Thanks to a great friend and occasional source, here is Knox County’s Human Resources Employee Handbook, regarding vacation leave see pages 31 – 33. Knox County Finance source has said that Property Assessor Phil Ballard manually inputs vacation for his Chief Deputy manually. According to the Knox County Finance source, Jim Weaver is the only employee that has had vacation manually entered.
There have been numerous rumors over the Phil Ballard term when he would have an angry out burst and would call for Mr. Julian aka Post Hole Toby’s boy in Knox Co Human Resources. But, when it came to his Chief Deputy, Ballard was able to violate the county’s policy.
Obviously, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett who is the elected official over Human Resources and Finance never alerted the governing body (County Commission) that Ballard was defying Knox County policy and spending excessive county funds on excessive vacation leave.
The leave policies on page 31-33 that are pertinent at 8, 9 and 11. They are copied and pasted below. Again, to read it all, click the link in the beginning of this story.
8. You may take annual leave in the year you earned it, or you may carry it over for use in later years. However, there is a limit to the amount of annual leave you may accrue. Those limits are: Years of Service Maximum Accrued Hours 1 – 8 288 9 – 20 312 Over 20 336 To calculate your hours of annual leave: • From the Accrual Factor Table, find the line for the number of years you have been employed. • Multiply the Accrual Factor number on that line by the number of hours in your bi-weekly pay period (64, 75, 80, etc.). • That answer tells you how many hours of annual leave you earn per bi-weekly pay period. • To determine how many days of annual leave you earn per year, multiply that number by 26 (number of pay periods per year), then divide the resulting number by the number of scheduled hours in your workday (7.5, 8.0, 10.0, etc). Example If you have been employed 2 years and work 37.5 hours per week (or 75 hours per pay period): .0538 x 75 = 4.035 hours of leave earned per pay period 4.035 x 26 = 104.91 hours of leave earned per year 104.91 ÷ 7.5 = 13.988 days of annual leave earned per year Note: The Payroll Dept. rounds fractions to the nearest quarter-hour (15 minutes). 32 Knox County Government Employee Handbook Version 2004-1 Leave Policies
9. If you earn annual leave in excess of the maximum amount listed on the table, it will be transferred to your sick leave account on the pay period following the anniversary date of your employment.
10. Authorized days off for annual leave will not be considered as working time for calculating weekly overtime.
11. When you terminate employment, you are entitled to payment for any unused annual leave that has accrued. Payment is based on the rate of compensation received at the time of termination. Vacation checks are computed on the regular payroll day and are available at the normal time and place. No checks are issued in advance. Annual Leave Scheduling You may take your annual leave at any time of the year as long as you have accumulated the time and the needs of the department are met. You must submit your annual leave request to your supervisor and receive approval prior to taking the leave. Your department may have a special form or a procedure for requesting use of annual leave.
