The city will pay eligible employees their regular salaries during vacation periods earned and taken in accordance with the following provisions. Except as provided for expressly in city policy or elsewhere, vacation leave hours are ineligible to be cashed out or used to exceed the total number of hours for which an employee is regularly compensated during a work week or a pay period. Except for appointed employees, no employee shall be entitled to use any vacation unless the employee has successfully completed their initial probationary period.
A. Full-time employees and appointed employees (except for those noted in paragraphs B and C of this subsection) shall accrue vacation leave based upon years of city service as follows:
Years Accrued of City Service | Hours of Vacation Per Bi-weekly Pay Period |
0 to end of year 3 | 3.73 |
4 to end of year 6 | 4.42 |
7 to end of year 9 | 4.81 |
10 to end of year 12 | 5.54 |
13 to end of year 15 | 6.15 |
16 to end of year 19 | 6.77 |
20 or more | 7.69 |
B. Department directors, the mayor’s chief of staff, up to two additional senior positions in the mayor’s office as specified by the mayor, the executive director of the city council, justice court judges, and the chief operating officer of the redevelopment agency will accrue 7.69 hours each bi-weekly pay period.
C. Fire battalion chiefs in the operations division of the fire department shall accrue vacation leave according to the following schedule:
Years of City Service | Hours of Vacation Per Bi-weekly Pay Period for Operations |
0 to end of year 3 | 5.54 |
4 to end of year 6 | 6.46 |
7 to end of year 9 | 7.38 |
10 to end of year 12 | 8.31 |
13 to end of year 14 | 9.23 |
15to end of year 19 | 610.15 |
20 or more | 11.54 |
D. For any plan year in which there are 27 pay periods, no vacation leave hours will be awarded on the 27th pay period.
E. Years of city service shall be based on the most recent date the person became a full-time salaried employee.
F. Full-time employees re-hired by Salt Lake City are eligible to receive up to three years of prior service credit for purposes of vacation and personal leave accrual only. Prior service credit does not apply to any other benefits including longevity pay or short term disability. See employment practices policy.
G. Full-time and appointed employees (except those listed in paragraph b of this subsection ) may accumulate vacation, according to the length of their full-time years of city service up to the following maximum limits:
Years of City Service | Maximum Accrual as of December 31st |
Up to and Including 9 years | Up to 30 days/15 shifts/240 hours |
After 9 years | Up to 35 days/17.5 shifts/280 hours |
After 14 years | Up to 40 days/20 shifts/320 hours |
For purposes of this subsection, "days" means "8-hour" days and “shifts” means “24 hour” combat shifts.
H. Department directors and those included in paragraph b of this subsection may accumulate up to 320 hours of vacation without regard to their years of employment with the city.
I. Any vacation accrued beyond the allowable maximums will be deemed forfeited unless utilized prior to the end of each calendar year in which the hours are accrued. However, in the case of an employee’s return from an unpaid military leave of absence, leave hours may be restored according to requirements under federal law and city ordinance.
J. An employee separating from employment may not exhaust more than 80 hours of any combination of vacation, personal leave or banked (holiday or vacation) leave prior to their last day of employment. Employees shall be paid at their base hourly rate for any unused accrued vacation leave time following termination of employment, including retirement.
K. Vacation hours may be used on the first day of the pay period following the period in which the hours are accrued.