20Recreation (annual) leave

20 Recreation (annual) leave

(1) A Secretary is entitled to recreation leave at a rate of 20 working days for each completed 12 months of service, or pro rata for lesser periods, to be credited in the same way as recreation leave entitlements are credited to employees generally in the Secretary’s Department. (2) A Secretary’s recreation leave credit includes any existing recreation leave accrued either through prior service in the Australian Public Service or the ACT Government Service, or through employment in a Commonwealth authority, that in either case ceased not more than 2 months prior to the Secretary’s appointment as a Secretary. (3) If a Secretary ceases to be a Secretary, other than by death, and does not carry forward a recreation leave credit to other Commonwealth employment, the Secretary is entitled to be paid, at the reference salary rate at that time, for any recreation leave credit accrued and unused at the date the Secretary ceased to be a Secretary. If a Secretary dies, the Secretary’s Minister may authorise payment of this amount to a dependant of the Secretary or the Secretary’s legal personal representative. (4) Subject to subsection (5), a Secretary may elect to cash out up to half of the Secretary’s annual recreation leave entitlement in any year, at the reference salary rate at the time of election. The balance of leave remaining must be at least 4 weeks after any cashing out. (5) Subsection (4) applies only if the Secretary’s Department has a policy that allows employees generally in the Department to cash out some or all of their annual recreation leave entitlements.