19.33, Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave

19.33 Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave

last updated: 04/24/2006

Purpose:	Summarizes the vacation and sick leave policies and provides an overview of how the vacation and sick leave system works, samples of the reports generated by the Payroll System, and forms used to correct balances and request leave.
Policy Owner:	Operations - Payroll
Related Manuals:	University Handbook for Appointed Personnel Classified Staff Human Resources Policy Manual

Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Recordkeeping

Vacation, sick and comp leave records are maintained on the Personal Services Operating System (PSOS), the University's personnel and payroll system. The records maintained in the Central Leave Reporting system are the official, auditable source of vacation and sick leave for eligible employees. The Employee Time Record (ETR), Biweekly Employee Time Record (BETR), or Departmental Alternative Employee Time Record is the official departmental record that shows leave used.

Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Policies

The complete vacation, sick and comp leave policies for classified staff are provided in the Classified Staff Human Resources Policy Manual. The complete vacation and sick leave policies for appointed personnel (faculty and administrative professionals) are provided in the University Handbook for Appointed Personnel. The manual and the handbook can be obtained from Human Resources. Some of these policies are referenced here to assist in the explanation of the record-keeping and reporting requirements.

Vacation and Sick Leave Accruals
Vacation and sick leave is accrued (earned) each pay period based on the number of hours for which the employee is being paid through the Personnel Services Operating System (PSOS) for that time period. "Through PSOS" means from hours reported on the Time Roster for the current pay period or from hours reported on a POPR for the current pay period. These hours are automatically posted by the system at the time the employee is paid. Vacation and sick leave will not accrue while an employee is on unpaid leave status. Vacation and sick will not accrue when payment is by a Hand-Drawn check.

The following table lists the accrual rates for full-time classified staff employees.

Classified Staff
Vacation
Years of Continuous Service	Days/Year	Hours/Pay Period	Hours/Hours Paid
1st and 2nd	11	3.38	0.042250
3rd and 4th	16	4.92	0.061500
5th and up	22	6.77	0.084625
Sick
12 month employee	12	3.69	0.046125
10 month employee	9	3.27	0.040875

Annual leave rates for Appointed Personnel are the following (refer to the University Handbook for Appointed Personnel):

Appointed Personnel
	Days/Year	Hours/Pay Period	Hours/Hours Paid
Vacation	22	6.77	0.084625
Sick Leave-Fiscal	12	3.69	0.046125
Sick Leave-Academic	9	3.27	0.040875

If the employee was paid with a Hand-Drawn check for hours reported on a Payroll Online Payment Request (POPR) for a prior pay period, the vacation or sick leave earned will not automatically accrue. The Payroll Representative is responsible for preparing a Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form, to make the appropriate adjustments.
Regular classified staff employees may carry forward from one anniversary year to the next up to one and one-half years' accrued vacation hours. An anniversary year is one continuous year of service from the anniversary of the employee's start date as a regular classified staff employee (Classified Staff Human Resources Policy Manual, Policy 200.0).
Fiscal Year Appointed Personnel, full- time eligible employees on fiscal year appointments, may carry forward from one year to the next, a maximum amount of vacation hours not to exceed one and one-half times the annual allowance of 22 working days per year (University Handbook for Appointed Personnel).
The POPA850A - Vacation & Sick Leave Accrual Report designates when an employee is approaching his or her anniversary date and over the maximum hours that can be carried over with an *. A message will also appear on the employee’s statement of earnings.
If the anniversary date passes and the employee's vacation balance is greater than the maximum allowed, the balance will automatically be reduced in the pay period when the employee's anniversary is reached. The balance will be reduced to a year and one-half accumulation plus the current pay period accrual prorated based on FTE.

Vacation and Sick Leave Use
Notices of vacation and sick leave used by employees must be approved by the supervisor. Each department is free to design its own version of written documentation to acknowledge the approval of a supervisor, as long as it provides the minimum information required for audit purposes. All vacation and sick time used must be recorded on the Employee Time Record and the Time Roster.
Probationary employees accrue vacation leave, but may not use it. If vacation time is reported on the Time Roster during this period, the vacation hours will be changed to zero and the hours paid for that pay period will be reduced accordingly. During University Closure a probationary employee may use up to all accumulated vacation time. If the employee terminates before the end of the probationary period, the vacation time must be recovered from the employee’s final pay or the department must work with Operations to collect and return the dollars to the University of Arizona.
Probationary employees may be paid for sick leave up to the accrued hours; however, if the employee terminates before the end of the probationary period, the sick leave must be recovered from the employee’s final pay or the department must work with Operations to collect and return the dollars to the University of Arizona.
The Employee Time Record or Biweekly Employee Time Record or Alternative Employee Time Record as defined by HR is submitted to the Payroll Representative to record leave taken on the Time Roster.
The Central Leave Reporting System does not allow negative vacation or sick leave balances. Employees may not receive advances of vacation or sick leave accruals. The number of leave hours an employee can take is limited to the number of hours available according to the Central Leave Reporting System. If an employee does not have enough leave hours accrued in the system to cover an absence from work, record as unpaid leave.

