I. Objective: MAQUOKETA VALLEY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE EMPLOYMENT POLICY E-26 PAID TIME OFF To provide full time employees of the Cooperative with paid time off for vacation, personal illness, family illness, holidays, and funeral leave. Part time employees are eligible for these benefits on a pro-rated basis. II. Policy: As used in this policy Immediate Family Members includes: spouse, children (including stepchildren), individuals for whom the employee has been appointed a legal guardian, brother, sister, father, and mother. Other Family Members includes a stepparent, stepbrother/sister, grandparent, grandchild or in-law (brother, sister, son, daughter, father, or mother). If an employee is off work more than 13 weeks during a year, or is on an unpaid leave of absence paid time off is not earned and will be prorated for time worked. If paid time off has already been taken an adjustment will be made to the following year's paid time off. The number of employees from each department off work at one time is generally restricted to not more than one-third (1/3) in order to maintain adequate coverage within the Cooperative. Any exception should be approved by the CEO. Any employee found guilty of abusing paid time off shall be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. Paid time off from work will be provided as follows: A. Vacation: Pay for earned vacations is computed on the basis of 40 hours per week at the straight time hourly rate. Paid vacations are generally to be taken January through December during the calendar year in which they are actually earned. Employees are allowed to take vacation prior to accrual for the current year. If an employee terminates or is terminated during the year adjustments will be made to the last paycheck reflecting vacation taken versus earned. Employees may carry over up to three weeks of unused vacation into the following year. No more than 40 hours of the previous year s vacation may be carried past April 30 of the current year. In an emergency an employee may be recalled to work before expiration of their vacation, with unused vacation time credited. Policy E-26 Page 1 of 6 Adopted June 19, 2015
The following guidelines shall be followed when arranging for paid vacations: 1. Vacations shall be approved in writing by management staff. 2. To avoid scheduling conflicts with other employees, planned vacations should be scheduled as soon as possible. 3. Seniority shall prevail when a conflict arises in scheduling time off. This shall not include conflicts with prior approved vacations of less senior employees. 4. Vacation will normally not be allowed during the first six months of employment. 5. Vacations will not be scheduled the day before or the day after a holiday more than three times between February 1 of the current year and through January 31 of the following year. (The Friday before a holiday falling on Monday constitutes the day before). An employee earning 4 weeks of vacation has the option to sell up to 40 hours to the Cooperative in a calendar year, at the employee's base wage. Employees who are terminated or leave employment of the Cooperative for any reason except gross misconduct shall be paid for any vacation accrued unless otherwise provided in these employment policies. Likewise, any vacation taken prior to termination, which has not yet been earned, will be deducted for his/her final paycheck. Paid Vacation accrual for each full-time employee shall be determined as follows: Years of Employment First month after beginning employment to the end of the 7 th yr Beginning the month following their 7 th anniversary to the end of the 19 th year. Month following the beginning of their 20 th year Monthly Accrual Annual Accumulation 6.67 Hours 80 Hours 10.00 Hours 120 Hours 13.33 Hours 160 Hours Vacation begins to accrue the first of the month after initial employment, and continues to accrue until the end of the month of termination. Vacations will be rounded up to the nearest ½ hour increment annually. B. Sick Leave: Policy E-26 Page 2 of 6 Adopted June 19, 2015
The Cooperative provides a generous sick leave benefit to protect its employees during time of illness. If an employee is found abusing sick leave disciplinary action will be taken, up to and including dismissal. Sick leave shall be accrued, for full time employees, at the rate of 8 hours per month. Sick leave shall not accrue during any month the employee is absent more than 50% of the normal work schedule unless due to authorized paid leave, excluding sick leave. Sick leave may be used for the following reasons: 1. Personal illness 2. Personal medical, dental, chiropractic, optical, or EAP counseling appointments limited to hours of the appointment and reasonable travel time. 3. Funeral attendance (See Section D. below) 4. Tending to an Immediate Family Member s illness or medical, dental, optical appointments. This shall be limited to 4 days per year (32 hours), subject to approval of the department heads. 