Annual Leave Procedure - 63.08.02

College Policy Number/Title:

• 63.08  Employee Leave

Eligibility

At Howard Community College, full- and part-time, position control/budgeted and temporary with benefits employees in non-teaching positions, and twelve-month teaching faculty are eligible to earn annual leave. Ten-month teaching faculty do not accrue annual leave. Annual leave for all employees is intended to be used on a regular basis and accrual is limited according to the category of employment. Requests for annual leave is submitted to the supervisor. Approved annual leave may be taken during the probationary period.

Leave Payout

Upon termination of employment, accumulated unused annual leave is paid as a lump sum on the regularly scheduled pay date following the time of separation. Upon transfer from a position that includes annual leave to a ten-month teaching faculty contract that does not include annual leave, existing unused annual leave balances is paid in a lump sum after the final paycheck after transfer. This payout is paid at the hourly pay rate at the time of separation or transfer except for those on phased retirement. Refer to procedure 63.04.15, Phased Retirement/Knowledge Transfer.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

An employee may use annual leave for FMLA covered events; such leave will be used concurrently with FMLA approved leave. Whenever an employee requests leave for an FMLA covered event, the employee will be required to exhaust all accrued sick leave, personal leave, and annual leave prior to being placed in unpaid leave status. Refer to procedure 63.08.15, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Leave.

Twelve-Month Faculty, Administrator, and Professional/Technical Staff

Full-time 12-month professional/technical and administrator staff and 12-month faculty accrue 20 days of paid annual leave each year. Accrual is limited to a maximum of 30 days; when the maximum is reached, accrual will stop until the balance falls below the maximum.*

Ten-Month Administrator and Professional/Technical Staff

Full-time 10-month professional/technical and administrator staff accrue a maximum of 16.67 prorated days of annual leave per year with a maximum accrual of 25 days; when the maximum is reached, accrual will stop until the balance falls below the maximum.*

Support Staff

Full-time support staff in position control/budgeted positions earn 10 days of annual leave in the first year of service. In the second year, 15 days are accrued, and in the third year 20 days are accrued. Accrual is limited to a maximum of 30 days; when the maximum is reached, accrual will stop until the balance falls below the maximum. * and **

Annual leave is earned each pay period as follows:

Support staff who leave employment with the college and return to a support staff position within two years of separation are awarded the same annual leave accrual rate earned at the time of separation. Those who return after a break longer than two years will be considered a new employee and will revert to the year one accrual rate.

Part-time Budgeted Employees

Part-time employees in budgeted or temporary with benefits positions accrue annual leave on a prorated basis. Accrual maximums are also prorated.

Active Pay Status

An employee must be in active pay status to accrue leave; active pay status means that the employee is either working or on approved paid leave (except unpaid administrative leave or disability leave) and is thus receiving a paycheck.

Accrual of Leave and Automatic Leave Sequence

• Accrual of leave is the accumulation of available leave time added each pay period to an employee's leave balance. Leave that is used is subtracted from the leave balance. The leave balance is shown on employee's semi-monthly pay statements. All leave balances are positive numbers of leave hours available.
• Individuals accrue annual leave and sick leave while on annual leave.
• Annual leave may not be used if it has not yet been accrued. If leave is taken that has not yet been accrued by employees, an automatic leave sequence will be used.
• The automatic leave sequence is as follows: annual leave, personal leave, leave without pay.

*Rare exceptions to the accrual limit may be considered if employees have repeatedly requested leave and have repeatedly been denied. In such cases, a request for an exception along with documentation of denied requests, is forwarded to the area vice president for decision. The area vice president’s decision is then forwarded to the vice president of talent, inclusion and workplace culture and chief human resources officer.

**Prorated for a 40 hours/week, part-time budgeted or temporary with benefits, and 10-month employees

Effective Date: 08/26/22

President's Office Use: CHRO