Rules For Holiday Pay

Rule: To be paid for a university scheduled holiday, exempt and nonexempt employees must be in paid status for at least 50 percent of the pay period in which the holiday falls, excluding the scheduled holiday itself from the paid status time.

Paid status means being paid for time

• at work
• on paid vacation
• on approved, paid sick time
• for a personal floating holiday
• on jury duty
• on funeral leave
• on paid military leave

Time for a University scheduled holiday is considered part of the standard hours for the pay period, but it is not considered as part of the time in paid status when calculating the 50% of the pay period in paid status to qualify for holiday pay.

Clarification:

To calculate the hours required to be in paid status for 50% of the time, divide the standard hours for the job or the biweekly scheduled hours by 2. For instance, if the standard hours for the job is 75, you must be in paid status 37.5 hours in a biweekly pay period in order to be paid for the holiday ( 75 hours divded by 2 or 75 hours x 50%).

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Example 1:

An employee's biweekly schedule is 80 hours. The employee works 8 hours on each of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in the first week for a total of 24 regular hours. Monday of the following week is the holiday and the employee earns 8 hours of holiday pay. The employee is required to be in paid status for 16 more hours in the pay period to earn the 8 hours of holiday time.

In the case above, the employee has paid time for at least 50% of the pay period (40 hours), which allows payment of the scheduled holiday pay, even though the individual had excused absence (EXA) for 32 hours during the period.

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Example 2:

An employee's biweekly schedule is 75 hours. The employee works 7.5 hours on both Monday and Thursday in the first week for a total of 15 regular hours. Tuesday and Wednesday are holidays and the employee earns 15 hours of holiday pay. The employee is required to be in paid status for 22.5 more hours in the pay period (for a total of 37.5 hours) to earn the 15 hours of holiday time.

In the case above, the employee has paid time for at least 50% of the pay period (37.5 hours), which allows payment of the scheduled holidays, even though the individual had excused absence (EXA) for 7.5 hours during the period.

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Example 3:

At the discretion of the supervisor, the employee may be able to change their schedule in order to work enough time to be in 50% paid status. The employee's biweekly schedule is 80 hours. The employee is taking approved time off at the end of the second week in the pay period but does not have vacation time to use. The employee will not be in paid status during the time off, but will have Excused Absence (EXA). In order to be in paid status 50%, the employee may request from the supervisor to work longer hours over several days in order to work enough time to be in 50% paid status.

In the case above, the employee has paid time for at least 50% of the pay period (40 hours), which allows payment of the scheduled holidays, even though the individual had excused absence (EXA) for 16 hours during the period.

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If you have any questions regarding holiday pay, please contact Payroll/ETES Helpdesk at 847-467-7606.

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