MEND Employee PTO Policy

MEND provides vacation benefits to all full-time and part time employees for the purpose of giving them a period of rest and relaxation away from work with pay. Accordingly, employees are encouraged to use all vested vacation benefits during the following year. Vacation requests must be submitted at least one (1) month in advance of the requested vacation. Every effort will be made to accommodate vacation requests, but all vacations are subject to MEND’s operational needs and in its sole discretion. In the case of conflicting vacation requests, MEND will decide in its sole discretion. MEND may schedule an employee's vacation if the employee fails to schedule vacation with his or her supervisor, or if MEND deems such action appropriate.
Although an employee accrues vacation benefits from his or her first day of employment, an employee will not be eligible to actually take time off and receive vacation benefits until the completion of three (3) months of service. Vacation is accrued only on hours worked.

All employees will accrue paid vacation at the following rates:

Start date to 5 years - 2 weeks

5 years to 10 years - 3 weeks

10 + - 4 weeks

Part-time employees will accrue prorated paid vacation comparable to vacation paid to full-time paid employees (i.e. 20 hours per week equals 2 weeks’ vacation at 20 paid hours per week).
Temporary or contract employees are not eligible for vacation accrued.
At MEND, we prefer that our employees use their vacation time for rest and recreation. Thus, once the amount of vacation time an employee accrues reaches 80% of the maximum accrual, the employee must, within 30 days, schedule and take at least five days of paid vacation. MEND may schedule vacation time and require the employee to take that time off as paid vacation time, in MEND’s sole discretion. MEND reserves the right to modify the minimum number of days that the employee is required to take. Exempt Employees who work partial days may use vacation time in one hour increments.
Employees that have 0-5 years of employment shall cease to accrue paid vacation once the accrued amount reaches the cap of 1.75 times the annual accrual rate. Employees with 5+ plus shall cease to accrue paid vacation once the accrued amount reaches the cap of 2 weeks the annual accrual rate.
When a holiday observed by MEND occurs during an employee's vacation, the employee receives holiday pay for said holiday.
Unused vacation may be carried over from year to year.
Vacation pay will be calculated at the employee's straight time hourly rate as of the date of the vacation, or payment, if paid out. Vacation benefits will be prorated in the event employment is terminated for any reason.

Paid Family Leave Insurance
All employees are covered under the state's paid family leave insurance plan (PFL). This program provides up to twelve (12) weeks of partial pay in any 12-month period to an employee who is eligible under the Family Medical Leave Act, the California Family Rights Act, or any MEND policy, to take time off work to care for a seriously ill parent, spouse, registered domestic partner or child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling or parent-in-law, or to take time off to bond with a newborn child or a newly placed adopted or foster child. PFL does not create any additional rights to time off of work.
PFL is funded by an employee payroll deduction, according to law. PFL benefits are paid to an employee by the state.
An employee will be required to use up to two (2) weeks of accrued, unused vacation before receiving any PFL benefits.

Pregnancy Disability Leave
An employee will be granted a leave of absence due to disability arising from pregnancy or childbirth.
Request for Leave
No employee shall be granted a pregnancy disability leave unless she submits a written request for pregnancy leave, and, in addition, furnishes a doctor's written certification stating the beginning date and length of such leave. Written updates may be requested from time to time thereafter. Failure to provide the above information is grounds for denial of a pregnancy disability leave of absence.
Length of Leave
A leave of absence for the birth of a child or for any other pregnancy related medical condition will be granted for the period that an employee is disabled. Prior to the birth of a child, an employee may take leave intermittently for prenatal examinations and for pregnancy related illnesses such as severe morning sickness. The maximum amount of time off for all pregnancy related conditions shall not exceed four (4) months for each pregnancy disability. Part-time employees are entitled to a pro rata leave.
Compensation and Benefits
Pregnancy disability leave is without pay.
MEND will, however, continue to pay the premium for the employee's health insurance that MEND would have paid but for the employee's leave, for the duration of the leave. The employee will be responsible for paying for the employee portion of the health insurance premium (if applicable), and such payment will be due at the same time as if it had been made by payroll deduction.
Use of Vacation and Sick Leave
An employee who takes a pregnancy disability leave must use accrued sick leave pay and may use accrued vacation pay.