Mattox Opinion No. Only regular employees of institutions and agencies of higher education shall be eligible for paid vacation and leave as provided herein. See Acts 1985, 69th Leg. We conclude that the exclusion of students employed in positions that require student status from the definition of a regular employee at institutions and agencies of higher education renders such employees ineligible for paid vacation while so employed. The length of service computations that determine the amount of longevity pay and vacation leave that an employee eligible for those benefits is entitled to receive are provided by article 6813d, V.T.C.S., and by article V, section 8a of the General Appropriations Act, respectively, neither of which suggests that the legislature intended to exclude the described employment from such computations.
Longevity pay for state employees is authorized by general statutory law.
The issue before us is not whether a person is an employee who is eligible to receive earned longevity pay under that statute. Eligibility is not determined by the same criteria as that used to compute the amount of an eligible employee's longevity pay. It is our opinion that the language of the statute is unqualified and does not exclude any class of state employees. Where the legislature makes no exception to the provisions of a statute, the presumption is that it intended no exceptions. It is well settled that exceptions and restrictions in statutes are not ordinarily implied.