I can say this much better than I can explain it in text, but here goes:

I work at a company that gives employees vacation leave at an accrual rate of 3.5 hours per month. The leave caps off at 42 hours (accrual stops once you have earned 42 hours if you do not use them); this is easy to understand, but here is where my confusion sets in - when does the accrual begin again once time is used? Just as an example:

I began work on 01/08/2013. It is now 07/08/2014, so I have worked here a total of 18 months. My vacation accrual stopped on 01/08/2014 when it reached 42 hours. If I take 8 hours of leave now and my accrued hours drops to 34, when will my leave begin accruing again? Will it begin on the day that I take my leave, almost like that is my new beginning employment date?

In an alternate situation, is it possible that it is better to use your vacation instead of letting it accrue? If I have worked here for 11 months and have 38.5 hours built up, should I use some time before I reach my 12th month of employment so that it will not cap out? It seems like I would benefit more by gradually using my time and not letting it max out.

I can't seem to wrap my brain around this, so any clarification from someone who knows how to handle this would be greatly appreciated!

No... you have 42 hours a year... period...you do not and can not accrue a minute more than 42 hours during the year any way shape or form, if you use 8 hours during the year... it does not acrrue further that year... otherwise you would have more vacation time than people who save it all for the end of the year.

After your first year....they generally let you take it earlier in the year...but if you use more vacation time than you accrued until that point and quit or get fired...they will take it out of your final pay...or at worst you might owe them some additional money.

I have to disagree with smoothy, at least in part. It looks to me like you accrue each month but can never have more than 42 hours in the bank (in other words you can never take more than a week at a time). I also think the way they work, you can't take time until you have accrued it.

This is not a question we can answer as it is specific to your company. It is their policy and they chose how to administer it.

One thing is unclear. Do hours accrue on the basis of calendar months or 30 day periods. Based on your explanation that accruals stopped on 1/8/2014, it would appear that accruals occur when one month has passed from your start date. So I would say it when like this:

2/8/13 3.5
3/8/13 7
4/8/13 10.5
5/8/13 14
6/8/13 17.5
7/8/13 21
8/8/13 24.5
9/8/13 28
10/8/13 31.5
11/8/13 35
12/8/13 38.5
1/8/14 42

Now if I were your company, I would look at your balance at the end of each anniversary period and accrue based on that balance. So lets say you take 8 hours during July. Your next accrual period is 8/8/14. On that date you would have 34 hours. So you would accrue. And, on 8/8 you would now have 17.5

But that's just the way I would do it. Anything we have posted is just speculation. Your company could use a different method so you need to ask your HR dept how it works.

This is pretty simple. You can receive a maximum of 3.5 hours a month. You cannot save more than 12 months worth, or 43 hours, at any given time. You won't get more if you use them as you go instead of carrying them over, but you will lose them if you don't stay under the max.

So just make sure if you are starting a new month. You have no more than 39.5 accrued hours. If you are above that number, use some time or you will lose it. Always have room for another 3.5 hours.

As for when they stop and start accruing, it's less confusing to think of this way. They never stop. 3.5 every month. But at any given time you exceed 43 accrued hours, they take away the extra hours. Next month, you get another 3.5 hours but if that puts you over 43, they will again shave off the extras.

So what to do: I would use 43 hours each year during the year. The reason - your employer has this policy because they would rather you not carry over hours. However, if you anticipate needing more time next year, it will work to save some as long as you never have more than 39.5 saved up at any given time. That will ensure there is room beneath the max to accept another 3.5 hours without exceeding that max.