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Professional Staff Leave
Holidays

CONTENTS

UNDERSTAND

There are 11 paid holidays per year - ten (10) designated holidays and one (1) personal holiday. See the University's holiday calendar for the complete holiday schedule.

Full-time (100% FTE) employees receive eight (8) hours of regular pay for each holiday, including the personal holiday. Part-time employees who work at least half time (50% FTE) receive pay for holidays at a rate proportionate to the percentage of their appointment (e.g., half-time employees receive four (4) hours of regular pay for each holiday).

Eligibility

All monthly-paid professional staff are entitled to regularly scheduled state holidays and a personal holiday. Professional staff employees are eligible to be paid for the holiday if they are in pay status for at least four hours on the work day preceding a holiday.

Employees with appointments of less than 12 months during the calendar year only receive those holidays that fall within their appointment period.

Holidays, Holiday Credit, and Alternate Work Schedules

Employees who work anything other than Monday through Friday, eight (8) hours per day are considered to work an alternate schedule. Working an alternate schedule requires special attention to holiday-related leave accounting because a holiday can fall either on an employee's scheduled day off, or on a day when the value of the holiday to the employee (e.g. eight (8) hours) is less than the time the employee normally works the day of the holiday (e.g. ten (10) hours).

If a holiday falls on an employee’s regularly scheduled day off, the employee receives holiday credit (holiday compensatory time) for later use that is equal to the appointment’s percentage of full time.

If a holiday falls on a day that the employee would normally work more time (e.g. ten (10) hours) than holiday's hourly equivalent value (e.g. eight (8) hours) there are special holiday time accounting considerations. See Holiday Leave Recordkeeping for examples.

Holiday Credit Use Deadlines

All accrued holiday credit must be used or paid annually. Professional staff employees are expected to use accrued holiday credit within 90 days of the holiday for which it was earned. The balance of unused holiday credit should be used or paid if an employee moves from one staff position to another within the University or when separating from University employment.

ACT

Requesting Use of Holiday Credit

If you would like to use your accrued holiday credit hours, you will need to consider the following items in preparing your request:

  1. Determine your holiday credit balance. If your department uses the Online Work/Leave System (OWLS) to maintain its employees’ leave records, visit the “Vacation and Sick Leave” tab in Employee Self-Service. If your department uses another authorized alternative system, check with your department’s timekeeper.
  2. Check the deadline for using your holiday credit. Make sure your request meets the deadline.
  3. Follow your department’s normal leave request procedures to obtain written approval from your supervisor in advance of the effective date(s) for use of holiday credit.

Requesting an Extension for Holiday Credit Use

To request an extension of the deadline for use of your holiday credit:

  1. Ask your supervisor to submit a written request for extension of the deadline to your department’s Human Resources Consultant.
  2. If approved, your department should retain a copy of the approval in your department file to support entries made in OWLS, or other authorized leave tracking system.

Professional Staff
Leave Topics

If a professional staff employee’s normal work week schedule requires them to work on a holiday, the employee receives holiday leave credit in the form of an alternative day off.