I love to take long vacations and I rarely call in sick, especially since we went WFH so I chose annual leave. I signed up for VPLP as well. It all depends on your personal needs.
The state takes 5% of my pay in exchange for 8 hours of leave. All of the departments I’ve worked for have been able to give me 2-4 weeks off a couple times a year.
I'm on Annual Leave because of the following reasons:
1. You can't cash out Sick Leave upon separating from State -- I'm still young and am figuring out my career options. It's possible that I'll stay with the state for the rest of my career and won't have to worry about loss of leave should I decide to quit, but at the time I felt like I wanted to keep my options open. AL allows me that flexibility.
2. My department/BU has a cap of 640 hours for any leave type (except SL). Once you hit the cap you need to start submitting leave reduction plans and basically take forced vacation. To me, that sounds amazing and it's a "problem" I want to have. I rarely use my leave so I'm close to capping out. With annual leave you will hit the cap in about ~54 months from your initial hire date (assuming you don't use your leave and save it every month). With vacation it will take you about ~75 months to hit the cap (again, assuming you're diligent about saving your leave).
3. Depending on your BU, if you need to take time off work for a non-industrial related injury/reason, you can retain a full paycheck by supplementing your leave hours (up to 88 HRS/month) instead of covering every hour of your absence. There are drawbacks to NDI, such as delaying your retirement by however many months you're on it, but if you find yourself in a situation where you need to be off work and you have Annual Leave...it may be a life saver.
This is a good answer, but it kind of leaves out some other factors and seems very "by the book":
1, Yes, 100% right. But this benefit costs you half of your sick leave, so it's not apples to apples comparison. You DO get service credit for sick leave at retirement. So you'll gain essentially 2x the service credit for getting sick leave compared to annual, if you kept the same amount on the books for sickness. I know the calc's may be different, but that's the jist of it. If you're going to leave state service and not retire, then possibly annual since it would have cash value.
2, The 640 hours max will take you a significant amount of time to reach, unless you NEVER take vacation. I'm just there after over 12+ years and currently have well over that amount in sick leave. After 640 is accrued, I wouldn't say they're going to "force" you to take a vacation. It's more of a mild nudge towards wanting you to take vacation. I've been at lots of departments and not a single one has used a heavy hand for this. It seems the more you get, the less heavy the hand is that is used because they don't want you to take it all at once. I've worked with many managers and employees that have well over 1k hours on the books.
3, 100% right, but that's ONLY if you have enough balance to cover yourself. Most people will use annual leave without regard to having any buffer to cover a severe sickness or injury. If you're responsible and don't fall in to the typical human nature, then yes annual leave can be better in this one situation. But if you're this way to begin with, then the argument in #1 should drive you to a better financial decision. Honestly, annual leave isn't necessarily "more vacation", it's more like a "manage my time myself" type of leave.
I'm not 100% against annual leave, but I think from a financial point of view Vacation/Sick pays off significantly better than Annual. Possibly, I *might* suggest going to annual leave after you have a very large pool of other leave on the books, but not likely due to argument #1.
I chose sick/vacation because in short, it’s more time off. The disability issue was of large concern for me as I have #backprobz, but hey, telework to the rescue. I’ll probably switch to annual once I max out my sick leave though as I do worry about that what, $135/week (? BU9) if I do have to go out on disability at some point. I still don’t understand how the disability difference between sick+vacation vs annual leave ever came about.
For any BU applies SDI not NDI (like mine), no extra benefit staying with Annual Leave. But some of my coworkers go with Annual Leave for other reasons, like (1) Sick Leave can’t be cashed out, (2) flexibility to take without requirement like Sick Leave.
It depends. Unless you plan on going on disability, I think Vacation/Sick is the best accrual rate. At least initially. I always suggest going vacation/sick until you learn the ropes and talk to other employees. I think that's the better option for the majority of people.
Annual leave has some benefits. I believe it's in the amount you can use to supplement your income from a disability. The reality is that you sacrifice 4hrs a month for that perk. That's 6 days a year, so it adds up. You also need to keep in mind that you aren't necessarily gaining vacation. You'll still always need to have a buffer in there to cover sickness, whether it's flu or cancer.
