Time Away from Work
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Holidays
All classified employees are currently entitled to the following holidays provided they are in a paid status during any portion of the working day immediately prior to or following the holiday. Holidays fall within the scope of collective bargaining and may vary by employee group.
| New Year's Eve Day | Juneteenth Holiday |
| New Year's Day | Independence Day |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Labor Day |
| President's Day - Lincoln's Birthday | Admissions Day |
| President's Day - Washington's Birthday | Veteran's Day |
| Cesar Chavez Day | Thanksgiving Day |
| Genocide Remembrance Day | Thanksgiving Friday |
| Memorial Day | Christmas Eve Day |
| Christmas Day |
When a holiday falls on the first day of an employee’s weekend (usually Saturday), the holiday shall be observed on the preceding working day (usually Friday). When a holiday falls on the second day of an employee’s weekend (usually Sunday), the holiday shall be observed on the following working day (usually Monday). In addition, by contractual agreement, employees of the District may sometimes observe a holiday on a day other than the official day of observation. For example, the District observed Admissions Day, which fell on September 9, 2018, in December of that year. This is typically done to accommodate the academic calendar.
Vacation
Employees need to have paid time off for relaxation, recreational, religious, cultural, and other personal reasons. Employees who are represented by a union accrue vacation based on the provisions of their collective bargaining contract. Unrepresented employees accrue vacation based on the provisions of Board and Personnel Commission Rules. The vacation earning rate for employees who are assigned to positions designated as senior management are outlined in their individual employment contracts.
As an employee earns additional years of service credit, the rate at which vacation days are earned increases based on a different schedule for each employee group. For detailed information you must refer to the appropriate union contract, or Board or Personnel Commission Rules. Links are included at the end of this section.
Although regular employees serving an initial probationary period start earning vacation upon hire, vacation time cannot be taken until the first day of the pay period following completion of 130 days of paid service in the regular assignment. Employees are not authorized to take vacation until it is earned. No payment for vacation accumulation shall be made to an employee who separates from employment prior to completion of l30 days of paid service.
Typically, if you do not take your full annual vacation each year the amount not taken will accumulate, to a maximum of 400 hours, for use in succeeding years. Once an employee has a vacation balance of 400 hours, they are subject to earning vacation at a reduced accrual rate or not at all.
Employees are expected to give their supervisors advance notice of their intention to use vacation in accordance with the contract and/or Board and Personnel Commission Rules. Requests for vacation are subject to the review by, and approval of, an employee’s supervisor.
Leaves of Absence
There are several types of leaves of absence that are available to District employees. Not all leaves are available to every employee. For the same type of leave the eligibility requirements, nature of benefits, length of leave, effect on compensation and other specific provisions related to a leave may differ depending on the rules or collective bargaining agreement that apply to the employee’s employment category and status. Because of this complexity, the goal in this section is only to give you a broad overview of the types of leaves that are available.
The following information includes a brief description of the different leaves. For eligibility and detailed information you must refer to the appropriate collective bargaining agreement, Board Rules, or Personnel Commission Rules.
An Assault and Battery Leave is a type of Industrial Accident Leave. This leave is granted for absence because of an injury resulting from an assault and/or battery that was directly related to the performance of duties.
AFT College Staff Guild Contract-Article 19B
A fully paid Bereavement Leave is an approved absence due to the death of a member of the “immediate family” or other person who is significant to the employee.
AFT College Staff Guild Contract-Article 19C
Division Heads, College Presidents, or their designated representatives may grant employees permission to be absent without loss of salary for parts of a day, not to exceed four hours, when good reason for such absence exists and if the absence is for reasons not covered by other paid leave provisions.
All employees may be granted one full day per year for the purpose of obtaining a comprehensive annual physical exam provided that the verification of such examination is submitted on the designated form provided by the District. Unit 1 employees may take the full day as two half days and shall also be granted one half day each year for an eye examination with appropriate verification.
