Sample Policy
PAID PERSONAL LEAVE

We provide employees with an unusual, generous program for paid time away from work. Our Personal Leave program covers regular full-time and part-time employees and combines vacation, sick leave and additional paid time away from work during each twelve (12) month period of continuous employment.

Since this paid time off is YOUR time, we call it "Personal Leave" and we expect you to manage it yourself, subject to some common-sense rules, and the operational requirements of (Company name).

Personal Leave may be used for vacations, religious or other holidays not observed by (Company), illness, temporary disability (not covered by the free Worker's Compensation Insurance we provide for all employees), for periods of bereavement, or for transactions with business or government agencies that you can't attend to because of your regular work schedule.

For example, if you have business with a bank, an insurance company, a government agency or  you can't arrange other appointments for non-work time, you can use your Personal Leave. You need to be careful not to use your paid personal leave carelessly, because once it is used up, any additional time you miss from work is UN-paid and excessive absenteeism can lead to termination.

You must have ADVANCE PERMISSION to take Personal Leave. Do not expect to be able to take Personal Leave when your absence might interfere with (Company) operations or imposes a hardship on your fellow employees.

You will be eligible to use Personal Leave after you have been employed at (Company) for at least twelve full (12) months. All leave is calculated from date of hire or your "anniversary date" of employment. Pay for Personal Leave is computed at your REGULAR hourly base rate during the period in which it was earned. Here is a sample distribution for employees who are full-time, three-quarter time, half-time and quarter-time workers. (HPM refers to Hours Per Month and DPY refers to Days per Year).

In addition to this schedule for earning Personal Leave, you may be awarded additional "one-time" Personal Leave for sustained superior job performance, perfect attendance or other special achievement. Each payday, your pay check stub will contain information on the amount of Personal Leave you have earned, used and the balance available.

All Personal Leave you have accumulated after twelve (12) FULL months of employment MUST BE USED before your NEXT anniversary date (your date-of-hire). 

Your leave is not "use-or-lose". We pay for unused leave on your hire-date and you start from a zero-base again. Carry-over of leave is rarely approved.

Some UNPAID leave, such as extended leave for temporary disability (examples: childbirth, heart attack, serious, non-work injury or a serious illness requiring a long period of hospitalization or convalescence) will not be deducted from your Personal Leave balance unless you decide you want to use your Personal Leave for this.

We comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that allows you to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid to care for a newborn child or newly placed adopted or foster child; to care for a seriously ill child, spouse or parent; or because of your own illness. To be eligible for FMLA leave you must have been employed by (Company) for at least 12 months and you must have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12-months. FMLA leave is not an automatic privilege. It must be requested in advance. Approval of a request for FMLA leave may be based on the advice of a health care provider designated by (Company).

Duty with a Military Reserve Component or the National Guard or jury duty CAN NOT be charged to Personal Leave. Those absences are provided for by statute.

You must submit a "Leave Request Form". All requests for leave must be approved by your Supervisor and your Department Head.

ONE DAY LEAVES -- If you plan to take one (1) day of Personal Leave, you must submit a Leave Request Form to your Supervisor at least three (3) days in advance.
EXTENDED LEAVES -- If you need to take two (2) or more days of Personal leave, you must submit a Leave Request Form to your Supervisor at least seven (7) days in advance.
UNEXPECTED ILLNESS -- If you are ill (or if your spouse or child is ill and you must stay home for a day or two to care for them), you must notify your Supervisor BEFORE YOUR SCHEDULED WORK SHIFT and explain why you are unable to report for work.

IMPORTANT: Our leave system is an earned benefit and it takes time to be allowed to participate in it. After twelve (12) FULL months of employment, one-day leaves, extended leaves and unexpected absences can be charged to your Personal Leave account. But during your first year on the job, those leaves will not be charged to Personal Leave, it is UNPAID time off.

When you return to work after being ill, we won't ask that you bring a note from your physician. If you SAY you are sick, we will take your word for it -- after all, its YOUR Personal Leave time...but remember, once that time is used up, any further absences are UNPAID time off and unapproved absence or tardiness will bring on disciplinary action because absenteeism seriously affects our efficiency and is a burden to your co-workers. Your punctuality and attendance record is considered when we evaluate your performance and your value to (Company). Abuse of our  Leave system or chronic, excessive, unnecessary absenteeism will not be overlooked. We consider chronic, excessive absenteeism to be one or more days of unapproved absence during a work week; 3 or more days of unapproved absence over any 30 day period.