Civil Service Regulations
STATE OF BAHRAINC.S.R NO. 601
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
CIVIL SERVICE BUREAU15 January, 1990

Annual leave

  1. DEFINITION: Annual leave is approved paid tune off from work for vacation or other purposes when the absence is not chargeable to another type of leave (such as sick leave or various special leaves) .

  2. PURPOSE: To establish procedures on the administration of annual leave and provide guidance to ministries, including all levels of management officials and supervisors, and employees.

  3. POLICY: Leave will be administered equitably with due consideration given to the needs of the Government of Bahrain and the welfare of the individual employee.

  4. EXCEPTIONS: The provisions of this regulation do not apply to the following:

    1. Consultants and contract hire on a daily (per diem) basis.

    2. Teachers and school personnel covered by an established leave system for school teachers.

    3. Temporary employees appointed for less than 90 days.

    4. Part time employees.

  5. CREDITING OF ANNUAL LEAVE

    1. Employees will earn annual leave at the rate of 30 work days (6 weeks) each year, i.e., 2.5 work days each month.

    2. An employee who is not in duty status for a full calendar month will earn annual leave in accordance with the following table:

      Number of calendar days       Number of leave
      in duty statusdays earned
      6 days or less 0
      7 days to 20 days 2
      21 days or more2.5

      NOTE: An employee is in “duty status” when his status code is one of the following:

      1. “Active” which includes employees on duty, sick leave, and authorized special leaves with pay.
      2. “Study leave with pay.”
      3. “Annual leave.”

      It is therefore important that ministries submit CSB Form 52, Request for Personnel Action, whenever a status code changes from “duty status” to “non-duty status” (Study LWOP, Secondment, LWOP, Stop Salary, Separation, or Suspension) or vice versa. If ministries neglect to request a change in status when required, the employee may be credited with more annual leave than he should have earned.

    3. An employee continues to earn annual leave during all periods of authorized absence with pay including periods of annual leave and for authorized absence without pay of 30 calendar days or less. No leave is earned if the authorized absence without pay exceeds 30 calendar days.

  6. MAXIMUM ANNUAL LEAVE ACCUMULATION.

    1. Time maximum number of leave days that can be carried over into a new calendar year is 75.

    2. It is the responsibility of supervisors and employees to plan and schedule annual leave to avoid forfeiture of earned leave with due regard for work and employee circumstances.

    3. There is no authority for payment of annual leave that has to be forfeited due to failure of management or employee to schedule leave as required by this regulation. It is essential that annual leave is scheduled and granted in an orderly manner to preclude loss of earned leave.

  7. CHARGING FOR ANNUAL LEAVE.

    1. Annual leave is charged only for regular work days, and not for weekly or official holidays.

    2. Annual leave balances are maintained by CSB in days rather than hours, and employees are usually granted annual leave in terms of days. An employee, however may be granted annual leave for less than a full day, i.e. in terms of hours, with one hour being the minimum amount chargeable.

    3. When it is necessary to charge leave for less than a full day or absence, the number of hours of leave requested will be shown on CSB Form 19, Leave Request. Ministries will keep an account of hourly charges and convert them to leave days based on the employee’s normal work day.

      See paragraph 9c(4) for procedures to be followed in reporting short annual leaves to the Civil Service Bureau, including situations where leave hours used do not amount to 1 day leave.

  8. ANNUAL LEAVE ADMINISIRATION.

    1. General Annual leave will be granted in accordance with the advance request of the employee, but with due consideration to management needs. It is therefore essential that leave schedules are developed as discussed below. To the extent permitted by work conditions, supervisors should allow employees an extended period of rest and relaxation each year, and ensure that they take their leave regularly. Large accumulations of leave and forfeiture of annual leave should be avoided. Supervisors are responsible for determining when annual leave is granted and for how long, as well as being responsible for requiring leave to be taken when circumstances warrant such action.

    2. Leave Scheduling.

      1. Supervisors are responsible to insure that leave is scheduled in an equitable manner.

      2. Supervisors will have a leave schedule developed for the calendar year, discuss it with employees, and have it posted no later than 31 January each year. Leave schedules may have to be adjusted during the year due to management or employee needs.

    3. Requesting Leave.

      1. CSB Form 19, Leave Request (See Attachment 1)
        1. To request annual leave, the employee completes CSB Form 19, and submits it to his supervisor surficiently in advance to enable him to make work plans during the employee’s absence. The approving supervisor will sign the form and forward it to the Ministry Leave Unit for action as shown in subparagraph (3) or (4) below.

        2. CSB Form 19 is also used to cancel a leave request previously submitted or to request an adjustment when the leave actually taken differs from the original request. Allowance is made in Block 1 of CSB Form 19 to use this form for requesting leave adjustment or cancelling a leave that had been requested.

        3. The CSB Form 19 is a standard form prescribed for use throughout the government. Altered versions will not printed or used.