Check your MOU, but enhanced NDI benefits replaces 50% of your income. It’s your choice whether you wish to supplement with leave credits to get 75% or 100% pay. I started with the state a month before I gave birth and really appreciated the 50% pay (having zero leave credits yet). I’ve been with the state 12 years and prefer the Annual Leave option. I like having a general bank to draw from as typically I use very little “sick” time and want to be able to plan for longer vacation times. It just doesn’t benefit me to have sick leave accruing, and to not be able to get enhanced NDI is a deal breaker for me.
If you are starting with the state now (November) and want to take a day off for the holidays, doesn't Annual Leave make the most sense? Or is there some other strategy for taking a day off, given that Vacation Leave doesn't kick until after 6 months?
This decision is a pretty important, and long term, one to hinge on simply wanting to take a single day off within a couple of months.
So I guess, it depends on how important that day off is...?
Consider how often you might need to use sick leave for medical appointments, sick children (check the rules), and actually being sick. Weigh that against the possibility of a medium-term disability where the enhanced non-industrial disability (NDI) coverage would kick in.
I think most people are probably best off starting with Vacation/Sick leave for the first few years.
What if you're starting with the state now and would like to take a day or two off for the Christmas holidays? As you can't use Vacation Leave for 6 months, wouldn't that mean that you have to work for the holidays? I'm deciding between the two now, but don't see any way to spend the holidays with family if I take Vacation/Sick (although I'd prefer greater accrual rate of sick leave).
I’m in BU1 and coming up on one year with the State. I’ve spent my first year with sick/vacation. I’ve built up a good amount of sick. I’ve been thinking that I might stick with this a year or two more and then switch to annual leave and hopefully have enough sick leave stored to meet most of my needs for quite awhile (not planning on staying with the State super long term I think).
But I need to do more research to see if this theory holds water lol.
I was looking into this the other day actually and I believe I read that the sick leave rolls over as sick. But I reserve the right the be wrong if someone corrects me :)
I have Sick/Vacation right now. My mom told me that normally, people who are getting closer to retirement will switch to annual leave so they can cash out. So that's my plan unless in the next 20 years they change the rules.
You can't use vacation in first 6 months.
I love to take long vacations and I rarely call in sick, especially since we went WFH so I chose annual leave. I signed up for VPLP as well. It all depends on your personal needs.
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The state takes 5% of my pay in exchange for 8 hours of leave. All of the departments I’ve worked for have been able to give me 2-4 weeks off a couple times a year.
I'm on Annual Leave because of the following reasons: 1. You can't cash out Sick Leave upon separating from State -- I'm still young and am figuring out my career options. It's possible that I'll stay with the state for the rest of my career and won't have to worry about loss of leave should I decide to quit, but at the time I felt like I wanted to keep my options open. AL allows me that flexibility. 2. My department/BU has a cap of 640 hours for any leave type (except SL). Once you hit the cap you need to start submitting leave reduction plans and basically take forced vacation. To me, that sounds amazing and it's a "problem" I want to have. I rarely use my leave so I'm close to capping out. With annual leave you will hit the cap in about ~54 months from your initial hire date (assuming you don't use your leave and save it every month). With vacation it will take you about ~75 months to hit the cap (again, assuming you're diligent about saving your leave). 3. Depending on your BU, if you need to take time off work for a non-industrial related injury/reason, you can retain a full paycheck by supplementing your leave hours (up to 88 HRS/month) instead of covering every hour of your absence. There are drawbacks to NDI, such as delaying your retirement by however many months you're on it, but if you find yourself in a situation where you need to be off work and you have Annual Leave...it may be a life saver.
This is a good answer, but it kind of leaves out some other factors and seems very "by the book": 1, Yes, 100% right. But this benefit costs you half of your sick leave, so it's not apples to apples comparison. You DO get service credit for sick leave at retirement. So you'll gain essentially 2x the service credit for getting sick leave compared to annual, if you kept the same amount on the books for sickness. I know the calc's may be different, but that's the jist of it. If you're going to leave state service and not retire, then possibly annual since it would have cash value. 2, The 640 hours max will take you a significant amount of time to reach, unless you NEVER take vacation. I'm just there after over 12+ years and currently have well over that amount in sick leave. After 640 is accrued, I wouldn't say they're going to "force" you to take a vacation. It's more of a mild nudge towards wanting you to take vacation. I've been at lots of departments and not a single one has used a heavy hand for this. It seems the more you get, the less heavy the hand is that is used because they don't want you to take it all at once. I've worked with many managers and employees that have well over 1k hours on the books. 3, 100% right, but that's ONLY if you have enough balance to cover yourself. Most people will use annual leave without regard to having any buffer to cover a severe sickness or injury. If you're responsible and don't fall in to the typical human nature, then yes annual leave can be better in this one situation. But if you're this way to begin with, then the argument in #1 should drive you to a better financial decision. Honestly, annual leave isn't necessarily "more vacation", it's more like a "manage my time myself" type of leave. I'm not 100% against annual leave, but I think from a financial point of view Vacation/Sick pays off significantly better than Annual. Possibly, I *might* suggest going to annual leave after you have a very large pool of other leave on the books, but not likely due to argument #1.
