A leave recipient must use accrued annual leave (or sick leave, if applicable) before using donated leave (note that beginning December 2, 1994, an eligible employee may use up to 13 days of sick leave to care for a family member, see Federal Employees Family Friendly Leave Act).
Investors assessing the safety of dividends through historical figures are missing the point. Verizon was only able to pay dividends in 2016 by selling of $6.1 billion assets. Verizon cannot continue to pay their dividends. While I am by no means a dividend investor, I feel inclined to comment on the topic.
The dividend payout ratio is the amount of dividends paid to stockholders relative to the amount of total net income of a company. The amount that is not paid out in dividends to stockholders is held by the company for growth. The amount that is kept by the company is called retained earnings.