AFT College Staff Guild Contract-Article 19D
Child Care Leave is leave granted to an employee when it is necessary to be absent for the purpose of supervision of their own minor child. The employee must be a parent or legal guardian of their own minor child.
Conference/Convention Attendance Leave may be granted for the purpose of attending annual conferences and/or conventions or other activities such as Union Leadership Institute (ULI), Lobby Day and Council of Classified Employees (CCE).
This leave is granted to a regular employee who is necessarily absent because of their appearance in response to a fully served subpoena by a court of law or an official order to appear from another governmental jurisdiction. Such leave is not available if the employee is a litigant in the case or has caused the need for appearance through personal connivance or misconduct.
AFT College Staff Guild Contract-Article 19P
A Family Illness Leave is a leave granted to an employee who is needed at home because of the illness of any person related by blood or marriage or whose domestic relations are close or who is a close friend and lives in the same domicile.
A Family and Medical Leave is an unpaid leave granted to an employee who is compelled to be absent from duty because of the employee’s own serious health condition which makes it impossible to perform essential job functions, the birth or adoption of a child, or receiving a child for foster care, or caring for a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent , grandparent, parent-in-law, grandchild, or sibling with a serious health condition. In addition to the family members defined above, eligible family members for the purposes of this leave are limited to:
- biological, adopted and foster children under 18 years
- anyone under 18 years who is treated as the employee’s child
- disabled children of any age—those who have a physical or mental impairment that would qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, who require supervision or active help in performing several activities of daily living
- biological parents, and/or custodial parents and anybody who treated the employee as their child when the employee was under 18 or disabled
- registered domestic partners
- common-law spouses
Leave shall be granted for a maximum of 12 weeks per calendar year, taken continuously or intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule. It cannot be carried over from year to year.
Government Service Leave is an unpaid leave to serve in some elected or appointed capacity in local, state, or national government. Government Service Leaves shall include election to full-time public office, Peace Corps, ACTION and appointment to government service in a non-protected position.
Regular full-time employees are granted a total of 12 working days of full-pay illness leave, and 88 working days of half-pay illness leave in the first year of employment. In succeeding years, the employee receives 12 working days of full-pay illness plus that number of half-pay illness days that will result in the employee having 100 days of combined full-pay and half-pay illness. Regular employees who are assigned to less than a 12-month position will receive 10 working days of full-pay illness leave and 90 working days of half-pay illness. There is no limit to the year-to year accumulation of full-pay illness days.
An employee serving an initial probationary period is not eligible to be paid for more than 6 working days of full-pay illness leave until the first day of the pay period following completion of 130 days of paid service. Half-pay illness leave will not be paid during this time.
AFT College Staff Guild Contract-Article 19H
An Industrial Accident Leave is one granted for absence caused by an occupational illness or injury which arose out of and in the course of District employment, and which qualifies under Worker’s Compensation.
AFT College Staff Guild-Article 19I
A Jury Duty Leave is granted when an employee is called for jury duty in a manner provided by law. The length of leave shall be for the actual period of jury duty. Pay shall be for those days and hours that the employee would otherwise have received pay for their assignment if not excused for jury duty not to exceed two weeks during any two consecutive fiscal years. The remainder of the jury duty shall be unpaid, however the Chancellor or the appropriate College President shall have the authority to approve payment for jury service beyond the two weeks provided herein.
AFT College Staff Guild-Article 19J
A Maternity Leave is an unpaid leave of absence for a prescribed period of time granted to pregnant employees. Illness leave will be allowed for the period of time during which the employee is physically disabled and unable to perform her regular duties due to pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth or recovery there from.
AFT College Staff Guild-Article 19K
An employee who is a member of the reserve corps of the Armed Forces of the United States or of the National Guard or of the Naval Militia shall be granted a Temporary Military Leave while engaged in military duty ordered for purposes of active military training, inactive duty training, drills, encampment, naval cruises, special exercises or like activity as such member, providing that the period of ordered duty does not exceed 180 calendar days, including time involved in going to and returning from such duty.
