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 company has a dividend payback period of 18 years. Their dividend has been growing by 2.9% a year for the last 5 years (on average). 4/6/2017 is the ex-dividend date for Verizon Communications, while 5/1/2017 is the dividend pay date. 178,500 people work for them (a US company) and it has been founded back in 1983. The stock belongs to the telecom services - domestic industry in the technology sector.