Leave Benefits

California State employees are eligible for several types of time off, including the leave benefits below. Consult your supervisor or personnel office for details.

Also, check your bargaining unit's contract for specifics if you're a rank-and-file employee. If the contract provisions vary from the summaries below, the contract language prevails.

Types of Leave

• Holidays
• Personal Day
• Annual Leave
• Vacation
• Sick Leave
• Personal Leave Program
• Family Leave
• Pregnancy Disability Leave
• Catastrophic Leave
• Bereavement Leave
• Military Leave
• Mentoring Leave
• Union Leave

Other Leave-Related Info:

• Jury Duty
• Transferring Leave Credits To Other Employees
• Transferring Leave Credits To/From UC, CSU, or Legislature
• Cashing Out Unused Leave

Holidays

New Year's Day (January 1)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day (3rd Monday in January)

Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday in February)

Cesar Chavez Day (March 31)

Memorial Day (last Monday in May)

Independence Day (July 4)

Labor Day (1st Monday in September)

Veteran's Day (November 11)

Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday in November)

Day after Thanksgiving

Christmas (December 25)

• If a holiday falls on Saturday, employees receive a floating holiday credit (except for Veteran's Day, in which case the holiday is observed Friday, Nov. 10).
• If a holiday falls on Sunday, it's observed the following day (i.e., Monday).

Holidays for the current year

Personal Day

Permanent employees are entitled to one personal holiday per year.

Annual Leave

• Annual leave page

Vacation

(Employees enrolled in Annual Leave do not receive separate vacation credit.)

Rank-and-file employees accrue 7 to 15 hours per month, depending on length of service and bargaining unit.

Managers and supervisors accrue 7 to 16 hours per month, depending on length of service.

You may carry over up to 640 hours of unused vacation to the next year.

The Vacation vs. Annual Leave comparison chart provides details.

Sick Leave

(Employees enrolled in Annual Leave do not receive separate sick leave credit.)

Full-time employees accrue eight hours per month (after completing their first month on the job). Unused sick leave may be carried over each year.

Personal Leave Program

Most permanent, full-time employees are eligible to receive an additional day of leave credit per month in exchange for a 5 percent reduction in pay. This voluntary Personal Leave Program helps employees who want to accrue extra time off and helps departments lower payroll costs.

Family Leave

• Family leave page

Pregnancy Disability Leave

A female employee unable to perform an essential function of her job due to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition may receive up to four months unpaid leave, as medically needed, under the Family Medical Leave Act. When the pregnancy disability leave ends, the employee may request up to 12 additional weeks of unpaid leave for bonding with her new child, under the California Family Rights Act.

The State will continue the employee's health benefits for the first 12 weeks of this combined leave.

See the U.S. Dept. of Labor's FMLA page if you want to read the federal FMLA regulations.

Catastrophic Leave

Employees who have exhausted their leave credits and must miss work due to a prolonged illness or injury (including that of a family member) may request catastrophic leave. In such cases, the department will set up a Catastrophic Leave bank for that employee to receive donated leave from other State employees. (Donations typically are irrevocable, but personnel offices may make exceptions if the donated time ends up not being used.)

This benefit also is available to employees whose residence has been affected by a natural disaster for which the Governor has declared a State of Emergency in that county, and who have exhausted all leave credits except sick leave.

Bereavement Leave

Employees may receive up to 3 days of leave following the death of a family member or other person in the employee's household. (For rank-and-file employees, contract provisions limit such leave for deaths of extended family members to 3 days per year.)

Military Leave

• Military leave page

Military Spouse Leave

• See the leave benefits available on the family leave page
• See the leave benefits available on the military leave page "If your spouse is a California State employee"

Mentoring Leave

The State grants up to 40 hours of leave per year on a matching basis to employees who mentor at-risk youth (grades K-12). To qualify, the mentoring activities must be organized through a bona fide mentoring organization.

Union Leave

Policies on time off to participate in union business vary among bargaining units. For details, refer to the individual contracts, available on our Contracts page.

Jury Duty

Employees called for jury duty are granted leave time during their jury service. Employees are not entitled to juror pay for such duty but are permitted to keep mileage payments.

Transferring Leave Credits to Other Employees

An employee may transfer leave credits (except sick leave) to another employee whose illness or injury is expected to incapacitate the employee or a family member and that situation creates a financial hardship. Such transfers also are permitted in cases of natural disasters. (See "Catastrophic Leave.")

Leave credits (other than sick leave) also may be transferred between family members for their own serious medical condition, or to care for eligible family members who have a serious medical condition. In such cases, the employee does not have to suffer a financial hardship to be eligible.

Transferring Leave Credits To/From UC, CSU, or Legislature

If you transfer between a State civil service job and a job with the University of California, California State University systems, or the Legislature, you may transfer your leave credits, including sick leave, to the new position.

Cashing Out Unused Leave

Under various circumstances, you may receive cash for unused leave you've accrued. Here are some examples:

• Excluded Employee Leave Buy Back: Periodically, DPA and the Dept. of Finance authorize departments to offer to cash out excluded employees' unused vacation, annual leave, personal leave, and/or personal holiday credits at their regular pay rate. Departments choose whether to participate based on availability of funds. Typically, the number of hours that may be cashed out is capped.
• Leaving State Service: When you end your State employment, you may cash out unused leave (except sick leave), or contribute it to your 401(k) and/or 457 deferred compensation plan. (See Savings Plus.)

Updated July 1, 2009 at 1:14 PM.