Leave Information

Below are the various types of paid leave available to State employees. If you have questions regarding this information, please contact your agency personnel office.

Accident Leave
Leave that is granted to an employee as a result of a work-related accident that is determined to be compensable by the Injured Worker’s Insurance Fund or the Worker’s Compensation Commission. Accident leave is compensated at 2/3 the employee’s normal pay. An employee must use accident leave beginning on the first day of the disability and continuing until the day the employee is certified to return to work by a health care provider or 6 months from the day of the disability, whichever is earlier.

Annual Leave
Leave that can be used for any purpose with prior approval from the employee’s supervisor; new employees must complete 6 months of State service before using annual leave; this leave is accrued based on years of service starting at 10 days per year and up to 25 days per year with 20 years of service; employees may carry up to 75 days or 600 hours over from one year to the next.

less than 5 years
10 workdays/year​
​5 – less than 10 years
​15 workdays/year
​10 – less than 20 years
20 workdays/year​
​20 or more years
​25 workdays/year

 
Death in the Family  
A maximum of 5 working days may be charged to sick leave in the event of a death of a member of the employee or spouse’s immediate family. An employee may elect to receive up to 3 days of bereavement leave instead of using 3 of the 5 sick days that an employee is allowed to use upon the death of members of the employee’s immediate family. A maximum of 1 working day may be charged to sick leave for other designated family members.

Compensatory Leave
Leave that is earned by an employee whose classification is not designated to receive overtime payments and who has worked at least ½ hour beyond the employee’s regular workday. Compensatory leave must be used within 1 year of the date on which it was accrued. Compensatory leave can be used for any purpose with prior approval from the employee’s supervisor.

Disaster Service Leave
On request, an employee may be entitled to this leave if:
   (1) the employee is certified by the American Red Cross as a disaster service volunteer; and
   (2) the American Red Cross requests the services of the employee during a disaster that is designated at Level II, or above in the regulations and procedures of the National Office of the American Red Cross.

An employee may use up to 15 days of disaster service leave in any 12 –month period only after obtaining approval from the employee’s appointing authority.

Examinations and Interviews for State Positions
An employee may be granted up to 4 hours leave to take examinations and attend interviews for State positions.

Holiday Leave
Employees receive at least 11 paid holidays per year. An additional holiday is observed during each statewide election day.

Jury Service Leave
Leave that is granted when an employee is required to serve as a member of a jury, and only when the employee’s jury service occurs on the employee’s scheduled workday.

Leave Bank
An employee may donate 8 hours of personal leave to the State Employees Leave Bank within the first 60 days of employment in order to become a member of the Leave Bank. All other donations must be made during the open enrollment period. The employee may donate unused annual, personal or sick leave. An employee may only donate sick leave to the extent that the donating employee has a sick leave balance of at least 240 hours after the donation. Membership in the Leave Bank is for 2 years. Leave from the leave bank may be transferred to an employee who has exhausted all forms of annual, sick, personal and compensatory leave because of a serious and prolonged medical condition; and has been a member of the Leave Bank for at least 90 days.

Leave Donation Program
An employee may donate annual, personal and/or sick leave to other employees who have a serious and prolonged medical condition and who have exhausted all their leave. 

Legal Actions Leave
Leave that is granted an employee who is summoned to appear in a court action, before a grand jury, before an administrative agency, or for a deposition, and is neither a party to the action nor a paid witness.

Military Leave
Leave that is granted an employee who is a member of a reserve unit of the armed forces, or in the organized militia for military training or active military duty. A maximum of 15 days annually is granted without loss of pay or charge against any other leave.

A maximum of 5 working days may be charged to sick leave in the event of a death of a member of the employee or spouse’s immediate family. An employee may elect to receive up to 3 days of bereavement leave instead of using 3 of the 5 sick days that an employee is allowed to use upon the death of members of the employee’s immediate family. A maximum of 1 working day may be charged to sick leave for other designated family members.Leave that is earned by an employee whose classification is not designated to receive overtime payments and who has worked at least ½ hour beyond the employee’s regular workday. Compensatory leave must be used within 1 year of the date on which it was accrued. Compensatory leave can be used for any purpose with prior approval from the employee’s supervisor.On request, an employee may be entitled to this leave if:(1) the employee is certified by the American Red Cross as a disaster service volunteer; and(2) the American Red Cross requests the services of the employee during a disaster that is designated at Level II, or above in the regulations and procedures of the National Office of the American Red Cross.An employee may use up to 15 days of disaster service leave in any 12 –month period only after obtaining approval from the employee’s appointing authority.An employee may be granted up to 4 hours leave to take examinations and attend interviews for State positions.Employees receive at least 11 paid holidays per year. An additional holiday is observed during each statewide election day.Leave that is granted when an employee is required to serve as a member of a jury, and only when the employee’s jury service occurs on the employee’s scheduled workday.An employee may donate 8 hours of personal leave to the State Employees Leave Bank within the first 60 days of employment in order to become a member of the Leave Bank. All other donations must be made during the open enrollment period. The employee may donate unused annual, personal or sick leave. An employee may only donate sick leave to the extent that the donating employee has a sick leave balance of at least 240 hours after the donation. Membership in the Leave Bank is for 2 years. Leave from the leave bank may be transferred to an employee who has exhausted all forms of annual, sick, personal and compensatory leave because of a serious and prolonged medical condition; and has been a member of the Leave Bank for at least 90 days.An employee may donate annual, personal and/or sick leave to other employees who have a serious and prolonged medical condition and who have exhausted all their leave.Leave that is granted an employee who is summoned to appear in a court action, before a grand jury, before an administrative agency, or for a deposition, and is neither a party to the action nor a paid witness.Leave that is granted an employee who is a member of a reserve unit of the armed forces, or in the organized militia for military training or active military duty. A maximum of 15 days annually is granted without loss of pay or charge against any other leave.

Organ Donor Leave
Leave that is granted to an employee who is an organ or bone marrow donor.
Amount of Leave:  In any 12-month period, an employee may use up to 7 days of organ donation leave to serve as a bone marrow donor; and 30 days of organ donation leave to serve as an organ donor.  Employee must contact their human resources office to apply.

Parental Leave 
Parental Leave is paid leave granted to a Primary Caregiver to care for and nurture the employee’s child within 6 months following the birth or adoption by the employee of a child less than 6 years of age.  Employees are required to exhaust any available annual or personal leave prior to being granted Parental Leave.  If the employee has less than 60 days of annual and personal leave combined, the employee is eligible for additional paid Parental Leave to attain the 60 days of Parental Leave.  If the employee has 60 days or more of annual or personal leave (combined), the employee is not entitled to additional Parental Leave.  State employees who jointly are responsible for the care and nurturing of a child each may be eligible to receive up to 60 days of Parental Leave, but they may not be determined to be the child’s Primary Caregiver during the same period of time.  Employees who wish to apply for Parental Leave should contact their human resources office to obtain the request form and obtain approval from their agency’s Appointing Authority.​

Personal Leave
Leave that can be used for any purpose with prior notification to the employee’s supervisor; each employee is entitled to 6 days, not to exceed 48 hours, of personal leave at the beginning of the first full pay period of the calendar year. Personal leave may be pro-rated for new employees based on the month the employee begins employment. Personal leave may not be carried over from one year to the next.

Religious Observances
An employee, including a temporary employee, may elect to work overtime to earn compensatory time for an absence for a religious observance. 

Sick Leave
Leave that can be used for the following reasons:

• for illness or disability of the employee;
• for death, illness or disability of a member of the employee’s immediate family;
• following the birth of the employee’s child;
• when a child is placed for adoption;
• or for a medical appointment of the employee or a member of the employee’s immediate family.

Employees earn sick leave at the rate of 15 days per year. Employees must notify their supervisor when using this leave. There is no limit to the number of sick leave days an employee may accrue or carry over into a new calendar year. ​​

Sick and Safe Leave ​

Leave that is granted pursuant to the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act (the Act), which went into effect on February 11, 2018.  Permanent State employees whose percentage of employment is at least 50% currently earn leave at a greater rate than is required by the Act and may be permitted to use earned annual, sick, or personal leave (or accrued compensatory time) as provided by State leave laws for “sick and safe” reasons, as noted below.

Temporary State employees who regularly work at least 12 hours in a week (even if, on occasion, the employee works less than 12 hours in a week) and permanent State employees whose percentage of employment is below 50% will accrue at least 1 hour of sick and safe leave for every 30 hours that the employee works.  If a temporary employee already earns leave in accordance with the Executive Order 01.01.2017.09, Sensible Paid Leave in the Executive Branch of State Government, the employee will not earn additional leave.

Pursuant to the Act, all State employees who regularly work at least 12 hours per week may use earned leave for the following “sick and safe leave” purposes: