance Rules, but the date on which he/she first becomes eligible.) An adjustment in this anniversary date is required only when the employee is not on the payroll on such date. (See following, "Crediting of Personal Leave.") The personal leave anniversary date for employees hired before January 3, 1957 is January 3, 1957, except as adjusted as described below.

R-2 Crediting of Personal Leave

Employees are credited with five days personal leave each year on their anniversary date. An employee who is not in pay status on the anniversary date is not credited with personal leave until he/she returns to the payroll. The date of return to pay status becomes the new anniversary date for personal leave purposes. An employee who is in non-pay status for less than one year and returns prior to his/her anniversary date will have previously unused personal leave restored and will retain the same anniversary date.

See related contract provisions C-6, C-8

An employee may not be credited with more than five days of personal leave during a twelve-month period. Personal leave is not cumulative. The balance of such leave remaining to the employee's credit expires at the close of business on the day immediately preceding his/her personal leave anniversary date.

See related contract provision C-3

Use of Personal Leave Credits

Personal leave credits are to be used at a time convenient to, and approved in advance by, the appointing authority. It is intended that the needs of the State take precedence over the needs of the employee although personal leave for religious observance shall be granted on the days and hours required as long as government functions may properly continue.

Although prior approval of the appointing authority is required before an employee may charge an absence from duty to personal leave credits, such approval may be granted and in some cases should be granted subsequent to the absence so long as the employee notifies the agency of his/her absence as soon as practicable and the appointing authority is satisfied that the absence was unexpected and unavoidable.

The following are some examples of absences which may be charged to personal leave credits:

See related contract provision C-3

Religious observance.
Personal business that would normally be conducted during working hours. This may include legal affairs, weddings, funerals, moving to new residence, preinduction or preenlistment examinations for military service, etc. Personal leave is also properly...

R-3

... used when an employee absents himself/herself on his/her own initiative to discuss matters of personal business with representatives of agencies handling such matters as health insurance, social security, retirement system, veterans' affairs, etc. However, when the employee's agency arranges for representatives of such governmental agencies to be made available to employees to discuss pertinent matters, and employees are invited to consult with such representatives, time for these discussions should be allowed without charge to any leave credits.

Illness or death in the employee's family. For purposes of this Section, the definition of family is any relative or relative-in-law, regardless of place of residence, or any persons with whom the employee has been making his/her home.
Tardiness (See Section 20.3, "Tardiness," of this Manual).
Personal illness and visits to a doctor or dentist (ordinarily only when sick leave credits are exhausted). (See related contract provision C-2)
Attendance at meetings or conventions of employee organizations, veteran organizations, etc. (There is no provision in the Attendance Rules for such time off without charge to leave credits.) (See related contract provisions 21.12, C-3, C-5, C-16, C-20)
Absence caused by events (except personal illness or disability) beyond the control of the employee. This includes commuting difficulties, emergencies in the home of the employee, etc.
Absence caused by extraordinary weather. (See Section 21.7, "Leave for Extraordinary Weather Conditions," of this Manual.)

In addition to those situations listed, the appointing authority may permit an employee to charge absences to personal leave when he/she determines it to be in accordance with the purpose of such leave. An employee should not be required to charge vacation credits when he/she has a legitimate reason for using personal leave.

See related contract provision C-2

R-4

Personal leave should not be authorized to extend vacations nor merely to liquidate such credits.

See related contract provisions C-2, C-3

Denial of the Use of Personal Leave

The two basic reasons for denying use of personal leave credits are the inability of the agency to spare the employee or the employee's reason for use of personal leave does not come within the intent of the Rule. Under normal circumstances an employee requesting personal leave should not be required to give a detailed explanation of a matter which is personal.

See related contract provisions C-2, C-3, C-11

It is not intended that use of such leave be limited by any eligibility requirement (e.g., length of service). However, it is reasonable to deny the use of personal leave, except in a real emergency, to temporary employees hired to complete a job in an emergency situation or during peak work load periods.

See related contract provision C-3

Transfer of Personal Leave Credits

An employee who moves from one State agency to another has all unused personal leave credits transferred with him/her and retains the same anniversary date provided the position to which he/she moves is covered by the Attendance Rules. Under no circumstances will payment for unused personal leave credits be made.

Personal leave credits transferred upon movement from a position with a basic workweek of 37 1/2 hours to a position with a basic workweek of 40 hours, or vice versa, should be converted to reflect the new workweek. For example, 22 1/2 hours (3 days) of personal leave in a position with a 37 1/2 hour workweek converts to 24 hours for a 40 hour workweek. If the personal leave credits transferred are expressed in terms of days, the receiving agency can readily convert them to the appropriate number of hours for the new workweek.

Personal leave credits transferred upon movement between full-time and part-time items should also be converted to reflect the new workweek. The employee who has two days (16 hours) of personal leave outstanding when his/her five day workweek is reduced from 40 hours to 20 hours continues to have 2 days of personal leave but the 2 days would convert to only 8 hours in the part-time item. For the reverse movement, the number of hours would increase from 8 to 16.

Revision History	TM-6 - January 1991
R- 4	No Substantive Changes
R-1, 2, 3	New or Revised Material

Top