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Annual Leave

CONTENTS

UNDERSTAND

Annual leave, sometimes referred to as vacation leave, is leave accrued by all monthly-paid classified staff, classified non-union, professional staff, and librarians, and may be used for such reasons as:

All monthly-paid employees earn annual leave hours for each month of service. The terms and conditions under which an employee accrues and may use annual leave are specified by the terms of the employee’s employment program or collective bargaining agreement. This page provides links to the relevant section of each collective bargaining agreements or employment program as well as some general information that is generally applicable.

Upon separation from the University, eligible employees are paid for their unused annual leave balance in accordance with terms of their employment program. The Employee Separation Payment Authorization form, which will be generated when ending an employee’s OWLS record, or can be purchased through University Stores, must be completed and submitted to the Payroll Office in order for annual leave to be paid out.

ACT

Approving Requests for Annual Leave Use

If an employee has requested approval to use accrued annual leave, consider the following items in order to act on the employee’s request:

  1. Check the employee’s annual leave balance. If your department maintains employee leave records in the Online Work/Leave System (OWLS) and you are authorized to view the employee’s OWLS record, log in to OWLS, and review the employee’s annual leave balance. If your department uses another authorized alternative system, check with your department’s timekeeper to verify that the employee has sufficient annual leave to cover the requested time off.
  2. Check the employee’s employment program or collective bargaining agreement to determine whether the employee is eligible to use accrued annual leave. In some cases, employees may need to complete a trial service period or probationary period before they can use annual leave.
  3. Provide the employee with written approval in advance of the effective date(s) for use of annual leave.

Maximum Annual Leave Balance and Approving an Extension for Annual Leave Use

Contract classified and classified non-union employees may carry a maximum annual leave balance of 240 hours from anniversary date to anniversary date. Except as noted below, the 240-hour maximum applies to all classified employees, even those with more than one appointment. Contract classified and classified non-union employees should be aware of their annual leave balances and make arrangements to use their leave before exceeding the 240-hour maximum.

There are two circumstances in which a classified non-union or contract classified employee's annual leave balance may exceed the 240-hour maximum limit:

  1. A contract classified or classified non-union employee may voluntarily accumulate annual leave hours above the 240 hour maximum as long as the excess hours are used by the employee's anniversary date. If the excess hours are not used by the anniversary date, they are forfeited and must be deducted from the leave record on the anniversary date. This restriction is specified in the RCW 43.01.044 and cannot be waived under any circumstances.
  2. A contract classified or classified non-union employee may involuntarily accumulate annual leave hours above the 240 hour maximum when the supervisor or manager cannot approve the employee's request for annual leave use due to department staffing needs.

In some cases, your department may not be able to approve an employee’s leave request due to staffing needs. If the employee’s leave balance will exceed 240 hours because the leave request was denied, you must receive authorization from Human Resources to allow the employee to carry an excess annual leave balance past the anniversary date. You must request an extension from Human Resources when the department reviews and denies the employee’s request, before the employee’s balance exceeds the 240-hour maximum.

To request approval of an extension to allow annual leave to exceed 240 hours:

Other Things to Think About Regarding Leave Administration

Leave accrues at the end of the month in which it is earned and is available for use by eligible employees the following month. Since leave hours do not accrue until the end of the month, they cannot be used until the following month.

Annual leave use should be properly documented and recorded in the employee’s Work/Leave record. As a supervisor, it is important that you ensure that the employee's record of annual leave accrual and use is properly documented either through OWLS or an authorized alternative system.

If you are already familiar with how to view an employee’s OWLS record, visit the OWLS login page and log in as a supervisor to view the employee’s leave use and balances.

If you supervise contract-classified or classified non-union employees, both you and the employee are responsible for monitoring employee leave balances. By monitoring employee leave balances you can assist the employee in ensuring that annual leave is used and does not exceed the 240 hour maximum.

EXPLORE

Excess annual leave hours not used by a contract classified or classified non-union employee’s anniversary date are lost and must be deducted from the employee’s leave record.

Prior state service credit can affect annual leave accrual rates and may allow for reinstatement of sick leave. To learn how to request Prior Service Credit, visit the Crediting of Previous Washington State Employment page.

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Contract Staff job class codes 7000-8999; classified non-union job class codes 2000-6999.

Employees do not accrue any annual leave hours during any calendar month in which they are on leave without pay status for more than 10 working days, including holidays.