A. Each incumbent of a forty-hour-a-week line-item position shall accrue vacation leave with pay at the rate of twelve days per year of continuance service since the benefit date for the first five years, fifteen days per year upon completion of five years, eighteen days per year upon completion of ten years, and twenty days upon completion of twenty years. Employees scheduled for more than forty hours a week shall receive the equivalent number of vacation days prorated to the number of regularly scheduled work hours.

B. An incumbent is not eligible to use accrued vacation leave until after the completion of the twelfth calendar month of service since the benefit date.

C. A regular employee who leaves the city service shall receive payment for any unused vacation leave. Probationary employees with less than twelve months of continuous service shall not be eligible for such payment.

D. Department heads shall be responsible for arranging a vacation schedule, first with the needs of the city as the determining factor, second, insofar as possible, with the wishes of the employee.

E. Any employee who is on approved vacation leave and becomes eligible for sick leave as defined in Section 2.36.420(A) may have such time credited as sick leave under the following conditions: