Section 6: Employee Leaves of Absence and Time Off
6.1 General
While regular attendance is crucial to maintain business operations, the Company recognizes that, for a variety of reasons, employees may need time off from work. The Company has available a number of types of leaves of absence. Some are governed by law and others are discretionary. For all planned leaves, however, employees must submit a request at least 10 days in advance; in case of emergencies, employees should submit the request as soon as they become aware of the need for leave. All leaves must have the approval of Company management. If, during a leave, an employee accepts another job, engages in other employment or consulting outside of the Company, or applies for unemployment insurance benefits, the employee may be considered to have voluntarily resigned from employment with the Company.
All requests for a leave of absence will be considered in light of their effect on the Company and its work requirements, as determined by Company management, which reserves the right to approve or deny such requests in its sole discretion, unless otherwise required by law. For disability-related leave requests, the Company will engage in an interactive process with the employee to determine if a leave is the most appropriate accommodation. The employee must provide a certification from his or her health care provider to the Company to support a leave for medical reasons. Failure to provide the required certification to the Company in a timely manner will result in delay or denial of leave. If an employee requires an extension of leave, the employee must request such extension and have it approved before the expiration of the currently approved leave.
While the Company will make a reasonable effort to return the employee to his or her former position or a comparable position following an approved leave of absence, there is no guarantee that the employee will be reinstated to his or her position, or any position, except as required by law.
6.2 Sick Days
The Company utilizes a single paid time off (PTO) policy and sick days/hours are deducted from the employees PTO bank of hours.
6.3 Paid Time Off
Eligible employees are entitled to a PTO Bank of 120 hours per year. Employees may not accrue more than 160 hours of vacation time. Once an employee's vacation balance reaches this limit, an employee may accrue more vacation only by taking some vacation time to bring the balance back below the limit. When employees eligible for paid vacation days do not take the full amount of vacation time they could have taken in a year, that amount automatically carries over to the next year. Upon termination, employees will be paid all accrued but unused vacation time as wages.
6.4 Holidays
BlueGovTech LLC observes the following paid holidays:
New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
President's Day
Memorial Day
Juneteenth
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veteran's Day
Thanksgiving Day
Day After Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
New Year's Eve
The Company will grant paid holiday time off to all eligible employees. Holiday pay for regular full-time employees will be calculated based on the employee's base pay rate (as of the date of the holiday) times the number of hours the employee would otherwise have worked on that day. Regular part-time employees will be paid on a pro-rata basis. If an eligible non-exempt employee works on a recognized holiday with Company approval, he or she will receive holiday pay plus wages at his or her straight-time rate for the hours worked on the holiday.
6.5 Family and Medical Leave
Because of the Company's small size, we are not required to comply with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). However, we recognize that our employees may occasionally need to take unpaid leave to care for a new child, to care for a seriously ill family member, to handle an employee's own medical issues, or to handle issues relating to a family member's military service, possibly including caring for a family member who is injured while serving in the military. If you anticipate that you might need time off to deal with family and medical issues, please speak with your supervisor. We will seriously consider every request on a case-by-case basis.
6.6 Workers' Compensation Leave
Any employee who is unable to work due to a work related injury or illness and who is eligible for Workers' Compensation benefits will be provided an unpaid leave for the period required. The first 12 weeks will be treated concurrently as a family and medical leave under the federal Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") for employees eligible for FMLA leave. 6.7 Bereavement Leave In the event of a death in the immediate family, employees may have up to five working days, with pay, at their regular straight time rate or base salary, to handle family affairs and attend the funeral. "Immediate family" is defined as: father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, domestic partner, child, mother-in-law, fatherin- law, grandparents and grandchildren.
6.8 Jury Duty
U.S. citizens have a civic obligation to provide jury duty service when called. Employees are entitled up to five working days, with pay, at their regular straight time or base salary for jury duty. By state law, all employees (including part-time and temporary employees who were scheduled to work for the three months preceding jury service) are entitled to regular wages of up to $50 per day for the first three days of jury duty. Wages will be paid within thirty days of jury service. No demands may be made on the employee which interfere with effective performance of jury duty.
The employee must bring in the jury duty notice as soon as it is received so that appropriate arrangements can be made to cover his or her duties. Employees are required to call in or report for work on those days or parts of days when their presence in court is not required.
6.9 Voting Time
Employees who are registered voters and who lack three nonwork hours when polls are open to vote in any local, state, and national election may take up to two hours off work with pay at the beginning or end of their shift if the employee requests, or at a time decided by the employer, for this purpose. Employees must request leave prior to election day.