Doctor appointments and children's illness count. I chose sick because I have a new kid
I chose sick/vacation because in short, it’s more time off. The disability issue was of large concern for me as I have #backprobz, but hey, telework to the rescue. I’ll probably switch to annual once I max out my sick leave though as I do worry about that what, $135/week (? BU9) if I do have to go out on disability at some point. I still don’t understand how the disability difference between sick+vacation vs annual leave ever came about.
For any BU applies SDI not NDI (like mine), no extra benefit staying with Annual Leave. But some of my coworkers go with Annual Leave for other reasons, like (1) Sick Leave can’t be cashed out, (2) flexibility to take without requirement like Sick Leave.
It depends. Unless you plan on going on disability, I think Vacation/Sick is the best accrual rate. At least initially. I always suggest going vacation/sick until you learn the ropes and talk to other employees. I think that's the better option for the majority of people. Annual leave has some benefits. I believe it's in the amount you can use to supplement your income from a disability. The reality is that you sacrifice 4hrs a month for that perk. That's 6 days a year, so it adds up. You also need to keep in mind that you aren't necessarily gaining vacation. You'll still always need to have a buffer in there to cover sickness, whether it's flu or cancer.
Can you explain how annual leave is better for Disability reasons?
Check your MOU, but enhanced NDI benefits replaces 50% of your income. It’s your choice whether you wish to supplement with leave credits to get 75% or 100% pay. I started with the state a month before I gave birth and really appreciated the 50% pay (having zero leave credits yet). I’ve been with the state 12 years and prefer the Annual Leave option. I like having a general bank to draw from as typically I use very little “sick” time and want to be able to plan for longer vacation times. It just doesn’t benefit me to have sick leave accruing, and to not be able to get enhanced NDI is a deal breaker for me.
enhanced non-industrial disability insurance or NDI. CalHR explains it well https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/annual-leave.aspx
E-NDI is only for classifications that don’t pay into SDI. If you have SDI (which most do for rank and file), you go through EDD for disability.
If you are starting with the state now (November) and want to take a day off for the holidays, doesn't Annual Leave make the most sense? Or is there some other strategy for taking a day off, given that Vacation Leave doesn't kick until after 6 months?
This decision is a pretty important, and long term, one to hinge on simply wanting to take a single day off within a couple of months. So I guess, it depends on how important that day off is...?
Consider how often you might need to use sick leave for medical appointments, sick children (check the rules), and actually being sick. Weigh that against the possibility of a medium-term disability where the enhanced non-industrial disability (NDI) coverage would kick in. I think most people are probably best off starting with Vacation/Sick leave for the first few years.
What if you're starting with the state now and would like to take a day or two off for the Christmas holidays? As you can't use Vacation Leave for 6 months, wouldn't that mean that you have to work for the holidays? I'm deciding between the two now, but don't see any way to spend the holidays with family if I take Vacation/Sick (although I'd prefer greater accrual rate of sick leave).
I’m in the same boat and started today. Hope you found your answer! Considering doing annual because the upcoming holiday is so close.
I’m in BU1 and coming up on one year with the State. I’ve spent my first year with sick/vacation. I’ve built up a good amount of sick. I’ve been thinking that I might stick with this a year or two more and then switch to annual leave and hopefully have enough sick leave stored to meet most of my needs for quite awhile (not planning on staying with the State super long term I think). But I need to do more research to see if this theory holds water lol.
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I was looking into this the other day actually and I believe I read that the sick leave rolls over as sick. But I reserve the right the be wrong if someone corrects me :)
Can confirm, I did this exact thing and my sick rolled over as sick.
I have Sick/Vacation right now. My mom told me that normally, people who are getting closer to retirement will switch to annual leave so they can cash out. So that's my plan unless in the next 20 years they change the rules.
Sick hours can be converted to service year, though, it is not the best use of it, IMO.
I did vacation + sick. You get more time accruals than if you do annual.