Section 170-18-III - AccrualA. An employee is entitled to earn one hour of earned paid leave from a single employer for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours in one year of employment.B. Accrual of earned paid leave begins at the start of employment, but the employer is not required to permit use of the leave before the employee has been employed by that employer for 120 days during a one-year period.C. No more than forty hours of earned paid leave is required to be available for use by a covered employee during any one year period as established by section II. L. herein.D. Covered Employees with accrued and unused hours of earned paid leave from the previous year of employment will have those hours available for use by the employee in the current year of employment, up to a maximum of forty hours. Hours are only required to continue to accrue up to forty hours in the current year of employment. E. Whenever the terms of employment or the employer's established practice includes provisions to pay the balance of unused earned paid leave at the time of separation, earned paid leave on cessation of employment has the same status as wages earned in accordance with 26 MRS §626.F. An employee who returns to work within a one-year period of the last date of previous employment with the same employer is entitled to any unused balance of earned paid leave that was not paid out at the time of separation of employment.G. For the sole purpose of determining the accrual of earned paid leave for construction workers, the term "employer" includes all covered employers bound by a collective bargaining agreement negotiated by a multiemployer bargaining unit.12-170 C.M.R. ch. 18, § III