39.01 Eligibility for Personal Leave

Permanent employees shall be eligible for personal leave at his/her regular rate of pay.

39.02 Personal Leave Accrual

There shall be a freeze on personal leave accrual beginning with the accrual the employee should have received in the first earnings statement after August 1, 2009 through July 31, 2011. During the freeze, employees may designate up to eight (8) hours of vacation or compensatory time per quarter beginning August 1, 2009 and continuing through July 31, 2011 to use in lieu of personal leave which shall be granted pursuant to the rules of Section 39.05. Current personal leave accruals available as of July 31, 2009 must be used prior to utilizing other leave in lieu of personal leave.

Personal leave accrual shall resume in the first earnings statement the employee receives after August 1, 2011. Upon the resumption of personal leave accrual, there shall be no retroactive personal leave accrual for the period the freeze was in effect. Thereafter, all employees shall accrue personal leave at the rate of one and twenty-three hundredths (1.23) hours per pay period, not to exceed thirty-two (32) hours in one year, for each eighty (80) hours in active pay status, excluding overtime hours (.015 hours per hour of non-overtime work.).

39.03 Charge of Personal Leave

Personal leave which is used by an employee shall be charged in minimum units of one/tenth (.1) hour. Employees shall be charged personal leave only for the days and hours for which they would have otherwise been scheduled to work, but shall not include scheduled overtime.

39.04 Uses of Personal Leave

Personal leave is intended to be used by an employee to address issues of a personal nature. Personal leave is not intended to be used by an employee in place of vacation leave. Employees may use personal leave for the following reasons:

1. Mandatory court appearance before a court of law and in a matter in which the employee is a party or whose presence is required. Such appearances would include, but are not limited to, criminal or civil cases, traffic court, divorce proceedings, custody proceedings, or appearing as directed as parent or guardian of juveniles.

2. Legal or business matters which could not normally be conducted by an employee during hours other than normal scheduled work hours.

3. Family emergencies of a nature that require an employee's immediate attention.

4. Unusual family obligations which could not normally be conducted by an employee during hours other than normally scheduled work hours.

5. Examinations such as medical, psychological, dental or optical examinations of the employee, or the employee's immediate family.

6. Weddings of members of the immediate family.

7. Religious holidays which fall on a normally scheduled work day for an employee.

8. Any other matter of a personal nature.

39.05 Notification and Approval of Use of Personal Leave

Requests for personal leave should be in writing and, when possible, shall be made within a reasonable time in advance of the date or dates requested for use, unless the use is for an emergency situation. Personal leave shall not be unreasonably denied. The Employer shall grant personal leave requests of eight (8) hours or less received prior to the posting of a work schedule, pursuant to Section 22.02. The Employer may designate certain peak times during the year and/or minimum staffing requirements when operational needs preclude the use of personal leave, however, personal leave requests shall be approved during these peak times if the request is for a personal emergency. At non-peak times or when minimum staffing levels are met, requests for personal leave of eight (8) hours or less received with at least forty-eight (48) hours notice shall not be unreasonably denied. The Employer may restrict the number of concurrent leave requests granted at a work location. In determining which concurrent request(s) to approve, the Employer may consider the nature of the employee's personal need and the timing of the request(s). When any bargaining unit, not covered by this Agreement, has filed a Notice of Intent to Strike or engages in an unauthorized work stoppage, the Employer reserves the right to cancel or deny all personal leave requests. Personal leave shall not be taken on a holiday.

39.06 Overtime/Compensatory Time

Personal leave counts as active pay status for the purpose of earning overtime or compensatory time.

39.07 Prohibitions

Personal leave may not be used to extend an employee's date of resignation or date of retirement.

39.08 Conversion or Carry Forward of Personal Leave Credit at Year's End

Personal leave not used may be carried forward or paid at the employee's option with payment to be made in the first pay period in December. Maximum accrual of personal leave shall be forty (40) hours. When the maximum accrual has been reached the employee shall receive payment for those hours in excess of the maximum accrual.

39.09 Conversion of Personal Leave Credit Upon Separation From Service

An employee who is separated from State service for any reason shall be entitled to convert to cash the unused amount of accrued personal leave. If a full time employee dies, the converted personal leave shall be credited to his/her estate, in accordance with Article 54.

39.10 Transfer of Personal Leave Credit

An employee who transfers from one state agency to another shall be credited with the unused balance of his/her personal leave credit up to a maximum personal leave accumulation permitted in the state agency to which the employee transfers.

39.11 Leave Availability

Newly accrued personal leave is not available for use until it appears on the employee’s earnings statement.

39.12 Restoration
In the pay period that begins on July 1, 2011, employees who are covered by this collective bargaining agreement and are in active payroll status on June 18, 2011, shall receive a one-time credit of additional sick leave.

Full-time employees shall receive a credit equivalent to thirty-two (32) hours of sick leave or one-half of the
personal leave hours lost during the freeze, whichever is less, as set forth in Section 39.02 of this collective
bargaining agreement. Part-time employees shall receive a credit of sixteen (16) hours of sick leave.

For purposes of the one-time credit of sick leave only, “active payroll status” means conditions under which an
employee is actually working if scheduled to work on June 18, 2011; is off duty on June 18, 2011 because the
employee is not scheduled to work that day; or is eligible to receive pay for any approved leave of absence including but not limited to occupational injury leave, disability leave, workers‟ compensation, or salary continuation.

Employees not receiving pay due to military leave, FMLA, union leave, pregnancy leave, and extended illness
leave shall also be eligible to receive the one-time credit of sick leave.

In the earnings statement that the employee receives on August 26, 2011, employees who are covered by this
collective bargaining agreement and are in active payroll status on July 30, 2011, shall receive a one-time lump sum payment.

Full-time employees shall receive a payment equivalent to thirty-two (32) hours of personal leave days or one-half of the personal leave hours lost during the freeze, whichever is less, as set forth in Section 39.02 of this collective bargaining agreement. Part-time employees shall receive a payment equivalent to sixteen (16) hours of personal leave lost during the freeze.

For purposes of the lump sum payment only, “active payroll status” means conditions under which an employee
is actually working if scheduled to work on July 30, 2011; is off duty on July 30, 2011 because the employee is not scheduled to work that day; or is eligible to receive pay for any approved leave of absence including but not limited to occupational injury leave, disability leave, workers' compensation, or salary continuation.

Employees not receiving pay due to military leave, FMLA, union leave, pregnancy leave, and extended illness
shall also be eligible to receive the payment.

This payment shall not be subject to PERS withholding.