3.68.070 Leave with pay | Snohomish County Code

3.68.070 Leave with pay.

(1) There is hereby established for each exempt employee a current leave account within which shall be retained the most recent leave entitlement and a reserve leave account within which shall be retained any balance of leave exceeding 80 days.

(2) Annually on January 1st each exempt employee shall be granted a current earned leave entitlement which shall be deposited to the current leave account in the amount specified according to the following schedule based on months of county service completed:

Months of County Service Completed as of January 1st of Each Year	Current Earned Leave Entitlement Granted Per Year*
0--12	25 days
13--36	35 days
37+	40 days**

*Exempt employees covered by the LEOFF retirement system shall receive an entitlement which is reduced by 12 days.

**Any employee hired prior to January 1, 1960, shall receive 45 days.

***For employees continuously employed by the county since January 1, 2023, that were employed by the Snohomish Health District on December 31, 2022, months of county service shall include the number of monthly service credits the employee earned under the Snohomish Health District personnel rules.

(3) When the balance in the current leave account exceeds 80 days, those days exceeding 80 will be moved to a reserve leave account.

(4) During the course of the year, each absence from work for any reason other than for legal holidays, jury or military leave and leave without pay as provided in SCC 3.68.060(3) shall be charged against the reserve leave account until the balance is depleted, and thereafter it will be charged against the current leave account.

(5) New exempt employees may not use more than one-half of their leave until they have completed six months of service.

(6) Upon termination from the exempt service, including voluntary resignation, up to 60 days accrued leave pay shall be made from the current leave account. Calculation of accrued leave pay upon termination shall be based upon a maximum rate of 30 days for each full year completed in the exempt service with a proration of any partial year. Before accrued leave pay is calculated for superior court commissioners, a prorated portion of the leave granted in the year of termination shall be forfeited from the reserve and/or current leave accounts based on the number of months remaining in that year.

Any exempt employee who is removed from an exempt position due to a conviction of a felony against the county shall forfeit any and all accrued leave. Where such felony charges are pending, accrued leave pay shall be withheld by the county until the result is known.

(7) Upon termination from the exempt service for the purpose of receiving LEOFF II or PERS retirement benefits, and immediately following termination of employment, an exempt employee may exchange unused accrued leave for retiree medical coverage subject to the following provisions:

(a) Leave to be exchanged shall only be that leave which is in excess of leave which may be compensated as shown in subsection (6) of this section. Leave may be exchanged on the basis of 60 hours of exchanged leave shall equal one month of paid medical coverage for a retiree or retiree and spouse in the county’s retiree medical program.

(b) Leave may only be exchanged in 60 hour increments to a maximum of 720 hours.

(d) Upon the death of a retiree, a surviving spouse who has been enrolled in the retiree medical plan may remain on the plan until paid medical coverage in subsection (7)(a) of this section has been exhausted.

(8) An exempt employee who becomes an elected official shall also be eligible for the above accrued leave pay as in subsection (6) of this section.

(9) When an employee enters the exempt system from the personnel system or civil service, vacation and sick leave accruals earned in that service shall be frozen for use at a later date as follows:

(a) For each absence from work for other than legal holidays, jury or military leave and leave without pay, an exempt employee may designate whether such leave was required as a result of illness or for vacation purposes and such amount may be charged against vacation and/or sick leave accrued under the personnel or civil service plan. Accordingly, that amount of time will be charged to the appropriate frozen vacation or sick leave accruals earned during personnel or civil service employment. If no such designation is made the leave time will be deducted from exempt entitlement pursuant to subsection (4) of this section.

(b) Upon termination, the employee will be paid for such vacation and sick leave as provided in the rules applicable to the employment under which such vacation and sick leave was accrued.

(c) When an exempt employee transfers to classified employment, the employee’s frozen classified sick and vacation leave accounts, if any, will be reactivated, and unused leave days accrued under this section will be transferred to the employees sick and vacation leave accounts as apportioned by the employee; PROVIDED, That the employee transferring from the exempt system may either freeze the maximum accrual of exempt time as provided in this section for cash out upon discontinuance of service with the county or the employee may cash out the maximum accrual of exempt time as provided in this section upon transferring to a classified position; and, PROVIDED, FURTHER, That amounts of leave accrued under the exempt plan which exceed the maximum annual accrued leave pay of 30 days as provided in subsection (6) of this section may be used by the employee for up to 24 months after the effective date of the transfer to a classified position. When such a transfer occurs after January 1st of a calendar year, monthly sick and vacation accruals shall begin January 1st of the following year at a rate which reflects total years of completed county service.

(10) Any person entering an exempt position after the effective date of this chapter shall receive as his/her entitlement for the year of entry into the exempt position, days of current leave entitlement provided in subsection (2) of this section, prorated in proportion to the time remaining in the year at the time of assuming the position. The leave entitlement allowable to those filling exempt positions on a part time or temporary basis shall be similarly prorated; however, a person working in an exempt position less than half-time shall receive no leave entitlement or other benefits under this chapter.

(11) Accurate records of leave accruals and use thereof shall be maintained by the supervising official of each exempt employee. (Added by Ord. 82-003, Mar. 22, 1982; Amended by Ord. 85-113 § 7, Nov. 20, 1985; Amended by Ord. 89-172 § 8, Jan. 10, 1990; Amended by Ord. 91-118, Aug. 28, 1991; Amended by Ord. 92-139, Dec. 2, 1992; Amended by Ord. 02-037, Aug. 21, 2002, Eff date Sept. 6, 2002; Amended by Ord. 22-067, Dec. 14, 2022, Eff date Dec. 26, 2022).