This subtitle does not apply to:
a temporary employee; or
an employee of the Maryland School for the Deaf who works 11 months or less in a calendar year.
Each employee in the State Personnel Management System is entitled to annual leave with pay as provided in this subtitle.
Annual leave may be used for any purpose.
In this section, “total State service” includes any previous State service.
Annual leave accrues as follows, on a pro rata basis:
for an employee whose total State service is less than 5 years, at the rate of 10 workdays not to exceed 80 hours, a year;
for an employee whose total State service is at least 5 years but less than 10 years, at the rate of 15 workdays not to exceed 120 hours, a year;
for an employee whose total State service is at least 10 years but less than 20 years, at the rate of 20 workdays not to exceed 160 hours, a year; and
for an employee whose total State service is 20 years or more, at the rate of 25 workdays not to exceed 200 hours, a year.
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, an employee may use annual leave at any time after obtaining approval from the employee’s supervisor.
An employee may not use annual leave until the employee has completed 6 months of State service.
An employee may accumulate unused annual leave and may carry over from 1 year to the next year up to 75 days or 600 hours of that unused annual leave.
Any accumulated and unused annual leave in excess of 75 days or 600 hours shall be forfeited at the beginning of the first full pay period of the next calendar year.
If an employee is denied the opportunity in 1 calendar year to use annual leave days in excess of the 75 days or 600 hours allowed to be carried over to the next year, the head of the employee’s principal unit may allow the employee compensation, at the employee’s regular rate of pay, for those excess leave days.
The head of a principal unit may approve a request for compensation under this subsection only if:
the appointing authority documents the unusual administrative reasons for having denied the employee the use of annual leave; and
funds are available for that purpose.
Except for employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement and except as provided in § 9–306 of this subtitle, an employee is entitled, on termination of State employment, to compensation for unused annual leave.
The amount of compensation to be paid under this section shall equal one–tenth of the employee’s established biweekly compensation at the time of termination of State employment, multiplied by:
the number of days of annual leave, not exceeding 50 days or 400 hours of the total that were accrued at the end of the previous calendar year and that remain unused; and
the number of days of annual leave that accrued during the calendar year in which the employee’s State employment terminates and that remain unused.
An employee whose State employment is terminated for a cause involving moral turpitude forfeits all unused annual leave and all compensation for unused annual leave.
An employee whose State employment terminates within 6 months after the employee's original appointment is not eligible for annual leave or compensation for annual leave.
Annual leave that is forfeited under §§ 9-304 and 9-306 of this subtitle is placed, unless the employee objects, in the State Employees' Leave Bank established by § 9-602(a)(1) of this title.
An employee may voluntarily donate any amount of the employee's annual leave to the State Employees' Leave Bank or to another State employee under the Employee-to-Employee Leave Donation Program under Subtitle 6 of this title.