(A) The county believes that a reasonable period of time away from the job is conducive to the good health and well-being of its employees and that healthy, happy employees are a tremendous asset to the county.
(B) All employees designated by the Board of County Commissioners are eligible for vacation as accrued. Employees who work more than 32 hours per week are eligible for vacation on a pro-rated basis. Temporary or seasonal employees will not be entitled or eligible for vacation time.
(C) Accumulation of vacation shall be based upon the following schedule:
County Service | Monthly/Yearly Vacation Accrual |
0 to 9 years | Up to 80 hours per year |
10 to 14 years | Up to 120 hours per year |
15 or more years | Up to 160 hours per year |
(D) Vacation leave may not be accrued during a period of time when leave of absence without pay is being granted. This preclusion includes periods of leave of unpaid leave allowed for by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
(E) Employees shall be entitled to utilize vacation only at the convenience of the department in which they are employed. However, each department head/elected official shall make every effort to encourage employees to utilize their vacation and try to arrange work schedules to permit employees to take vacation at times convenient to them and the county. Vacation cannot be used in conjunction with workers’ compensation leave in offsetting holiday pay, and the like.
(F) There is no limit to the amount of accrued vacation time that may be used at once as long as the needs of the department are met. Conversely, there is no minimum amount of vacation that must be used at once.
(G) An authorized holiday which falls within the time period of employee’s scheduled vacation shall not be charged as vacation used.
(H) Unused current and accrued vacation may be carried forward to succeeding years. However, no more than two years will be carried. Once an employee has reached two years of accrued vacation leave they will stop accruing vacation leave time until their accrued balance drops below the two years maximum.
(I) Former employees that are re-hired with reinstatement rights following military service or recall from active layoff status shall be entitled to assume the same eligibility for vacation as enjoyed prior to leave or layoff.
(J) The county will not advance vacation days. No elected official or department head shall authorize the use of non-accrued vacation time.
(K) Accumulated earned vacation time shall be paid for by the employing department when a designated employee separates from the county.
(L) The use or non-use of an employee’s vacation leave time is to be reflected monthly on that employee’s time sheet and monitored by that employee’s department head or elected official. The official record of accrued vacation leave is to be kept by the Clerk/Auditor.
(Ord. passed 6- -2019; Ord. 2021-13, passed 12-21-2021)