N.J. Admin. Code § 4A:6-1.5

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 11, June 3, 2024

Section 4A:6-1.5 - Vacation, administrative, and sick leave adjustments: State service

(a) Employees in State service are liable for vacation and sick leave days taken in excess of their entitlements.

(b) An employee who leaves State service or goes on a leave of absence without pay before the end of the calendar year shall have his or her leave prorated based on time earned, except that the leave of an employee on a voluntary furlough or furlough extension leave shall not be affected. An employee who is on the payroll for 23 days or more shall earn a full month's allowance, and earn one-half month's allowance if he or she is on the payroll for greater than 14 calendar days, but less than 23 calendar days in a month.

1. An employee shall reimburse the appointing authority for paid working days used in excess of his or her prorated and accumulated entitlements.

2. An employee who returns to work from a leave of absence shall not be credited with paid vacation or sick leave until the amount of leave used in excess of the prorated entitlement has been reimbursed.

(c) In State service, intermittent days off without pay other than voluntary furlough or furlough extension days shall be aggregated and considered as a continuous leave without pay for calculation of reduced vacation and sick leave credits. When intermittent days off without pay other than voluntary furlough or furlough extension days equal 11 working days, the employee's vacation and sick leave credit shall be reduced by one-half of one month's entitlement. Union leave days pursuant to a negotiated agreement shall not be included in such calculations.

(d) An employee shall not be reimbursed for accumulated sick leave when leaving State service except for separations on retirement as provided in N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.

(e) When an employee is transferred in State service, the employee's former appointing authority shall provide the new State appointing authority with a record of an employee's unused vacation, administrative and sick leave.

(f) In State service, when an employee's workweek changes, the employee's vacation, administrative and sick leave entitlements shall be recalculated in the following manner:

1. The number of hours of vacation, administrative and sick leave for the former workweek shall be converted into days by dividing by the number of hours in the former workweek workday; and

2. This number of days shall be converted into hours for the new workweek by multiplying by the number of hours in the new workweek workday.

EXAMPLE: Mary Smith is in a 35 hour workweek title. On January 1 of the current year, she had accumulated 245 sick leave hours from prior years and was credited with 105 sick leave hours for the current year (15 days x 7 hours), or a total of 350 sick leave hours. Effective May 1, she is appointed to a title with a 40 hour workweek. Her new sick leave entitlement is computed by dividing 350 by seven, the number of hours in a 35 hour workweek workday, to yield the result of 50 days of sick leave. The 50 days are then multiplied by eight, the number of hours in a 40 hour workweek workday. Thus, Mary Smith's converted sick leave hours are 400.

EXAMPLE: Thomas Brown is in a 40 hour workweek title. On January 1, he had accumulated 230 sick leave hours from prior years and was credited with 120 sick leave hours for the current year (15 days x 8 hours), or a total of 350 sick leave hours. Effective May 1, he is appointed to a title with a 35 hour workweek. His new sick leave entitlement is computed by dividing 350 by eight, the number of hours in a 40 hour workweek workday, to yield the result of 43.75 days of sick leave. The 43.75 days are then multiplied by seven, the number of hours in a 35 hour workweek workday. Thus, Thomas Brown's converted sick leave hours are 306 (43.75 x 7 = 306.25, rounded to 306).

(g) In State service, an employee whose status changes from part time to full time, or from full time to part time, shall receive sick leave benefits as follows:

1. If an employee's status changes from part time to full time, the amount of proportional sick leave which the employee has earned as a part time employee is added to the amount of sick leave with which he or she is credited for the remainder of the year as a full time employee.

2. If an employee's status changes from full time to part time, the amount of sick leave which he or she has earned as a full time employee is added to the amount of proportional sick leave with which the employee is credited for the remainder of the year as a part time employee.

EXAMPLE: John Jones works two days a week. Therefore, he is employed for 40 percent of the workweek. As a part time, 40 percent employee, his yearly sick leave is calculated by taking 40 percent of 15 sick leave days; thus, John is credited with six sick leave days on January 1. On pay period 14, John becomes a full time employee. As of that time, he already has earned three sick leave days as a part time, 40 percent employee. As a full time employee for the remainder of the year, John is credited with 7.5 sick days. These are added to the three sick leave days which he earned during the first half of the year, so that he will have a total of 10.5 sick days for the year. Any accumulated sick days which John earned in previous years as a part time, 40 percent employee are added to the 10.5 sick days to which John will be entitled this year.

N.J. Admin. Code § 4A:6-1.5

Amended by 48 N.J.R. 2775(b), effective 12/19/2016

Amended by 51 N.J.R. 1115(a), effective 7/1/2019