Leave Benefits

​Annual Vacation Hours

For new employees, annual vacation hours are prorated during the first year of employment based on hire date. Employees can use vacation after the first six months of probation are complete. Unclassified employees can use vacation immediately and are not subject to the six-month waiting period.

For ongoing employees, vacation hours are granted at the start of each calendar year.

​Annual Vacation Hours​​

Note: Different vacation provisions apply to Craftsworkers.

Vacation Carryover​

Employees can carryover 40 hours of vacation into the following calendar year. These hours must be used by June 30​. Additional vacation carryover provisions may be available under some circumstances; contact your agency for details.

If an employee is hired on July 1 or later, more generous leave carryover provisions may be available.​​

Sabbatical and Vacation Cash-Out Eligibility

​Once eligible, an employee can put unused vacation hours into a Sabbatical Account. Hours in the Sabbatical Account do not expire and can be used like other paid leave hours. Employees will be notified of eligibility each November. Once an employee earns 200 hours of vacation per​ year, the employee is also eligible to receive up to 40 hours of unused vacation as a cash payment.​​​​​

​Sabbatical and Vacation Cash-Out Eligibility Chart​

* Note: If you earn less than 160 hours of vacation per year AND you have at least 520 hours of accumulated sick leave, you are also eligible to put up to 40 hours of unused vacation into Sabbatical.

Employees are granted 36 hours of Personal Holiday at hire and at the start of every calendar year (prorated if part-time). Personal Holiday can be used from the first day of employment. All Personal Holiday hours must be used by the end of the calendar year or they are lost (limited exceptions if late year hire)​.

If an employee resigns or is terminated by the employer within their first 6 months of employment, the employee may be required to pay back some or all Personal Holiday hours used.​

Employees earn up to 5 hours of sick leave per bi-weekly pay period (prorated if part-time or on partial or full leave without pay). Employees can accumulate up to 130 hours of sick leave per year. Sick leave accumulates from year to year - there is no limit on the total number of sick leave hours that an employee can accumulate.

​Benefits of Sick Leave

• ​Unused sick leave may be converted to credits​ to pay for health insurance upon retirement (if eligible).
  

• An employee's sick leave balance and usage drive an employee's Income Continuation Insurance (ICI) premium​s.

• Once an employee has at least 520 hours of sick leave, the employee is eligible to start putting unused vacation in their sabbatical account.​​​

​Employees are eligible for FMLA if:​

• ​Employed by the State for at least 12 months within the past 7 years; and

• ​​Have worked at least 1,250 hours (not including paid leave) during the 12 months immediately preceding the start of leave
  

​Employees are eligible for WFMLA if:

• ​Employed by the State for more than 52 consecutive weeks; and
  

• Have worked at least 1,000 hours (including paid leave) during the preceding 52-week period immediately preceding the start of leave
  

See the FMLA Toolkit​ for additional information and forms.​

With proper notice, each state agency must permit employees to serve as election officials without loss of pay and without loss of benefits for the employees' scheduled hours of work during the 24-hour period of each applicable election day.​

Note: The Wisconsin Law Enforcement Association's collective bargaining agreements may have specific language that would supersede this provision for State Patrol Troopers and State Patrol Inspectors. An employee's schedule may be changed to accommodate such requests if notice or other conditions for making schedule changes are met.

​Employees must submit a copy of their pay stub from the municipality to their payroll and benefits specialist.