Payment of Accrued Vacation on Termination or Retirement
When an eligible employee terminates, a maximum of one year of vacation accrued to date may be paid (Classified Staff Human Resources Policy Manual, Policy 200.0) and (University Handbook for Appointed Personnel, Chapter 8). The maximum payoff is based on the employee's current FTE.
If an employee is laid off and does not request or receive the lump sum payment of all accrued vacation as outlined in the written layoff notification to the employee, the employee forfeits all rights to receive the accrued vacation at a later date. If the department requires that the employee continue working up to the date of layoff, the employee will receive their accrued vacation in one lump sum in the pay period the layoff is effective.

Comp Time Earnings and Use
Non-exempt employees working overtime may only earn Comp time as defined by FLSA. Notices of comp time used by employees must be approved by the supervisor and provided to the Payroll Representative as with vacation and sick leave.
Vacation and Sick Leave Reporting
Wednesday of pay week, the Vacation & Sick Accrual Report, the Vacation & Sick Accrual Exception Report and the Payroll Expenditure Listings are available from Information Services Web - Electronic Reports. The Departments are responsible for retrieving and reviewing these reports and ensuring that the information is correctly reported and following up on errors reported. If corrections are required, the Payroll Representative should prepare the Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form. Employee's accrued leave balances print on their home department's report. If an employee transfers to another department, the accrued leave balance will transfer and be reported on the new home department's reports.
The current vacation and sick leave activity and balances are displayed on the statement of earnings and in Employee Link every payday. If an employee feels that this information is incorrect, he or she should notify the department’s Payroll Representative.

Vacation and Sick Leave Reports and Forms

Vacation and Sick Accrual Report| Vacation and Sick Accrual Exception Report| Probationary Employees with Sick Report| Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form| Request for Leave Form

Vacation and Sick Accrual Report

Purpose:

Provides the current status of each employee's vacation, sick and comp leave balances.

Availability:

This report is available from Information Services Web - Electronic Reports (ISW), Wednesday morning of pay week. The Payroll Representative should retrieve this report and forward copies to each supervisor. After review and if changes are made retain the corrected copy in the department. The official original copy of this report is maintained in ISW. (see the Common Retention Schedule ).

Field
Definitions:

Employees will continue to print on this report as long as they have balances, even when they have terminated employment.

Refer to this report when reviewing the field definitions.

EMPLOYEE
TYPE STATUS:

Describes employee type and status. The type indicates whether an employee is eligible to accrue vacation and sick leave in the Payroll System. Employee types S (Student) and A (Ancillary) will not accrue.

They will appear on this report only if they have balances from previous positions with the University. If the balances should be zero, submit a Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Adjustment form to remove the balances.

The employee status will be one of the following. A code preceded by a "P" indicates a Probationary employee.

A	Active	P	Leave With Pay	T	Terminated
L	Leave Without Pay	R	Retired	N	No Salary

FTE:

Full Time Equivalency (FTE).

STATUS
DATE/DATE
ORIGIN:

The date upon which leave starts or resumes accruing. The "Date Origin" indicates whether this date is:

HIRE	Original Hire Date
Self explanatory
REHIRE	Rehire Date
When an employee has terminated and been rehired, leave starts accruing on this date at the lowest rate.
ADJHIRE	Adjusted Hire Date
Employees on unpaid leave status do not accrue leave. When the employee returns to work and begins accruing leave again, the status date will be the original hire date plus the amount of leave taken. For example, an employee was hired on 2/17/89 and takes a three-month leave of absence beginning 7/8/04. The "Status Date" will be 5/17/89 (2/17/89 (original hire) plus the three months leave taken) and the "Date Origin " will be ADJHIRE

Leave will accrue using the latest of these dates in the system.

