Personal leave is paid leave granted to eligible employees that may be used for any purpose. Merit employees and part-time and grant-funded employees regularly scheduled to work 50% or more of the normal pay period are eligible for personal leave in accordance with the terms of this article. Contractual and appointed employees are eligible for personal leave only if such leave is granted by an express term of their employment contract or appointment, respectively.
[Amended 4-4-2017 by Ord. No. 11-17]
A. 
Full-time and part-time employees that have received personal leave from the County the prior year shall be granted personal leave hours equivalent to five "personal leave days," as defined below, the first full pay period of the pay year.
B. 
For the purposes of this article, the number of hours in a "personal leave day" granted to full-time employees shall be determined by dividing the number of hours in the standard equivalent full-time pay period by 10.
C. 
For the purposes of this article, the number of hours in a "personal leave day" granted to eligible part-time employees shall be determined by dividing the number of regularly scheduled hours in a pay period by 10.
D. 
An employee eligible for and receiving personal leave for the first time shall receive five personal leave days the first full pay period following:
(1) 
Successful completion of a prescribed six-month probationary period;
(2) 
Six months of service if the probationary period established for the employee's position is longer than six months; or
(3) 
Six months of service for part-time employees.
[Amended 1-10-2017 by Ord. No. 01-17]
A. 
Personal leave may not be carried over from one pay year to the next. It must be used prior to the beginning of the first full pay period following January 1.
B. 
Upon separation from County service for disability or nondisciplinary reasons, employees who are eligible to request the use of personal leave or their beneficiaries shall be paid for all of their unused personal leave. This payment may be withheld at the request of the department head for employees who do not give proper notice in accordance with § 86-2-601.
C. 
Members of the Calvert County Sheriff's Department Pension Plan (the "Plan") subject to this Part 4, Article I, and eligible to purchase service credit(s) in accordance with Section 1.30(e) of the Plan, as amended from time to time, may surrender any number of hours of unused personal leave, not to exceed the number of hours available to the member at time of surrender, as a means of payment, in whole or in part, of the purchase price for years of service. In so doing, the value of the credit against the purchase price for years of service is the result of multiplying the number of hours of unused, accrued personal leave surrendered times the member's straight-time hourly rate of pay at the time of surrender. Nothing in this Subsection C authorizes personal leave to be carried over from one pay year to the next.
Employees must receive prior approval from their supervisor or designee, as appropriate, before using their leave. Leave is not a right but a privilege, and shall be approved or disapproved based upon the operations and work load of the department, employee's leave record, and in consideration of the leave requests from other employees. If the County has not acted on a request in advance of the date the leave is to begin, it does not constitute approval. The employee must use other approved leave, change his plans, or be placed in an "absent without leave" status and subject to disciplinary action.