Personal Leave of Absence

A personal leave of absence is an absence from work taken for personal reasons not otherwise covered by the FMLA or other protected leave policies. Personal leaves of absence are unpaid and are not job-protected.

Regular, full-time employees of the Company may become eligible to take a personal leave of absence after one consecutive year of service with the Company. Personal leave must be taken in a single block of time and cannot total more than eight weeks of unprotected leave in any calendar year. The decision to grant any request for a personal leave of absence will be made by the Company in its sole discretion, after considering a variety of factors, including the reason(s) for the leave, the impact such a leave will have on the Company, the availability of alternate personnel resources, the performance (including attendance) of the requesting employee, and other business-related factors. The Company is not obligated to grant any request for personal leave.

Non-exempt employees must first exhaust all accrued PTO before a personal leave will be granted. Personal leave will not be approved to enable an employee to accept other paid employment. An employee may continue his or her health insurance coverage while on a personal leave by electing COBRA coverage. While on personal leave, an employee will not accumulate PTO (non-exempt employees) or Paid Sick Leave (exempt employees). During the leave, an employee must regularly update the Company as to his or her status.