      2. To streamline leave administration by reducing paper-work flow between ministries and the Civil Service Bureau, it was necessary to make a distinction between “Long Annual Leave” and “Short Annual Leave” and to prescribe two sets of procedures as described in subparagraph (3) on long annual leave and (4) on short annual leave. The differences in the administration of both types of annual leaves are summarized in Attachment 2.

      3. Requesting Long Annual Leave

        1. Long annual leave is a leave to be taken for 15 work days or more. It is requested by the employee using a CSB Form 19. The Ministry Leave Unit will review the request make required entries on CSB Form 19 and forward it to CSB.

        2. CSB will use CSB Form 19 when processing long annual leave. The leave balance will be updated in the computer data file, and a CSB Form 50, for “Leave Balance & Allowance“ Adjustment will be issued and distributed to the ministry / employee . Deductions for work-related allowances will continue to be made for weekly and official holidays during long annual leave periods. Payment for these allowances is based on actual performance of work during the month, and long leave employees will not be performing work for a substantial part of the month, or often for the full month.

        3. If an employee returns to duty before expiration of his approved long annual leave, a CSB Form 19 will be submitted with an “X” placed in Block 1 indicating “To adjust Leave request “ When completing Block 3, the employee shows on the side what was previously requested and on the right side information on the leave as actualy taken. The form will be processed by the Ministry Leave Unit and forwarded to CSB.

        4. The annual leave balance will be reflected in the Earnings & Leave Statement the employee receives at the end of the month.

        5. Advance payment for long annual leave will be adiministered in the following manner:
          1. Employee must specifically request advance payment in Block 1 of CSB Form 19.

          2. Advance payment will be made only when the long annual leave begins in one month and return to duty is in another month if the long annual leave begins and ends in the same month CSB will process the employee’s pay in the normal manner.

          3. Advance payment will be made only if the CSB Form 19 is received in the Civil Service Bureau at least one month before the date leave begins. Late requests will be processed to adjust the leave balance with no advance salary payment being made to the employee.

      4. Requesting Short Annual Leave.
        1. “Short Annual Leave” is leave taken for any period from up to 14 work day. It is requested by the employee using CSB Form 19.

        2. CSB Form 19 will be retained by the Ministry Leave Unit. The ministry will maintain data on short annual leaves used by employees in a convenient manner so the information will be readily available for submission to the Civil Service Bureau on the monthly report on short leaves described below.

        3. CSB Form 23 Report on Short Annual Leave Used (Attachment 3), and its continuation sheet CSB Form 23A (Attachment 4) if needed, will be submitted by the ministry to CSB no later than the 7th calendar day of each month. The report will be a consolidation of all short annual leaves taken during the month as reflected on the CSB Forms 19 the ministry personnel office has received from employees. If the leave taken covers two months, such as 2 leave days at the end of March and 5 leave days at the beginning of April, 2 days will be reported on the report for the month of March, and the reporting of 5 days will be postponed until submission of the report for the month of April. When CSB receives Form 23/23A, it will update the leave balance of each employee, and provide the ministry a listing reflecting the annual leave used, and the updated leave balances.

        4. If the employee does not use the short annual leave as originally requested, he must request an adjustment using CSB Form 19 and submit it through his supervisor to the Ministry Leave Unit. When completing Block 3, the employee shows on the left side what was previously requested and on the right side the leave as actually taken. This information must reachthe ministry personnel office before CSB Forms 23/23A are submitted to CSB.

        5. If an employee is granted periods of short annual leave of less than a full day (for example 3 hours), the ministry will total such hours at the end or each month under internal procedures and report the number of equivalent days of leave on the monthly Report of Short Annual Leave Used, CSB23/23A.

        6. CSB Form 50, to show a Leave Balance and Allowance Adjustment will not be issued for periods of short annual leave. The annual leave balance will be reflected in the Earnings & Leave Statement the employee receives at the end of the month. Deductions for work-related allowances will not be made for weekly or official holidays during short annual leave periods.

      5. To cancel a request for short annual leave or long annual leave, an employee should submit a request for cancellation, using CSB Form 19. An “X” will be placed in Block 1 indicating “To cancel leave request” Information on the leave previously requested but not to be taken will be shown on the left side of block 3. Employee may enter any remarks concerning the cancellation in block 4.

      6. In unusual circumstances, Ministries may find it necessary to recommend advancing annual leave to an employee with insufficient leave credit to his account. The Civil Service Bureau will review each case individually and render a decision based upon the merits of the case. If an employee to whom leave has been advanced is separated from government service before earning sufficient leave credits, deductions for the deficit will be made when processing his final settlement.

  9. This regulation is effective 3 February 1990 and supersedes CSR 601, dated 15 December, 1978.

ATTACHMENTS:
  1. CSB Form 19. Leave Request

  2. Differences Between “Long” and “Short” Annual Leave

  3. CSB Form 23. Report on Short Annual Leave Used

  4. CSB Form 23A. Continuation Sheet for Report on Short Annual Leave Used