Holidays

Eligibility

Full time employees are eligible for holiday pay on the first holiday following the date of hire. Part time employees are eligible for holiday pay after working 1,000 hours in a calendar year. Part time employees will continue to receive holiday pay in the following year provided they work at least 1,000 hours in the immediately preceding calendar year.

Observed Holidays & Application of Policy

Holiday pay will be computed by multiplying the employee's straight-time pay rate (as of the date of the holiday) by the number of hours the employee would otherwise have worked on that day.

University Paid Holidays

• New Year's Day (January 1)
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January)
• Spring Holiday (as determined annually in advance by the President’s Cabinet)
• Memorial Day (last Monday in May)*
• Juneteenth (June 19)
• Independence Day (July 4)*
• Labor Day (first Monday in September)
• Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November)
• Day after Thanksgiving
• Winter Holiday (December 24 through December 31 - excludes pay for Saturday and Sunday, when applicable)

Full time employees who work a minimum of 9 months but less than 12 months will not be paid for these holidays unless they are working at the University at the time of the holiday.

The University may elect to observe paid holidays on a different day/date than the actual holiday. For example, when the actual holiday falls on a Saturday, the paid holiday is normally observed on the Friday before the holiday. When the actual holiday falls on a Sunday, the paid holiday is normally observed on Monday following the holiday.

If eligible non-exempt employees work on a recognized holiday, they will receive holiday pay plus wages at double their straight-time rate for the number of hours worked (e.g., straight-time rate = $10/hour; double-time rate for holiday hours worked = $20/hour). During the Winter Holiday, the specific recognized holidays are December 24,25, 31 and January 1.

If a recognized holiday falls during a time period when an employee is on an authorized leave of absence, such as disability, personal or FMLA leave, the employee will be ineligible for holiday pay.

The University may from time to time authorize early departure from work with pay for employees on the day before a recognized university holiday. Only the University President (or, in the President’s absence, the Provost) may authorize early departure from work with pay. When early departure from work with pay is authorized, an announcement will be issued in advance from the Office of the President to the university community. All such authorizations will be subject to the operational needs of each university department. For this reason, some departments may not always be in a position to take full advantage of this opportunity. Final decisions on the implementation of early departure from work authorizations will be made by the vice presidents.

Personal Holiday

In addition to the recognized holidays listed above, eligible full and part-time employees who work 12 months per year receive one (1) personal holiday in each fiscal year. Public safety officers scheduled to work 40 hours per week do not follow the University’s Holiday Policy due to required scheduled hours of operations. For this reason, public safety officers receive four (4) personal holidays in each fiscal year. Requests to use personal holiday time will be reviewed based on a number of factors, including operational needs and staffing requirements. All personal holidays must be scheduled and approved in advance by the employee’s supervisor.

During the first year of employment, personal holiday hours for full-time employees are prorated according to the following schedule:

*Depending on work schedule

Personal Holidays may not be carried forward to next fiscal year. Unused personal holiday time is not eligible for payment upon termination of employment.

Effective Date: 2/1/2004 Revision Date: 01/2021