Accruals

Vacation leave accrual shall begin accruing upon the employee's date of hire. Regular full-time employees are eligible to accrue vacation leave. Regular part time employees eligible for vacation shall accrue vacation leave based on their budgeted work hours in proportion to the full-time accrual rate based on their hire date. Effective for all employees hired on or after October 1, 2021, only those regular part-time employees who are budgeted for 16 (.40 FTE) hours or more per week are eligible to accrue vacation leave. 

Accrual Schedule

Regular full-time employees hired prior to January 1, 2011, shall accrue vacation leave in accordance with the following formula:

Regular full-time employees hired on or after January 1, 2011, shall accrue vacation leave in accordance with the following formula:

Employees accruing more than 520 hours of vacation leave shall have their balance reduced to 520 hours in January of each year. For the Deputy Fire Chiefs, Fire Division Chiefs and Battalion Chiefs who work a fifty-six (56) hour workweek, vacation leave shall not exceed 1080 hours. 

The City Manager may elect to place a newly hired or promoted Department Director into the mid-level accrual rate in this schedule.

Leave Eligibility

An employee is eligible to take approved vacation after completing six (6) months of satisfactory service. Approval of vacation leave is at the discretion of the employee’s Department Director or designee. The responsibilities of an employee's job may require the Department Director or designee to restrict the scheduling of vacation during certain periods of the year. 

Scheduling

Requests for vacation shall be made at least five (5) working days in advance. In unexpected or emergency cases, the Department Director or designee may waive this requirement and approve the use of vacation leave. Partial day absences approved for vacation leave shall be charged in increments of quarter hours.
Once an employee has requested that his leave time be designated as sick or vacation and the request has been processed and charged to the employees leave balance, a designation may not be changed without the approval of the Department Director or designee. 

If while on vacation an employee falls ill or is involved in an accident that would have precluded them from working, that employee may be granted use of his sick time for the period of the illness or injury. This shall only be granted if a doctor's note supporting the leave is provided to the employee's Department Director or designee. 

Annual Buyback

One time per calendar year non-union employees hired prior to January 1, 2011 may cash out up to 40 hours of accrued vacation leave at the employee’s then current rate of pay, provided that the vacation leave balance after the buyback is greater than 100 hours. Employees temporarily serving as “acting” in a higher position when a buyback request is submitted will be paid for the buyback at their regular rate of pay, not the “acting” rate. 

Accruals While on Leave

Employees will continue to accrue leave while on approved vacation, sick, or Workers’ Compensation leave. Employees will not accrue during periods of unpaid leave. Accruals will cease when an employee exhausts all his personal accrued leave balances. If an employee remains out of work, Departments must submit an action notice to Human Resources stopping accruals when an employee has used all personal accrued leave.

Changing Jobs

When an employee is promoted, demoted or transferred into another position eligible for benefits, all accrued vacation and sick leave hours shall transfer to the new position for the employee's use. Any full-time or part-time employee moving into a position that is not eligible for vacation leave accrual/usage shall receive a payout for all accrued vacation time as of the date of the move. 

Advancement of Pay

Other than the above annual buyback, payment of accrued vacation time in lieu of actually taking vacation will not be permitted except as follows: (1) Employees entering military service, (2) separation from City employment, and (3) emergency or hardship cases with approval of the City Manager.

Separation

Employees leaving the City for any reason will be paid for all vacation leave earned as of the date of their last day of employment unless otherwise restricted by language in a collective bargaining agreement. Upon retirement, whether entering DROP or leaving employment, employees may elect to receive up to 100% of their accrued vacation leave. However, employees are not required to cash out vacation leave at retirement when entering DROP. Upon the death of an active employee, payment will be made in accordance with City’s Separations Policy.