(1) As provided in 2-18-612, MCA, "vacation leave credits are earned at a yearly rate calculated in accordance with the following schedule, which applies to the total years of an employee's employment with any agency, whether the employment is continuous or not." For purposes of this rule, agency means, as provided in 2-18-601, MCA, "any legally constituted department, board, or commission of state, county, or city government or any political sub-division thereof."

 

                    RATE EARNED SCHEDULE

 

Years of	Working Days
Employment	Credit per Year
1 day through 10 years	15
10 years through 15 years	18
15 years through 20 years	21
20 years on	24

 

                       (2) In accordance with 2-18-601, MCA, time as an elected state, county or city official, as a schoolteacher, as an independent contractor or personal services contractor does not count toward the rate earned. For purposes of this paragraph, an employee of a school district or the university system is eligible to have school district or university employment time count toward the rate earned schedule if that employee was eligible for annual leave pursuant to 2-18-601, MCA, in the position held with the school district or university system.

(3) As provided in 2-18-612, MCA, "(2) (A) For the purpose of determining years of employment under this section, an employee eligible to earn vacation credits under 2-18-611 must be credited with 1 year of employment for each period of:

(I) 2,080 hours of service following his date of employment; an employee must be credited with 80 hours of service for each biweekly pay period in which he is in a pay status or on an authorized leave of absence without pay, regardless of the number of hours of service in the pay period; or

(II) 12 calendar months in which he was in a pay status or on an authorized leave of absence without pay, regardless of the number of hours of service in any one month. An employee of a school district, a school at a state institution, or the university system must be credited with 1 year of service if he is employed for an entire academic year.

(B) State agencies, other than the university system and a school at a state institution, must use the method provided in subsection (2) (A) (I) to calculate years of service under this section."

(4) This method of calculating time is effective August 1, 1984. Prior to that date, an agency may have used different methods to accrue year of employment.

(5) Only regular hours in a pay status will count as hours worked toward the rate earned. Overtime hours (those in excess of 40 per workweek) will not count toward the rate earned.

(6) As provided in 2-18-614, MCA, "a period of absence from employment with the state, county, or city occurring either during a war involving the United States or in any other national emergency and for 90 days thereafter for one of the following reasons is considered as service for the purpose of determining the number of years of employment used in calculating vacation leave credits under this section:

(a) having been ordered on active duty with the armed forces of the United States;

(b) voluntary service on active duty in the armed forces or on ships operated by or for the United States government; or

(c) direct assignment to the United States department of defense for duties related to national defense efforts if a leave of absence has been granted by the employer."

(7) The employee must have been employed by the state, immediately prior to serving with the armed forces and return to state service within 90 days after separation or discharge; must have been employed by a city immediately prior to serving with the armed forces and return to city service within 90 days after separation or discharge; or must have been employed by a county immediately prior to serving with the armed forces and return to county service within 90 days after separation or discharge.

(8) An agency shall require an employee to produce documentation of eligible previous public employment or military service time which may be applied toward the rate earned. It will be the responsibility of the employee to supply documentation of any previous employment time or military service time to be counted toward the rate earned schedule.

(9) An employee who provides appropriate documentation of eligible previous public employment or military service shall have that time used to calculate the future leave accrual rate. The employee's leave credit balance and the employee's accrual rate shall not be adjusted retroactively. The employee shall begin earning leave at an adjusted scale, where appropriate, at the beginning of the next pay period after the agency receives documentation of prior eligible service.

(10) Where specific records of months or hours of employment are not readily available, the agency may approximate total service time, relying on the formula this rule.