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30 Section 3. Leave for special circumstances as described in Article 20 of this Agreement shall not be subject to the provisions of this Article. Section 4. If the Activity Head and/or his/her designee determines that a leave exigency for public business exists, the Employer shall notify the Local Union President or his/her designee as soon as practical, in writing. Upon written request of the Union, the Emp loyer shall provide, in writing, within fourteen (14) days, the Activity Head's justification the Employer used in determining the need for the facility to be placed in a leave exigency status. Section 5. In the event that a leave exigency exists, the ATCFO and/or his/her designee shall determine the minimum shift coverage requirements for all shifts and inform the Local Union President in writing of this determination. In accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of this Agreement, the Parties shall negotiate any and all impact the leave exigency determination has on BUEs. T he Parties shall also negotiate the amount of annual leave each BUE can use and the procedures to be used to distribute the leave equitably among BUEs. Section 6. Annual Leave a. Prime - time leave is annual leave to be taken between Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. (1) Prime - time leave requests shall be submitted to the FWS or designee on the appropriate leave form during the period between 1 February and 1 March of each year. The Employer shall approve or deny these requests prior to the last day of March that same calendar year. Prime - time leave schedules will be posted in March of each year. (2) Prime - time leave requests s hall be approved based on seniority, with the most senior BUEs considered first. Conflicting prime - time leave requests among equally qualified BUEs shall be resolved by seniority. Subject to operational requirements, the Employer shall make every reasona ble effort to allow a minimum of two (2) weeks of annual leave for each BUE, during the prime - time period, which may be taken consecutively. (3) In the event that approval of prime - time leave requests requires a reassignment of a BUE watch shift, reassignments shall be equitably rotated and distributed beginning with the most junior BUE available. b. Non prime - time leave is all other annual leave falling into the following categories: (1) annual leave that may be requested up to one (1) year in advance; (2) annual leave during the prime - time leave period that was not previously requested during the period between 1 February and 1 March; and (3) spot leave. (1) Non prime - time leave requests shall be submitted to the FWS or designee. Non prime - time leave request(s) will be considered on a first requested basis and may be requested either on appropriate leave form or verbally.

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