Morongo Valley Community Services District

STANDING OPERATING PROCEDURES

ADMINISTRATIVE
SUBJECT: Time Off Policy

VACATION
The Morongo Valley Community Services District’s paid vacation plan is a part of the benefits package extended to
full-time, year-round staff members, and is designed to provide employees with the opportunity to balance their
work and home lives. The purpose of offering paid time off is to provide eligible employees with flexibility from work
that can be used for such needs as vacation, personal or family business, appointments, volunteerism, and other
activities of the employee's choosing. The Morongo Valley Community Services District’s goal is to provide time for
personal rejuvenation and to reduce unscheduled absences while providing reasonable accommodation to full-time
staff members without impacting the employee’s compensation.

Staff members eligible for this benefit include full time staff who are regularly scheduled and working 30 hours or
more per week and 250 or more days per year. Vacation days shall be earned on an accrual basis during active
employment in each fiscal year at the following rates:

Full time employees who are regularly scheduled for 8 hour shifts and working 30 hours or more per week and 250
or more days per year following completion of twelve months of continuous service, for each completed calendar
month of service, shall receive credit for vacation with pay in accordance with the following schedule:
1 year – 3 years 2 weeks
3 years – 10 years 3 weeks
10 years and over 4 weeks

Supervisory employees who are regularly scheduled for 10 hour shifts and working 30 hours or more per week and
250 or more days per year following completion of twelve months of continuous service, for each completed
calendar month of service, shall receive credit for vacation in accordance with the following schedule:

1 year – 3 years 3 weeks

3 years – 10 years 4 weeks
10 years – 15 years 5 weeks

Eligible employees begin to accrue vacation time after completion of their probationary period and may begin to see
accrued time as soon as it is available.

Paid vacation time is accrued during periods of active employment and may not be used before it is earned. Paid
vacation time does not accrue during an employee’s personal leave of absence, unpaid time off, or periods of
administrative leave. Employees needing to take time off prior to earning paid vacation time may submit a request
for non-paid time off. Once earned, vacation days shall be paid as used, at employee’s then-current rate of pay and
based on employee’s regular work schedule.

Vacation days will not be considered as time worked for purposes of calculating overtime. If a holiday occurs during
employee’s vacation period, holiday pay will be earned at employee’s regular rate of pay and no vacation time will
be used for that day.

Requesting Time Off

Employees shall submit a written request for time off to the Director of Operations as early as possible, but not later
than two weeks prior to the requested time off dates. If a two-week notice is not feasible, requests for time off will
be reviewed at the discretion of the Director of Operations. Vacation days may be requested in half or full day
increments, up to a maximum of five consecutive business days off at one time, unless otherwise approved in
writing by the Director of Operations.

Employees are responsible for developing their own plan for coverage of their duties during their time off period,
including scheduling coverage as needed. Requests for time off will be reviewed with due consideration for peak
work periods during the year. Time off requests must be coordinated and approved by the employee’s
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administrator, subject to scheduling, district needs and available coverage. Time off for the Director of Operations
shall be coordinated and approved by the Board of Directors, subject to the same considerations. If the time off
request is approved, the employee should immediately communicate vacation dates to the scheduling coordinator
and applicable co-workers using standard protocol to ensure District needs and coverage are met.

Accrual Carry-over
The Morongo Valley Community Services District’s recognizes the importance of vacation time as a period of rest
and rejuvenation away from the job and encourages staff to use their vacation time as fully as possible during the
year in which it is earned. If accrued vacation time is not used by the end of the benefit year, employees may carry
unused time forward to the next benefit year.

Vested Benefit
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California, accrued vacation time is a vested benefit. Upon separation of
employment, employees will be paid for any unused vacation days that have accrued through the last day worked,
based on employee’s regular rate of pay at the time of separation. Employees changing status or employment
classification to a classification that does not offer paid vacation time, will receive a pay out of any accrued, unused
time to coincide with the effective date of employee’s change of status.

Accrued Vacation Buy-back Provision

If accrued vacation time is not used by the end of the benefit year, employees may carry unused time forward to the
next benefit year, up to the designated vacation accrual cap. Alternatively, employees may also elect to be paid for
any accrued and unused days from either employee’s vacation or any other vested time-off account, up to 20 days
per benefit year.

Where the Buy-back request is being made in conjunction with employee’s annual vacation benefit, employee must
have utilized at least half of his/her annual vacation benefit prior to, or in conjunction with, employee’s written
request.

The rate of compensation for paid-out vacation, or other vested time off, shall be the employee’s then-current rate
of pay at the time the request is made, and will be calculated at a straight time rate based on a 250-day work year.
All applicable taxes and withholding shall apply.

SICK PAY
The Morongo Valley Community Services District will provide paid sick leave to employees who have worked 30 or
more days in California within a year of their employment with the company or at the time this policy becomes
effective.

Eligibility
All employees who have worked 30 or more days in California within a year of their employment with the company
or at the time this policy becomes effective.

Procedures
Eligible employees will accrue one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.

Upon successfully completing 90 days of employment, eligible employees may begin to use paid sick time under
this policy in increments of one hour. Employees requesting time off under this policy should provide as much
advanced notice to the Director of Operations as practicable, and employees who take more than three days of
leave will be required to provide appropriate documentation in support of the leave taken.

Leave under this policy may be used in connection with the diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health
condition for, or the preventive care of, an employee or an employee’s immediate family member. “Family member”
for purposes of this policy includes spouses, registered domestic partners, children (regardless of age), parents
(including stepparents and parents-in-law), grandparents and siblings. Leave under this policy may also be used for
employees who are the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Unused time under this policy is not paid out at the time of separation from employment. However, employees who
are re-employed with the company within a year of separation will have their accrued unused bank of time off under
this policy made available to them.
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Leave under this policy may run concurrently with leave taken under other applicable policies as well as under
local, state, or federal law, including leave taken pursuant to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) or the Family
and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

HOLIDAY PAY
Regular full-time employees are entitled to the following paid holidays observed by the Company:

• New Year’s Day

• Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday
• President’s Day
• Cesar Chavez Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Veteran’s Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day
• New Year’s Eve
• Employee’s Birthday

Other days or parts of days may be designated as holidays with or without pay. Employees will not receive holiday
pay if on any kind of unpaid leave or absent due to an injury covered by workers' compensation. If a holiday falls on
a Sunday, the holiday may be observed on the following Monday. If the holiday falls on a Saturday, the holiday may
be observed on the preceding Thursday.

JURY DUTY
Employees will be allowed time off to attend jury duty. The Company may request that the employee ask to be
excused from service, or request postponement, if their absence from work would create a serious hardship to the
Company. Employees must submit a copy of the original summons to their manager as soon as it is received. For
periods of service longer than two days, the Company may require proof that the employee attended jury service.
Employees should report for work on any day, or partial day, not actually spent attending jury duty.
Jury duty leave is unpaid, though employees will be allowed to use accrued paid time off, if any is available.
Exempt employees will be paid in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act

OTHER
Morongo Valley IFAA Local 5028 Memorandum of Understanding supersedes this policy for active union members.

APPROVED: ____________________________________ Date:________________________

REVISION: _____________________________________ Date: ________________________

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