The budget bill recently signed by N.C. Gov. Mike Easley included a one-time special annual bonus leave for state employees.

Eligible permanent state employees, both SPA and EPA, who earn leave will be credited with bonus leave of 10 days -- 80 hours -- effective Sept. 30, 2002. The leave can either be taken as vacation or, except for faculty, cashed in when leaving state employment. Eligible part-time permanent employees will receive a pro-rated amount of bonus leave.

To be eligible for bonus leave, an employee must have been in a permanent, leave-earning position as of Sept. 30. Permanent employees who left state employment before Sept. 30, or permanent employees whose first day of work was after Sept. 30, are not eligible for the leave. Individuals holding nine-month faculty appointments will not receive it because they do not earn leave.

This is a one-time leave provision, and the budget bill does not provide for any additional bonus leave next year. But employees will not lose any unused bonus leave at the end of the current year. Unused bonus leave will carry forward from year to year.

Also, for non-faculty employees in the state retirement system, if the bonus leave is saved until retirement, it can be added as a dollar amount to the total last year's income as a basis for retirement income.

Individual departments will establish procedures to track this new bonus leave for their employees.

Detailed information on the new bonus leave provisions can be found on the Office of Human Resources web site at www.ais.unc. edu/hr/. Direct web links to the bonus leave information are:

* SPA bonus leave: www.ais.unc.edu/hr/admin/bonus-leave-spa.htm; and

* EPA bonus leave: www.ais.unc.edu/hr/admin/bonus-leave-epa.htm.