A Military Leave Other than Temporary shall be granted to any employee who is ordered into active military duty for a period greater than 180 calendar days, but not to exceed five years, as a member of a reserve component of the armed forces of the United States; is ordered into active Federal military duty as a member of the National Guard or Naval Militia; or is inducted, enlists, enters, or is otherwise ordered or called into active duty as a member of the armed forces of the United States.
AFT College Staff Guild-Article 19L
An Organization Leave is a leave which is granted to enable an employee to serve any officially recognized Los Angeles Community College District professional organization such as a union.
Employees, 55 years or older, may go on Part-time Service Leave and through the California Education Code Section 88038 pay the balance of their Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) contribution.
Permanent employees may be granted unpaid leaves of absence not to exceed 25 months to serve in the Peace Corps. Red Cross Leave or Merchant Marine Leave may be granted during any period of war or national emergency.
Local 99 Contract-Article 9 Section 12
Unpaid Personal Business Leave may be granted at the discretion of the District.
A Personal Leave is an unpaid leave which is granted for specific reasons. Such reasons may include, but are not limited to, travel, study, significant personal needs, and/or opportunity (i.e., service in relevant employment or volunteer work).
A Personal Necessity leave is granted to permit an employee to be absent when the specific conditions or events listed below require the attention of the employee during their assigned hours of service and involve circumstances the employee cannot be expected to disregard. Personal Necessity absences are deducted from an employee’s illness balance. The following are those events which may be used as the basis for requesting Personal Necessity Leave:
- The death of a member of your immediate family (as defined in Bereavement Leave) when leave beyond that provided by Bereavement Leave is required.
- An accident involving you not otherwise chargeable to illness leave, or industrial accident and industrial illness leave.
- An accident involving your property or the person or property of a member of your immediate family or an illness of a member of your immediate family as previously defined above.
- Your appearance in any court or before any administrative tribunal as a litigant, party, or witness under an official governmental order.
- The birth of a child making it necessary for an employee who is the father of the child to be absent from his position during his assigned hours of service.
- Imminent danger to your home, occasioned by a factor such as flood or fire, which under the circumstances you cannot reasonably be expected to disregard.
- Any other significant event, personal to you, for which other paid leave is not authorized.
AFT College Staff Guild Contract-Article 19P
A Position Leave shall be granted to an employee who is on an eligibility list for a higher classification to serve temporarily in that higher classification or to an employee to serve in the academic service in a probationary or temporary position.
A Rest Leave is an unpaid leave granted to an employee who, in the opinion of a physician or other licensed practitioner, is not ill enough to qualify for illness leave but does need a rest.
A Retraining and Study Leave is one which shall be granted to an eligible employee for the purpose of acquiring new skills required as a result of changes in the District’s organization and methods and/or acquiring, maintaining or improving skills used in the service of the District.
AFT College Staff Guild Contract-Article 19S
Absence may be granted to an employee for the following reasons:
- Attendance at Hearings when an injured employee appeals the decision of the Worker’s Compensation Appeals Board in rejecting liability in the case, and when, in the interests of justice and of protecting all legal rights of the injured employee, it is necessary or desirable for other District employees to attend the hearing of the appeal.
- Examinations and Other Employment Procedures of the District during working hours, without loss of pay or other penalty.
- Epidemics and Emergencies An employee shall be paid the regular salary for any period during which they are unable to work at the regular place of employment because it is closed due to quarantine, epidemic, or other conditions involving the health or safety of students or employees. To be eligible for such pay, the employee must be ready, able, and willing to perform the customary or other reasonable and suitable duties.
Unpaid leaves may be granted to permanent employees for the following reasons:
- To serve in an elected or appointed position of any governmental agency or organization supported by governmental funds.
- To accompany a spouse who has entered into military duty not to exceed one year.
Local 99 Contract-Article 9 Section 11
Local 721 Contract -Article 8L