Cash Out PTO Account. Thirty (30) days prior to implementation of the Cash Out PTO Account, the Employer will distribute to Nurses a written explanation, written in a manner intended to be readily understandable, of the accrual cap and the Cash Out PTO Account how they will work, how to check PTO and Cash Out PTO balances, and where to call with questions. Any Nurse who, as of the one hundred twentieth (120th) day following ratification of this Agreement, has accrued but unused PTO in an amount in excess of two hundred sixty (260) hours, will have the accrued but unused PTO hours that exceed two hundred sixty (260) hours transferred into a Cash Out PTO Account. The hours so transferred shall thereafter be paid out to the Nurse annually, on the last payday of August, in an amount up to one hundred (100) hours until the Cash Out PTO Account has been exhausted, provided that if such amount would not be exhausted by the sixth (6th) such payment of one hundred (100) hours, the entire remaining balance will be paid out in the sixth (6th) annual payment, and the one hundred (100) hour limit shall not apply. Payments made in lieu of paid time off will be at the Nurse’s base wage rate and will not include shift differential. Whenever the regular PTO accrual account of a Nurse with a Cash Out PTO Account reaches a balance of forty (40) hours or less, PTO time from his/her PTO Cash Out Account will be transferred to his/her regular PTO account in an amount equal to eighty (80) hours, or equal to the entire Cash Out PTO Account balance if said balance is less than eighty (80) hours. Once the PTO is transferred from the Cash Out PTO Account to the Nurse’s regular PTO account, the PTO hours are available for any purpose for which PTO may or must be utilized. Such transfers of PTO from the Nurse’s Cash Out PTO Account will not reduce the amount of the annual cash out except to the extent that utilization of PTO from the Cash Out PTO Account reduces the balance to below one hundred (100) hours. The Nurse’s Cash Out PTO balance will be shown separately from the Nurse’s regular PTO accrual balance on e-Connect, and the Employer will advise the Nurse of the annual Cash Out payment in advance of the actual payment.
