Page 19 - Employee Handbook January 2018

A military leave of absence will be granted to employees who are absent from work because of service in the U.S. uni-

formed services in accordance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”).
Full time regular and part time regular employees are eligible for an unpaid leave of absence for active military duty or
to Reserve or National Guard training. You will need to furnish your manager with a copy of your orders and your leave
will be granted for the period of the military service in accordance with applicable federal and state laws.

Personal Leave of Absence
For personal reasons (other than reasons covered by the FMLA), you may need an extended time away from work to be
temporarily released from the duties of your job with Hercules, but may not wish to submit your resignation. Under cer-
tain circumstances, you may be eligible for an unpaid leave of absence. In very special circumstances Hercules may
grant a leave for a personal reason, but never for taking employment elsewhere or going into business for yourself. You
should request an unpaid personal leave of absence (that is in excess of more than 1 week) from your Manager and Re-
gional Manager. A personal leave of absence must not interfere with the operations of your department or Hercules.
Therefore, it is at the discretion of the company to approve a request for Personal Leave of Absence.

You must apply in writing for an unpaid leave of absence, setting forth the reason for the leave, the date on which you
wish the leave to begin and the date on which you will return to active employment with Hercules. If you don't return
from your leave of absence on the day indicated in your original request you will be considered to have voluntarily re-
signed from employment with Hercules as of the day on which you began your leave of absence. You must exhaust all
sick/vacation time while on Personal Leave if approved.
Personal Leave will not be considered only due to exhaustion of paid benefits. Personal Leave of absence requests must
be preapproved and not requested the day of or the day before leave of absence. Personal leave will be at the discretion
of the management team in conjunction with the corporate office.

Leave of Absence — Return to Work

Except for employees designated as “highly compensated employees,” employees who take this leave and return to work
by the end of the twelve (12) week period are entitled to return to their former position or an equivalent position with
equivalent benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of employment. However, no employee is guaranteed the right
to return to the same position. A determination as to whether a position is an “equivalent position” will be made by Her-
cules.

Use of Paid Leave and Concurrent Leave

An employee’s accrued paid time off must be used first when taking FMLA leave. In the case of disability leave, or a
worker’s compensation absence, such leave/absences will run concurrently with the FMLA leave if the absences qualify
for FMLA entitlement.

Benefits Coverage

Hercules Living Employee Handbook March 2016 Page 19