Annual Leave

• Annual leave will be accrued on the basis of years of full-time service as shown below

• Years of Service	Hours Accrued Per Pay Period	Hours Accrued Per Month
  0-3	4	8
  3-9	5	10
  9-14	6	12
  Over 14	7	14

•  Full-time employees may carry over a maximum of 60 days of annual leave (450 hours) into the new calendar year. Annual leave in excess of 450 hours will be converted to sick leave for the new calendar year.

•  An employee leaving County service will receive a lump sum payment at the current rate of pay for any unused accumulated annual leave up to 45 days (337.5 hours) provided that each lump sum payment will be offset by any amount by which the employee is indebted to the County government.

Sick Leave

• Sick leave is may be used to receive normal pay when an employee is incapacitated by sickness or injury or must visit a doctor or dentist for medical diagnosis or treatment, or for the necessary medical care and attendance of an employee's spouse, child, or parent. 

• Sick leave will accrue at the rate of 7.5 hours per month for 75 hour per pay period schedules (or 8.0 hours per month for eighty (80) hour per pay period schedules) for a total of twelve (12) days per year.

• Effective October 1, 2007, employees hired by Charles County Government may receive credit for up to four hundred (400) hours of accrued, but unpaid, sick leave from their previous employer.  The credit will be applied on the employee's personnel records provided official documentation and HR verification received from previous employer, is obtained within sixty (60) days of beginning employment.

• All accrued sick leave may be carried forward into a new calendar year.

• No payment will be made for unused sick leave when an employee leaves employment.  However, at the time of retirement, accrued unused sick leave may be applied toward an employee's credited years of service

Personal Time Off (PTO)

Personal time off provides eligible staff with an immediate balance of leave in January of each year that can be used for time off for various reasons. This more flexible leave program, implemented in January 2023, replaces the personal day and two floating holidays previously given to staff. This benefit may be used in hourly increments.

All full-time employees are eligible for Personal Time Off. PTO will be credited in employee leave banks in January of each year. The credited amount is based on the annual hours employees are scheduled to work as follows:

Schedule:                                           Credit in January

1950 hours                                        30 hours

2080 hours                                        36 hours

2184 hours                                        36 hours

An eligible employee who starts mid-year will receive a pro-rated number of hours based on their hire date. PTO must be taken within the calendar year it was received. It does not carry over from year to year. PTO must be approved in advance by the supervisor in accordance with priorities and schedules. 

Sick and Safe Leave

Sick and Safe Leave may be used for:

• The employee’s illness or injury
• The employee's family member's illness or injury
• Absences due to domestic violence issues pertaining the the employee or family members

Sick and Safe Leave works as a subset of the sick leave policy, although employees are permitted to use other leave types.  The maximum amount of Sick and Safe Leave an employee may use in a calendar year is 64 hours.

Additional information regarding leave policies is detailed in the Charles County Government Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual - Chapter 17 and the Sick and Safe Leave Standard Operating Procedure SOP#CAP.HR.02.001