To provide eligible staff employees with paid time off (personal holidays) and to establish guidelines for personal holiday accrual and use.

Benefits-eligible staff employees begin accruing personal holidays at their most recent date of benefits-eligibility and may use personal holidays after three (3) months of employment. It is intended that eligible staff employees take the annual personal holidays to which they are entitled each year. All paid time off (personal holidays) is subject to supervisory approval.

1. A benefits-eligible staff employee begins accruing personal holidays at his/her most recent date of benefits-eligibility and may use personal holidays after three (3) months of employment.
2. Each unit is responsible for maintaining and communicating to each eligible employee his/her record of accrued and used personal holiday time. Each unit should establish and communicate to employees the guidelines for requesting personal holidays. All paid time off (personal holidays) is subject to supervisory approval.
3. An eligible staff employee should request personal holiday time in advance, following unit guidelines for requesting personal holiday time. An eligible, exempt staff employee must record personal holiday time taken on his/her Monthly Absence Report. An eligible, non-exempt staff employee must record personal holiday time taken on his/her timecard.
4. An eligible staff employee accrues personal holiday time (as defined in Guideline #5 below) as follows:
   • January 1st - 2 days;
   • April 1st - 1 day;
   • July 1st - 1 day; and
   • September 1st - 1 day
5. An eligible staff employee is credited with personal holidays on each of the accrual dates listed above (See Guideline #4). Personal holidays accrue at a rate equivalent to one-fifth (1/5) the employee's average scheduled workweek.

   Example #1: An eligible employee with a standard workweek of 37.5 hours per week will accrue 7.5 hours for each credited personal holiday. To calculate: 37.5 hours per week x 1/5 = 7.5 hours per personal holiday.

   Example #2: An eligible employee with a standard workweek of 30 hours will accrue 6.0 hours for each credited personal holiday. To calculate: 30 hours per week x 1/5 = 6 hours per personal holiday.

   Example #3: An eligible employee with a standard workweek of 20 hours will accrue 4.0 hours for each credited personal holiday. To calculate: 20 hours per week x 1/5 = 4 hours per personal holiday.

6. Personal holiday accrual records for each eligible, exempt staff employee (monthly paid) may be maintained in hourly increments. Personal holiday usage for an eligible, exempt staff employee is based on the employee's average scheduled hours per day. An eligible, exempt staff employee who takes a full-day absence will have accruals deducted at a rate equal to the employee's average scheduled hours per day for each personal holiday taken.

   Example #1: An eligible employee who works a five-day, 37.5-hour standard workweek will have 7.5 hours deducted from his/her personal holiday accrual balance for each personal holiday taken. To calculate: 37.5 hours per week ÷ 5 days per week = 7.5 hours per personal holiday.

   Example #2: An eligible employee who works a four-day, 30-hour standard workweek will have 7.5 hours deducted from his/her personal holiday accrual balance for each personal holiday taken. To calculate: 30 hours per week ÷ 4 days per week = 7.5 hours per personal holiday.

   Example #3: An eligible employee who works a four-day, 20-hour standard workweek will have 5.0 hours deducted from his/her personal holiday accrual balance for each personal holiday taken. To calculate: 20 hours per week ÷ 4 days per week = 5.0 hours per personal holiday.

7. For an eligible, exempt staff employee, absences of less than one full day are neither to be charged to accumulated personal holiday time, nor deducted from pay.
8. An eligible, non-exempt (hourly paid) employee will have accruals deducted in hourly increments.
9. An eligible staff employee's accrued personal holiday balance expires each calendar year. An eligible employee who fails to request accrued personal holidays during the calendar year following unit guidelines is not entitled to "carry-over" personal holidays into the next calendar year.
10. An eligible employee will not accrue personal holidays while he/she is in an out-of-pay status (i.e., on leave of absence), on workers' compensation, or on Short-Term/Long-Term Disability.
11. It is intended that each eligible staff employee take the annual personal holidays to which he/she is entitled each year. An employee may be reimbursed in lieu of taking personal holidays if the unit requests the employee to forego all or any part of his/her personal holidays and the employee has previously requested to take a personal holiday according to unit guidelines.
12. Pay for personal holidays will be at the eligible employee's regular base rate of pay when personal holiday time is used. Bonuses and other variable compensation are not included in calculating personal holiday pay. Personal holiday hours are not considered "hours worked" in calculating overtime.
13. At an eligible employee's request, and upon the exhaustion of all sick leave, absence due to non-work-related illness or injury may be taken as a personal holiday. (See Policy U512 Sick Leave)
14. When an eligible staff employee is absent due to personal reasons and personal holiday accruals are exhausted, the employee is in out-of-pay status unless he/she elects to use accrued vacation time and has received supervisory approval to do so.
15. Paid time off (personal holidays) must not be used as compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay. (See U304 Compensable Time Off and Compliance with Fair Labor Standards Act (Overtime))
16. Upon termination of employment, an eligible staff employee is to be paid for any unused personal holidays accrued within the calendar year.
    

Cross Reference:

U304 Compensable Time Off and Compliance with Fair Labor Standards Act (Overtime ), and U512 Sick Leave