Scheduling and Notice of General Leave. Employees taking general leave for the diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition of, or preventive care for, an employee or an employee's family member are required to provide notice as set forth below. Employees taking general leave for other reasons are required to provide their supervisor with reasonable advance written notice and obtain written approval prior to using general leave. This allows the supervisor to prepare for the employee’s absence and assure that all staffing needs are met. The responsible supervisor will attempt to accommodate an employee’s request for general leave time off; however, the needs and work load of the department will be considered when evaluating an employee’s request. While the responsible supervisor may grant, deny or modify leave requests, employees who disagree with the decision may ask that the Department Head reevaluate their request. The responsible supervisor shall respond in writing to the employee’s written request as soon as practicable. When the dates of an employee's general leave have been firmly established, the responsible supervisor shall give the employee not less than twenty (20) workdays notice of any change in such employee’s time off schedule. Otherwise, the employee shall have the right to take general leave at the scheduled time unless the employee voluntarily agrees to delay taking general leave for the convenience of the supervisor. An employee desiring to return to work at an earlier date than specified on the schedule may do so only with the concurrence of the responsible supervisor. When two (2) or more employees request the same or overlapping general leave periods, the request of the employee with the highest HACLA seniority shall prevail over all others, provided the other employee’s requests have not been previously approved.
