2020-2021 Benefits Guide

LEAVE Personal Leave Full-time employees accrue personal leave monthly. Accruals are not earned for the first month of employment

unless the employees start date falls on the 1st. Up to 320 hours of unused personal leave may be carried over from one year to the next. New hires are not eligible to use personal leave within the first six (6) months from their date of hire. Please refer to the Holiday Leaves and Absences Policy for more information. The table to the right reflects the hours awarded based on years of service. Leave is awarded on the last day of the month. Leave cannot be taken in advance of being earned. Sick Leave

PERSONAL LEAVE AWARDS

Years of Service

Hours Per Month

<5Years 5 Years

10 Hours 12 Hours 15 Hours

10+ Years

All regular, full-time employees accrue 8 hours of sick leave monthly. Employees who begin employment after the 1st of the month from date of hire will not accrue leave for that month. Up to 480 hours of unused sick leave maybe carried over from one year to the next. Please refer to the Holiday Leaves and Absences Policy for more information. Leave is awarded on the last day of the month. Leave cannot be taken in advance of being earned. Sick Leave Pool The Sick Leave Pool allows employees to voluntarily contribute eight or more hours of accrued sick leave pool to be used by other employees who have exhausted all their own accrued leave due to a catastrophic illness or injury. Employees must be employed by the EAA for at least one year to be eligible to participate in the pool. An employee having at least 120 hours of accrued sick leave may voluntarily contribute once per year up to 20% of accrued sick leave to the Pool. Sick Leave 401a Money Purchase Plan Employees with sick leave hours more than 480 hours at the end of the calendar year will have their hours converted into real dollars and placed in a 401a Money Purchase Plan. These contributions will be made by the beginning of each year into an account in your name for the exclusive benefit of you and your beneficiaries. The value of the account is based on the contributions made and the investment performance you select over time. No taxes are due, including on earnings, until you make withdrawals. When you leave employment, you are eligible to withdraw money from your account as your see fit, but you are not required to take payments until after the age 70 ½. You have the flexibility to take money as needed, including the ability to have payments automatically deposited to your bank account every month. Payments are generally subject to taxes and an IRS-imposes 10% early withdrawal penalty to payments taken prior to age 59½. RETIREMENT Texas County & District Retirement Systems (TCDRS) All EAA employees are automatically enrolled with Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS). Participation into this program is mandatory and employees may not choose to opt out. TCDRS is a savings-based plan. Members save for their own retirement over the length of their careers. Benefits are based on the final employee savings balance and employer matching. 7% each employee’s paycheck is deposited into a TCDRS account on a biweekly basis and is the maximum contribution allowed. The employee’s savings grow at an annual, compounded rate of 7%. Once an employee

31