Personal Leave

Section 1 - ADMINISTRATIVE

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this policy is to guide how the department governs personal leave as well as how each member utilizes their leave hours. The accrual of personal leave hours is per the City of Maitland Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual.

PROCEDURE:

General Rules: All Members Personal Leave Anyone who takes time off without sufficient accumulated personal leave shall not be paid for those hours. Prior approval is required. A negative balance shall not be permitted. Disciplinary action may result. Except in cases covered by the City of Maitland Personnel Policies and Procedures 8.12 Family and Medical Leave Act, each member is responsible for ensuring he/she possesses adequate sick or personal leave time before absence from work. Each Battalion Chief shall be responsible for scheduling leave for the members on his/her shift fairly and equitably.
Personal Leave Bidding: The personal leave bid process will be conducted yearly on 3 consecutive shifts starting November 1st and ending on November 3rd. Personnel are not required to attend the bidding. The Battalion Chief shall allow alternate participation by members not on-duty as deemed appropriate by the Deputy Fire Chief.
The date range for the personal leave bidding will be from January 1st through December 31st for the following calendar year of the bidding dates. A Battalion Chief will oversee the bidding process. Rank then seniority will determine the bidding order, with the most senior/rank 24-hour shift personnel bidding first and the least senior 24-hour shift personnel bidding last. If there is more than one individual with the same date of hire, the Battalion Chief will determine their bidding order by badge number and alternating each round. In bidding order, each person will bid their first choice, then each person will bid their second choice, and so on.
The trading of personal leave shifts will not be permitted. First and second personal leave requests are permitted during the bidding.
The max number of bidding rounds will be determined by the member's years on with the Department as of January 1st.

• Under 1 year = max of 5 shifts or 120 hours
• Over 1 year and under 5 years = max of 8 shifts or 192 hours
• Over 5 years and under 10 years = max of 11 shifts or 264 hours
• Over 10 years = max of 13 shifts or 312 hours

There is no minimum number of rounds that an individual has to bid on. A maximum of 8 concurrent shifts can be bid on per round. Additional Personal Leave Requests: After the personal leave bid process is complete, additional personal leave requests are to be made through Crew Sense beginning 0700 on December 1st for the upcoming calendar year. (Following the bidding process, the department wants to give personnel sufficient time to evaluate the unclaimed dates and determine availability options)
Battalion Chief Personal Leave:
The Deputy Fire Chief or their appointed designee shall be responsible for the scheduling of personal leave for Battalion Chiefs. Personal leave requests for Battalion Chiefs will be made through CrewSense. Battalion Chiefs can schedule personal leave requests for up to one year in advance. Personal leave for Battalion Chiefs will not affect or be affected by personal leave from any other position/rank in the Fire Department. Second personal leave requests do not apply to the Battalion Chief position.
Fire Administration Personal Leave: The Fire Chief or their appointed designee is responsible for scheduling personal leave for all others within the Department.
Personal Leave Rules and Regulations: First personal leave requests Approved for the entire calendar year. In the event of a shift change, approved first personal leave requests will be granted for the person moving to the different shift and the current person(s) already assigned to that shift who have approved first personal leave. Second personal leave requests Once a shift falls below or is expecting to fall below minimum staffing (12), second personal leave requests will be canceled and a department wide e-mail will be sent by the Battalion Chief with the approximate date range. Second personal leave requests will be guaranteed 96 hours before the start of the approved date. (I.e. the approved personal leave date starts at 0700 on the 15th. It will be guaranteed at 0700 on the 11th). Back-up time trades should be considered for all 2nd personal leave requests.
Concurrent personal leave requests
There is an 8 shift max of concurrent shifts off by 24-hour personnel. These time off shifts are inclusive of personal leave, time trades, and safety days. Only two-second personal leave requests will be approved within a concurrent 2 to 8 shift time off the frame. Second personal leave requests within a 2 to 8 concurrent time off frame are guaranteed 96 hours before the start of the first time off shift and throughout the remainder of the concurrent time off.
Personal leave requests for Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day will be excluded from the personal leave bidding process. Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day personal leave can be divided into time off blocks per personal leave opening. Request window for these 2 days will be submitted to their Battalion Chief 30 days prior to the event and the blocks will be divided based on requests 14 days prior to. These time off blocks will be determined by the same process as the bidding process.
Safety Days Safety days will be utilized as personal leave requests and will follow the same guidelines/procedures.
Cancellation of approved time off If a members cancels an approved personal leave, safety day, and/or time trade, a notification will be made via verbal, written, or email to the Battalion Chief. The Battalion Chief will be responsible for removing the approved time off requests via CrewSense and updating staffing assignments as deemed necessary. A department wide email will be sent out notifying members of the vacancy.