Leave Policies (Paid Time Off)

Holidays

Regular full-time and part time employees are eligible for nine scheduled and two personal holidays per year.

The nine scheduled holidays are New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas. The two personal holidays must be used during the calendar year (use it or lose it).

Vacation Days*

Available to all regular full-time or regular part time employees and is accrued based on years of service and job classification. Employees can earn between 15 – 23 days depending on length of service. Civil Service Officers accrue vacation days at a slightly different rate than General Employees. Part time employees accrue vacation on a prorated basis.

The City of Fort Worth provides paid parental leave to employees following the birth of an employee’s child or the placement of a child with an employee in connection with adoption, foster care or other legal placement. The purpose of paid parental leave is to enable the employee to care for and bond with a newborn, newly adopted child, new foster child or other legal placement. Flexible and family-friendly policies are essential to cultivating an atmosphere where employees can thrive professionally without sacrificing essential family obligations.

The main points for 2021 below are:

• New Parental Leave Policy applies to both Mom’s and Dad’s
• New parents can have access up to six weeks of leave when a new child joins your family
• Each week of paid parental leave is compensated at 100 percent of the employee’s regular, straight-time weekly pay.
• Paid parental leave will be paid on a biweekly basis on regularly scheduled pay dates
• Approved paid parental leave may be taken at any time during the twenty-six week period immediately following the birth, adoption, or placement.

Family Illness Leave benefits are accrued by Civil Service personnel in the Police and Fire Departments. After one (1) year of continuous service employees are eligible to use Family Illness Leave. The leave is non-accruable. At the beginning of each payroll year, any unused leave from the previous payroll year is deleted and new Family Illness Leave is allotted to each eligible employee in accordance with the policy.

Additional points to sick leave include: 

• Can be used personally for the employee or to care for a spouse, children or parents
• Sick leave earned starting in 2021, and going forward, will not be payable upon termination

*See Personnel Rules and Regulations for more details on these leave policies.

The City of Fort Worth offers a Voluntary Leave Bank Program that provides for the continuation of income to employees who have exhausted all of their accrued leave. These funds are provided to the participant if required to be off work due to a personal medical emergency or to care for an immediate family member who has had a medical emergency.

At enrollment, a contribution of four (4) hours of vacation leave time will be deducted from your leave accrual the second pay period in January and; subsequently one (1) hour deduction each year in January. This plan requires a one-time enrollment for participation.

Download a Voluntary Leave Bank enrollment form »(PDF, 146KB)

This City provided benefit is a reward for your long, committed employment service. Those eligible for Longevity Pay include all regular full-time and regular part-time general employees (except for department directors, civil service and appointed officials).

The general employee Longevity pay schedule is:

• After 3 Years Continuous Service = $300/Year
• After 6 Years Continuous Service = $600/Year
• After 9 Years Continuous Service = $900/Year