Annual leave.

(a) All persons who are regularly employed by the state and who are subject to the provisions of the state Merit System, and all legislative personnel, officers, and employees, including, but not limited to, Legislative Services Agency personnel, whether subject to the state Merit System or not, shall be entitled to accumulate annual leave on the basis of biweekly pay periods through the payday on March 17, 2006, as follows:

Employee's total service with: Accumulation of leave per pay period Annual Accumulation Fewer than five years' service 4 hours 13 days Five but less than 10 years' service 5 hours 16 days 2 hours 10 but less than 15 years' service 6 hours 19 days 4 hours 15 but less than 20 years' service 7 hours 22 days 6 hours 20 but less than 25 years' service 8 hours 26 days 25 years of service or more 9 hours 29 days 2 hours

(b) Beginning with the payday on April 3, 2006, all persons who are regularly employed by the state and who are subject to the provisions of the state Merit System, and all legislative personnel, officers, and employees, including, but not limited to, Legislative Services Agency personnel, whether subject to the state Merit System or not, shall be entitled to accumulate annual leave on the basis of semi-monthly pay periods as follows:

Employee's total service with: Accumulation of leave per pay period Annual Accumulation Fewer than five years' service 4 hours 20 minutes 13 days Five but less than 10 years' service 5 hours 25 minutes 16 days 2 hours 10 but less than 15 years' service 6 hours 30 minutes 19 days 4 hours 15 but less than 20 years' service 7 hours 35 minutes 22 days 6 hours 20 but less than 25 years' service 8 hours 40 minutes 26 days 25 years of service or more 9 hours 45 minutes 29 days 2 hours

(c) Maximum accrued leave after 25 years of service shall be limited to 29 1/4 days per year, and the maximum number of days of annual leave which may be carried over at the end of each year shall be limited to 60 days.

(d) Any law enforcement officer in the Department of Public Safety shall be entitled to receive payment for any accrued and unused annual leave days in excess of 60 days, up to a maximum of 10 days per year. Payment shall be calculated using the officer's regular rate of pay.

(e) Any merit classification of employee of the Department of Corrections requiring certification as correctional or law enforcement officers by the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission may receive payment for any accrued and unused annual leave hours in excess of 480 hours, up to a maximum of 80 hours per year. Payment shall be calculated using the employee's regular rate of pay.

(Acts 1973, No. 752, p. 1125, §1; Acts 1980, No. 80-752, p. 1556, § 1; Acts 1997, No. 97-716, p. 1486, §1; Act 2005-316, 1st Sp. Sess., p. 766, §1; Act 2019-286, §2.)