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Staff Leave Accruals |
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Effective September 1, 2011, changes have been made to staff Vacation and Personal Floating Holiday leave accruals. Please refer to the Staff Handbook addendums and FAQs below for more information regarding the changes.
Leave Accrual Changes, Effective September 1, 2011
Leave Accrual Changes - FAQs
Click a question below to view the answer, or download a PDF with all questions and answers.
1. What happened to my Personal Floating Holiday (PFH) balance on 8/31/2011?
- For this year only, any remaining PFH balance as of 8/31/2011 will carry over into FY2011-12. You will also receive three additional PFH days on September 1, 2011. You have until August 31, 2012 to use all PFH days, or the carryover provisions for exempt and non-exempt apply.
- For each fiscal year thereafter, three PFH days will be granted on 9/1, and they must be used by 8/31 of the following year. For biweekly employees, any unused PFH days as of 8/31 will be converted to Sick days one a one-for-one basis. For exempt employees, any unused PFH days on 8/31 will be lost.
2. As a biweekly employee, what will happen to my PFH days on 12/31/2011?
Previously, the PFH balance of biweekly employees was converted to Sick time if it was not used by December 31. Now going forward, nothing will happen to PFH balances on December 31. Instead, biweekly employees have until August 31 each year to use their PFH days, and any unused PFH days as of 8/31 will be converted to Sick time.
3. If I was hired prior to 9/1/11, do I receive more vacation time retroactively for being in Salary Grades at or above EXS 14 and ITS 85?
No. These new provisions of the vacation and personal floating holiday programs are effective September 1, 2011, and are not retroactive.
4. Will these new balances show on my paycheck stub?
Biweekly employees will continue to have their accrual balances displayed on their paycheck stubs. These balances will also be available for all employees in the University time entry system (Kronos).
5. What happens to my Vacation balance on 8/31/2011?
- The Vacation balance of exempt staff will be carried into FY 2012, subject to the maximum carry forward limit.
- For biweekly, there is no change.
6. What happens to my vacation accruals in September 2011?
- After September 1st, employees with 0-6 months of service will begin earning at a rate equivalent to 1 week in 6 months; and employees with 7-12 months of service will begin earning at a rate equivalent to 2 weeks in 6 months.
Employees in their 9th or 19th year of service will begin earning at rate of 1.67 and 2.08 days per month respectively.
- If you are an employee in salary grade EXS-14 or ITS85 and higher with less than ten years of service, as of September you will begin earning vacation time at a rate of 4 weeks per year. Your annual maximum carry forward amount is 30 days (one and half times your annual earnings). The amount of vacation time you have accrued up to August 31st 2011 will not change.
7. I am in one of the unions; do the new policies apply to me?
No, for all union members your vacation accruals and personal floating holidays are governed under your collective bargaining agreement.
8. Will the PFH appear in the Kronos banks as of September 1st for both exempt and non-exempt employees?
Yes, as of September 1, the three PFH will appear in your bank for the current pay period.
9. I am a new staff hire after September 1st, how do I earn my PFH?
- If your hire date is 9/1 through 11/30, then 3 PFHs will be granted upon hire.
- If your hire date is 12/1 through 2/29, then 2 PFHs will be granted upon hire.
- If your hire date is 3/1 through 5/31, then 1 PFH will be granted upon hire.
- If your hire date is 6/1 through 8/31, then no PFH will be granted upon hire.
10. As a supervisor of an existing staff member who is promoted to an EXS-14 or higher position from a lower grade after September 1, 2011 with a length of service under 9 years, do they automatically begin accruing at 1.67 days per month?
Yes, in the month they are promoted, the staff member will start earning the higher accrual rate. After one year in the new position, they will have earned four weeks of vacation.
11. For exempt staff members with one year of service, how does the accrual calculation vacation work?
Exempt employees accrue vacation time at a monthly rate of one-twelfth of the annual vacation allotment time, which becomes available for use at the mid-point of each month of service.
12. How does the change in vacation accrual work for non-exempt staff already in their 9th year of service? Is the change reflected in Kronos as of September 2, 2011?
Yes, as indicated in the answer under number 1.
13. What does the accrual change mean for staff members that are currently in their 9th year of service? Do they automatically jump up to the 1.67 accrual in September?
They start accruing at the higher rate and then anything that is in the bank that would have been given on their 10th anniversary will be seen in their balances on their 9/9/2011 paycheck for non-exempt. For exempt, they can see this in Kronos.
14. Under the previous policy, 5 bonus days were granted at the 10 year anniversary (essentially held in reserve until the 10th year of service is reached). Will those be awarded immediately to staff that are already in their 9th year of service? Does the same apply to employees when they reach their 19th year of service, meaning they get 5 bonus days on the 19th anniversary of their hire date?
Yes, as indicated in the answer under number 1.
Recording Exempt Staff Leave Accruals in Kronos
Annual Reporting of Exempt Leave Accruals
Each fiscal year-end, employees must review their leave accrual record, enter all usage for the year (September 1st through August 31st), and submit the record to their supervisor for approval. Supervisors of exempt staff may view their employees' leave accrual records at anytime throughout the year. Approving leave accrual records, however, should only be done in September (for fiscal year-end) or when an employee terminates.
After the deadline, the online pages are closed briefly so that vacation balances may be rolled over into the next fiscal year in accordance with the university's policy. Employees who do not submit their leave accrual record at fiscal year-end will not have their vacation balance carried over to the next year. If your carry-forward balance was zeroed out from a prior year, you must complete the following form(s) to report your usage in order to have your balance corrected.
Vacation Verification Report for FY 2010 (Sept 1, 2009 through Aug 31st, 2010)
Vacation Verification Report for FY 2009 (Sept 1, 2008 through Aug 31st, 2009)
Leave Accrual Guidelines
Using the Reports To page
The Reports To page in FASIS designates who is an employee's supervisor/approver for leave accrual records.
Instructions for Recording Exempt Leave Accruals:
Approving Exempt Leave Accruals (Supervisors):
Collecting Exempt Staff Flex Schedules for Leave Accruals
As part of the change process from Self Service to Kronos, we need to collect work schedules for employees who work part-time or work full-time with a flex schedule. By recording flex and part-time schedules, Kronos will allow employees to enter a day off and accurately record half and full day absences associated with your daily schedule.
For example: A part-time employee works 50% but is not scheduled all 5 days of the week. We would want to know that they work 2 full days on Monday and Tuesday and a half day on Wednesday. If the employee records a vacation day on Monday, the system will know that Monday is equivalent to 1 full day. Whereas, if the employee records a vacation day on Wednesday, the system will know that Wednesday is equivalent to ½ day.
If you work either part-time (less than 100%) or full-time with a flex schedule, please use the "Monthly Employee Part-Time or Flexible Schedule" form to document the number of hours you are scheduled to work each day. The form is available on the Payroll website at: http://www.northwestern.edu/hr/payroll/kronos/FlexibleSchedulesMonthly.pdf. Begin and end times are not needed, just the total number of hours scheduled for each day. Please be sure to review this form with your supervisor as his/her signature is required. More instructions are available on the form.
Please return the form ASAP to:
Payroll Office
720 University Place
Evanston Campus
NOTE: This process of collecting schedules is only for exempt staff employees. It does not affect non-exempt employees or faculty.
Full-time employees who work a standard five day work week with the same number of hours each day do not need to submit this form, regardless of start and end times. As long as the employee works the same number of hours each day (i.e. 7.5 or 8) five days/week, this form does not need to be submitted.
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