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.
There are four major dates in the process of a company paying dividends: Declaration date - This is the date on which the board of directors announces to shareholders and the market as a whole that the company will pay a dividend. Ex-date or Ex-dividend date - On (or after) this date the security trades without its dividend. If you buy a dividend paying stock one day before the ex-dividend you will still get the dividend, but if you buy on the ex-dividend date, you won't get the dividend.