VACATION
HOURS/SICK
LEAVE HOURS:

The following information displays:

Begin Balance: Hours available at the start of the current pay period (last pay periods ending balance).
Earned: Hours earned or accrued during the current pay period. The accrual is not determined until after the hours paid have been calculated. If an employee's beginning balance is less than the amount used then the employee will not be paid for the difference. The accrual for this pay period cannot be used until the following pay period.
COH Adjust: Adjustments for prior pay periods requested on the Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form or for hours paid with a hand-drawn check.
Used: Hours used during the current pay period.
Ending Balance: Hours available at the end of the current pay period. Calculated as follows:
Begin Balance + or - COH Adjust - Used + Earned = Ending Balance

NOTE: If an asterisk (*) appears before the Vacation Ending Balance, this employee is within 12 weeks of his/her anniversary date and has exceeded the maximum carryover allowed. The system will automatically cut vacation hours back to the maximum carryover during the payroll run in which the employee's anniversary date occurs. Notify both the employee and the employee's supervisor so that vacation may be scheduled and used before the anniversary date. The message will also appear on the employee’s statement of earnings.

COMP TIME BALANCES:

If an employee has comp time balances, the beginning balance, earned, adjusted, used and ending balance will display on the line beneath that employee's name.

Vacation and Sick Accrual Exception Report

Purpose:	This report lists an employee's SSN and name with various messages indicating exceptions that may require action by the department.
Availability:	This report is available from Information Services Web - Electronic Reports (ISW), Wednesday morning of pay week. The Payroll Representative should retrieve this report and forward copies to each supervisor. After review and if changes are made retain the corrected copy in the department. The official original copy of this report is maintained in ISW. (see the Common Retention Schedule ).
Messages:	Following are messages that might appear on the report and the required action. When a Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form is required, be sure to submit the form immediately so the employee's balances are corrected. ACTIVE EMPLOYEE NOT ACCRUING VACATION HOURS ??? ACTIVE EMPLOYEE NOT ACCRUING SICK HOURS ??? Reason: Employee was not paid by regular paycheck (warrant or advice of direct deposit). Required Action: If the employee worked but did not have hours reported on the time roster, prepare a POPR to report unpaid hours. Prepare a Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form to correct the leave balances for the unpaid hours. COMP HOURS GREATER THAN 90 HOURS Reason: Employee has accrued comp time hours in excess of 90 hours. Required Action: Arrange for the employee to take time off to reduce the amount of accrued comp time. The maximum allowable comp time balance accrual is 120 hours. After that amount, employees must be paid cash for any overtime hours worked. To pay an employee for comp time earned during the current pay period, report the hours to be paid as cash overtime on the Time Roster using the appropriate overtime code: T (straight time) or K (time and one half). To pay an employee for a prior pay period comp time balance in excess of 120 hours, or to pay an employee comp time hours to keep the comp time balance low, report the hours on a Payroll Online Payment Request (POPR). Select "Comp time payoff" as the reason for request for payment.. Using the drop down menu, select "CO" as the earnings type. Select the pay period in which the employee is being paid the excess hours. The POPR must have approval from HR/Compensation when any payment of comp time hours is to be paid. A lump sum comp time payment will be added to the employee's next regular paycheck. The comp time will be paid at the employee's current non exempt rate, if the employee is being paid in excess over 120 hours. EMPLOYEE DID NOT WORK UP TO HIS/HER FTE - ACTUAL PAID HOURS = xx Reason: The sum of hours paid for all of the positions reported did not add up to the employee's total FTE for one of the following reasons. The employee may occupy more than one position in a department or work in more than one department, and hours were only reported for one of the positions. The work hours will be less than FTE if the employee worked fewer hours than his or her FTE allowed. This occurs when an employee takes an excused unpaid absence or when a probationary employee takes time off (if vacation time is reported for a probationary employee, the Payroll system will recognize this as an unpaid absence). Required Action: In the case of "a.", report the missing hours on a POPR and a Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form to increase the employee's vacation and sick leave balance. In the case of "b.", no action is required. VACATION HOURS BALANCE LESS THAN ZERO SICK HOURS BALANCE LESS THAN ZERO Reason: The number of hours reported exceeds the number of hours available at the time the payroll run occurred. Required Action: Determine what the employee's balance should be and what was submitted. Arrange for repayment of overpaid hours and/or submit a Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form to adjust balances. VACATION HOURS OVER MAXIMUM ON ANNIVERSARY RESET = xx Reason: The employee's current balance plus the expected accrual exceeds the allowable carryover of vacation hours. Hours in excess of allowable carryover are deleted from the employee's available balance. Required Action: Notify the employee and the employee's supervisor. SICK LEAVE HOURS USED BY PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE = xx Reason: A probationary employee was paid for sick hours up to the balance reported in the system. Required Action: If more hours were reported than paid and the employee has accrued enough hours prepare a POPR to report unpaid hours and a Vacation/Sick Leave Adjustment Form to correct the sick leave balance. PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE WITH SICK BALANCE = xx Reason: This is the total of all sick leave advanced to the employee while on probation. Required Action: If the employee terminates prior to the end of probation, the balance shown must be collected from the employee's final paycheck. The department should deduct the sick hours taken from the hours to be issued as final payment. If the employee successfully completes probation, no action is required. *SICK LEAVE HOURS BALANCE HIGHER THAN POSSIBLE FOR LOS = xx Reason: The status date is incorrect, the sick leave balance reported is incorrect or an employee was terminated, rehired and balances had not previously been removed. Required Action:** Submit a PAF to Systems Control to correct the status date and/or submit a Vacation/Sick Leave Adjustment Form to correct the sick leave balance. * The system calculates the maximum number of sick leave hours which would be available if sick leave had never been taken. The calculation is based on the status date.

