13.1 Paid Vacation: Paid vacation shall be granted no later than the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year in which it is earned unless otherwise arranged on a mutually agreeable basis between the unit member and his/her department head. Under certain circumstances, paid vacation may be granted during the fiscal year in which it is earned with the approval of the department head, however, no vacation should be granted during the first six months of employment.

13.2 Accumulation: Vacation time shall be earned and accumulated on a monthly basis in accordance with the following schedule:

13.2.1 Vacation: Nonexempt Staff: Twelve days a year (1 day a month) for years 1, 2, 3, and 4; 15 days a year beginning at year 5; 16 days at year 6; 17 days at year 7; 18 days at year 8; 19 days at year 9; and 20 days at year 10 and each year thereafter. Vacation shall be prorated for members working less than 12 months or less than full-time. (See Appendix F)

13.3 Vacation Pay: Pay for vacation days for all bargaining unit employees shall be the same as that which the employee would have received had he/she been in a working status.

13.4 Vacation Cash Out: An employee may request once each fiscal year (July 1 through June 30) a vacation cash out of up to sixty (60) hours, subject to all the conditions set forth in this section, provided he/she retains a minimum balance of eighty (80) hours of accrued vacation and one hundred (100) hours of accrued sick leave.

13.5 Vacation Pay Upon Termination: When an employee in the bargaining unit is terminated for any reason, he/she shall be entitled to all vacation pay earned and accumulated while on paid status up to and including the effective date of the termination.

13.6 Holidays: When a holiday falls during the scheduled vacation of any bargaining unit employee, such employee shall not be charged a day's vacation for such holiday falling within that period.

13.7 Vacation Scheduling: Vacation shall be scheduled at times requested in writing by bargaining unit employees so far as possible within the District's work requirements as established by the appropriate manager/administrator. If there is any conflict between employees who are working on the same or similar operations as to when vacation shall be taken, the appropriate manager/administrator shall be responsible for determining the order of vacation to be taken. The order in which vacation was requested (earlier being better) and seniority (District hire date) shall be a consideration in such determinations. An employee shall be given written verification of his/her vacation schedule within two (2) weeks of the submitted request.

13.8 Interruption of Vacation: An employee in the bargaining unit may be permitted to interrupt or terminate vacation leave in order to begin another type of paid leave provided by this agreement without a return to active service, provided the employee supplies notice and supporting information satisfactory to administration regarding the basis for such interruption or termination.

13.9 Vacation Carry-Over: Any employee in the bargaining unit who has been employed for more than one (1) year may elect to carry over vacation balance on June 30th to July 1st of the next fiscal year, based on the following schedule:

13.10 Employees with more vacation days than provided for by this agreement credited to their records on June 30, 1977 will be allowed to maintain the number credited as their maximum number and may use the days credited as arranged vacation time in conjunction with their supervisors, thereby reducing their vacation credit maximum.

13.11 Regularly earned, but unused vacation days beyond the maximum allowable carryover will be mandatorily and administratively assigned.