Description of Holiday Benefit

Holidays are designated each year by the President and will be announced prior to June 30.

For Staff that are not required to work on the holiday,  full-time employees will receive 8 hours of holiday pay, and part-time employees will receive holiday pay as a proration of 8 hours based on their FTE designation, even if not normally scheduled to work on the holiday day off.

Nonexempt staff that are required to work on a holiday will have a choice between two payment options:

1. Employees who work on the holiday may be paid for the holiday as well as being paid for hours actually worked on the holiday, or
2. With prior supervisory approval, another day may be taken off with pay in lieu of the holiday at a time that is mutually convenient for the employee and department within the same pay period. Time off taken in lieu of the holiday must be used all at once (not incrementally) and it must be recorded on the employee's timesheet when taken. Unless prior arrangements are made through payroll, holiday pay will be included with normal pay.

For nonexempt staff, time worked in excess of 40 hours during the work week must be paid at one-and-one-half times their regular hourly rate and time worked in excess of eight hours on a holiday will be paid at twice the hourly rate, rather than added to additional paid days off.

Eligible exempt staff are paid for the holiday at their normal rate of pay regardless of whether they are required to work.

Holiday work will be rotated within a department, to the extent possible.

Holiday Benefit Eligibility Requirements

1. Holiday pay is provided to all regular full-time and regular part-time staff who work a minimum of 20 hours per week (.5 FTE), and is calculated as a prorated amount of 8 hours based on the employee's FTE.
2. In order to receive holiday pay, the holiday must be bracketed by days worked or days of paid leave (e.g. paid vacation, sick leave, maternity leave or short term disability).

Holiday Benefit Limitations and Exclusions

1. Temporary staff, short hour staff and staff on unpaid leaves of absence are not eligible for holiday pay. Staff on paid leaves of absence will still receive holiday pay; however, the holiday will not extend the length of the employee's paid leave. For example, if a staff member begins a 12 week leave of absence in the first week of December for childbirth, recovery, and care of the newborn they would receive the maximum six weeks of paid maternity leave through the second week of January regardless of the encompassing holidays. The remaining six weeks would be counted as unpaid FMLA leave and either paid through use of accrued vacation or will be unpaid if no accrued vacation time is available.
2. Since holidays are intended for the benefit of continuing staff, unless otherwise agreed to by the University, holiday pay will not be paid to staff after active employment has ceased, even though salary payments may continue for accrued vacation or insurance benefits.