5. Immediate Family Member with a life threatening or terminal illness as follows: 1 st week vacation (unused days in #4 above may be used to cover this period) 2 nd and 3 rd weeks up to 2 weeks sick leave may be used After 3 rd week unpaid leave of absence (must be approved by the CEO) An attending physician's written certification must be provided at the time of the request. It is expected that an employee will talk with their supervisor to report an illness or the need to use sick leave as soon as practicable. Application for sick leave pay shall be in writing and is subject to approval by management staff. The Cooperative requires a medical 1 doctor's certificate: 1. When the application for sick leave pay covers more than 3 consecutive work days 2. At management s discretion Policy E-26 Page 3 of 6 Adopted June 19, 2015
1 For purposes of this policy, Chiropractors and Physician s Assistants are not considered doctors. Any unused hours of sick leave shall be accumulated annually up to a maximum of 1,150 hours. Employees having more than 1,150 hours of accumulated sick leave at year-end will trade the hours for vacation to be taken in the following year at the rate of 2.4 hours sick leave for one hour of vacation (96 hours equals one week vacation). C. Holidays: The Cooperative recognizes the following 11 paid holidays for all full time employees: New Year's President s Day Good Friday Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Thanksgiving Day after Thanksgiving Christmas Eve Christmas *Floating (date subject to approval) When a holiday falls on Saturday the preceding Friday shall be considered as the holiday. Employees scheduled to work on Saturday will recognize that day as the holiday and will work on Friday. When a holiday falls on Sunday the following Monday shall be considered as the holiday. If an employee works on a scheduled holiday, 1-1/2 times the basic rate shall be paid for the number of hours actually worked on such holiday in addition to the holiday pay at regular rate. When a paid holiday falls within a scheduled vacation the holiday will not be charged to vacation. No holiday pay shall be issued unless the employee is present and works either all of the last scheduled work day immediately preceding the holiday or all of the first scheduled work day immediately following the holiday unless such absence is due to an approved paid time off. *Employees must be employed for 90 days in the calendar year before receiving a Floating Holiday. Policy E-26 Page 4 of 6 Adopted June 19, 2015
Veteran s Day In compliance with Iowa Code 91A.5A, Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative will consider Veteran s Day, November 11 th, a holiday for veterans who wish to take the day off unpaid, when Veteran s Day falls on a day they would be scheduled to work. Veterans must provide proof of their military service and 30 days written notification (to their supervisor and HR) of their intent to be absent from work on Veteran s Day. If the Cooperative determines that they are unable to provide time off for Veterans Day for all employees who request time off, the Cooperative shall deny time off to the minimum number of employees needed to maintain minimum operational capacity, as applicable. D. Funeral Leave In case of death of an Immediate Family Member, an employee can have up to 5 days time off work. Time off in excess of 2 days shall be charged to sick leave or be unpaid (with approval of CEO). In case of death of Other Family Members an employee can have up to 5 days time off work. Time off during the 5-day period shall be charged to sick leave or be unpaid (with approval of CEO). Up to 2 days sick leave may be used annually for funerals other than above. Time off shall be subject to prior approval by the Department Head and shall generally be limited to hours required to attend the funeral services plus reasonable travel time. E. Jury Duty Leave Employees called for jury duty shall notify management staff as far in advance as possible. Employees called to serve on jury duty will receive their regular pay during time absent from work while serving such duty. Any compensation received as a juror must be reimbursed to the Cooperative excluding mileage reimbursement. If the employee's presence as a juror is not required for the entire day, the employee shall report for work before and/or after jury duty. F. Unpaid Leave Policy E-26 Page 5 of 6 Adopted June 19, 2015
All unpaid leave must have approval of the CEO. Unpaid leave will normally not be allowed if paid leave or sick time can be used in accordance with these policies. III. Responsibility: CEO/Executive Vice President Management Staff Policy E-26 Page 6 of 6 Adopted June 19, 2015