# Additional Leave Written requests for extended leaves of absence must be approved by the employee’s supervisor in advance of the first day of absence. The exact nature of the leave and its anticipated length must be included in the written request. PTO must be used first for any leave of absence; after which the time is considered unpaid leave. Employees are expected to return to work upon expiration of the leave as granted or to notify his/her supervisor as soon as possible if it is not feasible to return on that date. With the possible exception of military leave, an employee is not guaranteed reinstatement to his/her position if they return to work more than 12 weeks from the first day of absence. Any combination of leaves of absence may not exceed 12 weeks in any 12 month period. The 12 month period is defined as the period of time that begins with the first day of leave and ends twelve months later. - **Parental:** In the event of the birth or adoption of a child, an employee is eligible to take up toeight consecutive weeks of PTO. Employees must be employed for at least one year to request parental leave benefits. Additionally, when unpaid leave begins, the change in employment status may result in the loss of benefits as described in this Handbook, unless the employee elects to pay for benefit premiums. It is the employee’s responsibility to check with the DFO regarding disposition of benefits during unpaid leave. - **Military Leave:** Employees who are members of the uniformed services of the United States (including the National Guard or other reserve unit) will be granted unpaid leaves of absence in accordance with state or federal law to perform military duties on a voluntary or involuntary basis. Requests for military leave should include verification of the duty call from military authority, the date the leave is to commence and the expected date of return. Employees may choose to use any earned PTO time for all or part of the period of military service. Military leaves of absence in excess of accrued PTO will be without pay. In accordance with applicable law, eligible employees will be reinstated to the same job upon returning from an authorized military leave of absence. - **Bereavement Leave:** Employees working a minimum of 20 hours per week may be eligible for bereavement pay for the death of a member of the employee’s immediate family. The Ministers and the DFO have discretionary authority to grant a reasonable period of leave with pay, typically four days, in the event of a death in the immediate family. The immediate family includes a staff member's spouse, mother, mother-in-law, father, father-in-law, brother, sister, child, or grandparent. Bereavement pay is calculated based on an employee's regular wage rate at the time of absence, excluding overtime. Employees may not receive bereavement pay unless they were actually scheduled to work on the day(s) for which bereavement leave was requested. - **Jury Service:** Employees are encouraged to fulfill their civic duty and serve on jury duty when summoned. A summons is usually received well in advance of the date when an employee would need to report, and employees are expected to notify their supervisor of this summons as soon as it is received. Employees called for jury duty will receive regular pay for the first three days of jury duty if they were scheduled to work. For jury duty in excess of three days, employees will receive the difference between jury duty pay and their regular pay up to a maximum of 120 hours. - **Family Medical Leave:** In the case of Family Medical Leave (as qualified by the Family Medical Leave Act), employees working at least 20 hours each week will receive up to an additional ten days of Paid Time Off.