Probationary Employees with Sick Report

Purpose:	Lists probationary employees cumulative use of sick time.
Availability:	This report is available from Information Services Web - Electronic Reports (ISW), Wednesday morning of pay week. The Payroll Representative should retrieve this report and forward copies to each supervisor. After review and if changes are made retain the corrected copy in the department. The official original copy of this report is maintained in ISW. (see the Common Retention Schedule ).

Vacation/Sick/Comp Time Balance Adjustment Form

Purpose:

The Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form is used to correct vacation, sick and comp time leave balances for employees included in the Vacation and Sick Leave Accrual System. Only the amount by which a balance is to be increased or decreased is entered. The figure shown on the form will be added to or subtracted from the existing balance appearing on the Vacation and Sick Accrual Report.

DO NOT use this form to report actual balances or to generate payment for unreported hours. To request payment of previously unreported hours use the Payroll Online Payment Request (POPR).

To Obtain Form:

The form is available in the Information Services Web in the POPR (Payroll Online Payment Request) folder at:
https://www.fso.arizona.edu/isw/

Routing:

Complete the form, print it using your browser's print icon. Obtain the required signatures and forward to FSO/Operations.

Deadline:

The form is due in FSO/Operations by Thursday 5:00 pm non-pay week

Instructions:

1. Log into ISW at: http://www.fso.arizona.edu/isw/

2. Select the POPR Payroll Online Payment Request icon.

3. Select the Vacation/Sick/Comp Time Balance Adjustments link.

Instructions Overview: The Vacation/Sick/Comp Leave Hours Adjustment Form consists of two screens.

Screen 1:

Enter the employee�s EID and their name will be completed based on the information in PSOS.
Enter the department number and the department name will be completed based on the information in PSOS Department Table.
Enter the name of the Department Contact and Phone Number
Enter the number of PPE Dates (pay period end dates) that require an adjustment.

Click on the Submit button, you will advance to Screen 2.

Field Instructions: Some of the fields on the form are self explanatory, those needing explanation are explained below.

Select
Requested
Action: Select the Requested Action from the drop down menu. If there is more than one reason for this adjustment, select from the additional drop down options or select "Other" and include an explanation of what you want to occur in the text box.

Hours
Balance
Adjustments:
For each line:

Select the PPE Date from the drop down list of University pay period end dates.

Indicate the number of hours and whether they should be increased (+) or decreased (-) in the appropriate column for each pay period. NOTE: Do not enter what the new balance should be

Click on the Print Form button to generate the calculated Vacation/Sick/Comp Adjustment form

Example: A non-exempt employee was paid for 8 hours of vacation instead of 8 hours of comp time. To adjust the balances, complete both the VACATION and COMP TIME USED sections. Record 8.00 in the HOURS block in the VACATION section and a "+" in the +/- block, to increase the employee's available vacation hours. In addition, record 8.00 in the HOURS block in the COMP TIME USED section and a "-" in the +/- block, to decrease the employee's available comp time hours.

Edit or Start a New Form If you need to make a change to edit the hours adjustment or pay end fields click on Edit Form to make your corrections or click on Start a New Form to return to Screen 1 to process a new adjustment.

Exit Form Click on Main Menu to return to the ISW Main Menu, or click Sign Off to log out of ISW.

Request for Leave Form

Purpose:	An optional form that may be used to request and receive authorization to take vacation and other leave, to work overtime and to report sick leave taken. The ETR and the BETR are the official auditable records for time worked and leave taken at the University of Arizona. If used, this form must be retained for 5 years to support the leave time recorded on the ETR or BETR.
To Obtain Form:	An example has been provided for the department to design its own version, or a form that can be completed on line is available.
Routing:	An employee initiates the form, and the supervisor approves and ensures that the leave time is reported on the ETR submitted to the Payroll Representative. The Payroll Representative uses the ETR (Employee Time Record) or the BETR (Biweekly Employee Time Record) when preparing the Time Roster. The original should be retained in the department (see the Common Retention Schedule ). [Sample Form]

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maintained by: Jenny Ruiz
last reviewed: 04/24/06