Except as provided in paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) of this subsection, or otherwise provided by law, each employee in the State Personnel Management System, except a temporary employee, is entitled to 6 days, not to exceed 48 hours, of personal leave with pay at the beginning of the first full pay period of the calendar year. For the calendar year in which an employee begins employment, the employee is entitled only to the following personal leave with pay: 6 days, not to exceed 48 hours, if employment begins on or after January 1 and on or before the last day in February; 5 days, not to exceed 40 hours, if employment begins on or after March 1 and on or before April 30; 4 days, not to exceed 32 hours, if employment begins on or after May 1 and on or before June 30; or 3 days, not to exceed 24 hours, if employment begins on or after July 1. For each calendar year that is a leap year, each employee in the State Personnel Management System, except a temporary employee, is entitled to 7 days, not to exceed 56 hours, of personal leave with pay at the beginning of the first full pay period of the calendar year. For each calendar year, an employee of the Maryland School for the Deaf who works 11 months or less in a calendar year is entitled to 3 days, not to exceed 24 hours, of personal leave with pay at the beginning of the first full pay period of the calendar year. Personal leave may be used for any purpose.

Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, an employee may use personal leave after notice to the employee's immediate supervisor. If an employee is scheduled to work on a holiday or is employed in a unit that provides a service continuously on a 7-day-a-week basis, the employee may use personal leave only after obtaining approval from the employee's appointing authority. If the request is made to observe a religious holiday, the appointing authority may deny the request only if: the employee's unit provides a service continuously on a 7-day-a-week basis; the denial is necessary because of a critical shortage of staff in the unit; and no reasonable accommodation to the employee's request can be made. If the request is made for any other reason, the appointing authority may deny the request only if the denial is necessary because of a critical shortage of staff in the employee's unit.

An employee may not accumulate unused personal leave. Any unused personal leave shall be forfeited at the beginning of the first full pay period of the next calendar year. Personal leave that is forfeited 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 personal 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.