Annual Leave

All full-time employees receive annual leave as a state work benefit. Part-time and Interim employees do not earn annual leave. Your length of service will determine the amount of annual leave you earn in a calendar year. A full-time employee shall have worked, or been on paid leave, other than educational leave with pay, for 100 or more hours per month to accrue annual leave.

You may carry your annual leave forward from one calendar year to the next at the following rates:

Leave in excess of the above maximum amounts shall be converted to sick leave at the end of the calendar year or upon retirement.

The first rule to remember about annual leave is that you must always get advance approval from your supervisor before taking annual leave. To do this, you should complete your agency's appropriate leave form and give it to your supervisor early enough to obtain the supervisor's written consent before you take time off. If you do not receive prior approval for annual leave, your agency may refuse to pay you for the time you are absent and consider your absence as "unauthorized absence." Agencies may also take disciplinary action against employees who are absent without leave. An employee who is absent without authorization for 10 working days is considered to have resigned from employment.

If you resign from state employment,  you will be paid for all accumulated annual leave, up to the legal maximum you are permitted to carry over from year to year, provided you give your agency at least 14 calendar days written notice of your final work day.; If you do not give at least 14 days notice, your agency can refuse to pay you for any annual leave time you have accumulated.

If you are laid off you will be paid for all unused accumulated annual leave time up to the legal maximum you are permitted to carry over from year to year. An exception may be made if your position is part of an approved plan for privatization of services and the successor employer agrees to credit you with your annual leave time.

If you are dismissed for cause or fail to give two weeks notice of resignation without proper notice, you may have to forfeit all of your unused annual leave time.  Your agency will decide whether you are to receive payment for your accrued annual leave.

1. The Commonwealth of Kentucky annual leave sharing program is created. An employee who has accrued an annual leave balance of more than seventy-five (75) hours may request that the appointing authority of the agency for which the employee works makes available for transfer a specified amount of his or her annual leave balance to another named employee authorized to receive leave under subsection (2) of this section. The employee may not request a transfer of an amount of leave that would result in reducing his or her annual leave balance to less than seventy-five (75) hours.
2. An appointing authority, with the approval of the secrteary of personnel, may permit an employee of the agency to receive leave under this section if:
   • The employee suffers from a catastrophic loss to his or her personal property, due to either a natural disaster or fire, that either has caused or will likely cause the employee to go on leave for at least ten (10) consecutive working days;
   • The employee has exhausted his or her accumulated annual leave and compensatory leave balances; and
   • The employee has complied with administrative regulations governing the use of annual leave.
3. The appointing authority, with the approval of the Secretary of personnel, shall determine the amount of leave, if any, that an employee within his or her agency may receive under subsection (2) of this section. Transfers of leave shall not exceed the amount requested by the recipient.
4. Leave may be transferred from an employee of one (1) agency to an employee within the same agency. With the approval of the Secretary of personnel and of the appointing authorities of both agencies, leave may be transferred from an employee of one (1) agency to an employee of another state agency. The Personnel Cabinet shall maintain records of leave transferred between employees and the utilization of transferred leave.
5. While an employee is on leave transferred under this section, he or she shall be deemed a state employee and shall receive the same treatment with respect to salary, wages, and employee benefits.
6. All salary and wage payments made to an employee while on leave transferred under this section shall be made by the agency employing the person receiving the leave.
7. Any leave transferred under this section that remains unused shall be returned to the employees who transferred the leave when the appointing authority finds that the leave is no longer needed and will not be needed at a future time in connection with the catastrophic loss for which the leave was transferred to an employee in his or her agency.
8. No employee shall directly or indirectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other employee for the purpose of interfering with the employee's right to voluntarily contribute leave when authorized under this section. For the purpose of this subsection, "intimidate, threaten, or coerce" shall include, without being limited to, the promise to confer or the conferring of any benefit or effecting or threatening to effect any reprisal.