Vacation Bonus Leave

Bonus Leave Amount and Eligibility

The General Assembly provided bonus leave as follows:

Amount of Leave	Effective Date	Eligibility
80 Hours	September 30, 2002	All employees except: Employees who do not earn leave, and Employees paid on the Teacher Salary Schedule or the School Based Administrator Salary Schedule.
80 Hours	July 1, 2003	All employees except: Employees who do not earn leave, Employees of the State Highway Patrol who receive an automatic increase, and Employees paid on the Teacher Salary Schedule or the School Based Administrator Salary Schedule.
40 Hours	September 1, 2005	All employees except: Employees who do not earn leave, and Employees paid on the Teacher Salary Schedule or the School Based Administrator Salary Schedule.
40 Hours	September 1, 2014	All employees except: Employees who do not earn leave

Full-time employees who work less than 12 months shall receive a pro rata amount.
Permanent part-time employees (half-time or more) shall receive a pro rata amount.
Employees on leave without pay, other than workers’ compensation leave and leave for reserve active duty, shall be credited with the bonus leave upon their return based on their type of appointment at the time of leave without pay. If they do not return, they are not eligible for the leave.
Employees on workers’ compensation leave and leave for reserve active duty shall be credited with bonus leave for use upon their return to work. If the employee does not return, the bonus leave shall be paid in addition to any other leave, in accordance with the leave policies.

Bonus leave shall be taken only upon appropriate authorization.
Bonus leave may be used for any purpose for which regular vacation leave is used.
Bonus leave shall be charged in units of time consistent with regular vacation leave guidelines.
The employee shall determine whether to charge approved leave to regular vacation leave or bonus leave.

Bonus leave shall be accounted for separately from regular earned vacation leave.
Any balance of bonus leave on December 31 will be retained by the employee and transferred into the next calendar year. It will not be as part of the maximum 240 hours of vacation that can be retained.
Bonus leave will not be subject to conversion to sick leave.

Any balance of bonus leave will be transferred with the employee who transfers to another State agency eligible for bonus leave.

Bonus leave balance will be paid in addition to regular vacation leave if the employee leaves state government or changes to a non-leave earning status.

Bonus leave may be applied to negative balances of regular earned leave with the approval of the employee and the agency head (or designee).
Bonus leave is available to be donated as vacation leave under the Voluntary Shared Leave provisions.
Agencies shall maintain records of bonus leave.