Benefits Human Resources

If you are hired into a full-time, benefit-eligible position before the 16^th day of the month, you will receive sick and vacation accruals for that month.  If you are hired on the 16^th day of the month or later, you will not receive accruals until the 16^th of the following month.

For employees in an active employment status, accruals are added to Kronos on the 16^th of the month and can be used in that pay period.

You cannot use accruals in the pay period before you accrue.  You can take vacation or sick leave in the pay period in which you will accrue.

The only time you can take unpaid leave and save vacation is if you are eligible and have been approved for FMLA leave.  Otherwise, you must exhaust your vacation, sick (if the reason for your absence qualifies for use of sick leave), personal preference, and comp time before taking unpaid leave.

In accordance with Rule 5-200A, each January, staff who accrue vacation leave will have up to four days (32 hours) of accrued sick leave converted to vacation annually provided the following conditions are met:  the Employee has accumulated 48 days (384 hours) of sick leave by January 1, and during the following calendar year the Employee uses fewer than four days of sick leave (32 hours).  The actual number of days converted will depend on the number of sick leave days taken during the year.

Employees who have sick leave converted to vacation may request to have the conversion reversed (with sick leave reinstated) by emailing AskHR@utah.edu by February 15^th.

• Approval must be obtained from your department manager before working a Holiday.
• When an hourly employee in a benefit-eligible position works on a Holiday, the hours worked will be paid at time and a half and will count towards overtime worked for the week.  Holiday pay is based on the employee’s FTE for that day.
• For example, an employee in a 75% FTE benefitted hourly position works 6 hours on a Holiday.  They will receive 1.5 x their hourly rate for HWK – Holiday Worked Campus (Kronos will automatically populate this code for hours worked on the Holiday).  The employee will also enter 6:00 hours of HOL – Holiday Pay for the Holiday (or a different day with supervisor approval).
• Employees in non-benefitted positions receive straight pay for working on the Holiday and the hours count toward the overtime calculation for the week.  Kronos will enter the pay code HHW – Hourly Non Ben Holiday Worked for non-benefitted employees.
• Exempt/salaried employees who are required to work on a holiday may schedule use of the holiday on a different day with their supervisor.
• Holiday pay should be used within the same pay period if possible; otherwise, it should be used as soon as possible.

Yes.  You are able to use the holiday pay on a different day.  Here are some examples of how this works:

• If your FTE is 1.0 and you are scheduled to work four 10-hour days on Tuesday through Friday and the holiday falls on a Monday, you will have 8 hours of holiday pay to use on one of your upcoming work days. If you wish to take a full day off on a later day, you would use 8 hours of holiday pay and 2 hours of vacation or personal preference leave pay to cover your full 10-hour shift.
• If your FTE is .80 and you are scheduled to work four 8-hour days on Tuesday through Friday and the holiday falls on a Monday, you will have 6.4 hours of holiday pay to use on one of your upcoming work days. If you wish to take a full day off on a later day, you would use 6.4 hours of holiday pay and 1.6 hours of vacation or personal preference leave pay to cover your full 8-hour shift.

Holiday pay should be used within the same pay period if possible; otherwise, it should be used as soon as possible.  For hourly employees, holiday hours are not included in the overtime calculation of hours worked.

If you are taking a leave with pay such as FMLA or vacation, you will receive pay for the holiday and do not need to use vacation or sick leave for that day.

If you are on unpaid leave and do not receive pay for a full day during the week of the holiday, you do not receive holiday pay.

Yes.  A University Closure day is determined by the President of the University.  These are special days that are usually granted during the holidays or on the rare occasion of hazardous weather conditions, emergencies or other special circumstances.  They have different rules than a holiday.

Closure days DO NOT apply to employees of the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, patient care areas of U Health Academics and identified community service departments that provide critical services or community service to the University and general public.

Voluntarily Working.  An hourly employee should only work on a university closure day with prior approval from their department manager.  When an hourly employee voluntarily works on a university closure day, the worked hours will be paid at straight time and will count toward overtime hours for the week. If the employee is also a benefitted employee (50% FTE and above), the employee will also receive the University closure pay only up to their scheduled shift hours for that day.  The worked hours and closure pay may not exceed the scheduled shift hours for the day. Closure pay is not counted toward the weekly overtime calculation.

For example: Scheduled shift is 8 hours for a benefitted, hourly employee.  Employee chooses to work and has been approved by the manager to work part of the 8-hour shift on the closure day.  The employee works for 4 of the hours within that shift, Kronos will populate 4 hours of UCW – Univ Closure Worked.  Payroll reporter enters 4 hours of UCD – Univ Closure Day.

If the employee is not in a benefit-eligible position, they will receive regular pay for the hours worked and no UCD will be paid.

Required to Work.  When an hourly employee in a benefit-eligible position is required (mandated by the department) to work on a university closure day:

• The worked hours will be paid as UCW – Univ Closure Worked at straight time and will count in the overtime calculation of hours for the week.
• Payroll reporter will enter UCC – Univ Closure Call Back for the number of hours worked (pays at ½ time regular hourly rate).
• Payroll reporter will enter UCD – Univ Closure Day for entire shift (pays at 1 x hourly rate)

If the employee is not in a benefit-eligible position, the system will calculate REG at straight time for the hours worked.  Payroll reporter will manually add UCC for the hours worked.  No UCD will be paid.

No. You must be scheduled to work on a closure day to receive UCD pay.  University Closure Days are not Holidays.

If you are on a paid leave of absence and the closure is on a regularly scheduled day during that leave, you will be paid for the closure pay.  You or the department will need to add the UCD closure code to the timecard instead of using your other accruals.

If you have a 12-month appointment, you will have vacation of 25 days/year and will be tracked by your department or in the faculty time tracker.  Your new vacation is use or lose each year and will not pay out at termination.  Your vacation will be prorated for the remainder of the year.  You will continue to accrue sick leave and personal preference leave, although you will report the use of those hours in accordance with your department’s procedure.

Your accrued vacation and sick will stay in PeopleSoft.  You should use sick and vacation tracked by your department first, then if more is needed, you can use accruals in PeopleSoft.  If you don’t have Kronos access, you will need to submit an accrual adjustment form when banked accruals are used.

Upon termination of employment, your accrued staff vacation will be paid out and charged to the department where you are working and at your rate of pay in effect at the time of termination of employment.

You will have vacation of 25 days/year, which may be tracked by your department or in Kronos (check with your new department to find out).  Your new vacation is use or lose each year and will not pay out at termination.  Your vacation will be prorated for the remainder of the year.  You will continue to accrue sick leave and personal preference leave, although you will report the use of those hours in accordance with your department’s procedure.

Your accrued vacation and sick will stay in PeopleSoft.  You should use sick and vacation tracked by your department first, then if more is needed, you can use accruals in PeopleSoft.  If you don’t have Kronos access, you will need to submit an accrual adjustment form when banked accruals are used.

Upon termination of employment, your accrued staff vacation will be paid out and charged to the department where you are working and at your rate of pay in effect at the time of termination of employment.

If you are moving to an academic staff position, you will have new vacation based on your total years of service with the University.

If you are moving to a post doc position, you will have 15 days per year of vacation.

Your vacation will be prorated for the remainder of the year.  Your new vacation is use or lose each year and will not pay out at termination.  You will continue to accrue sick leave and personal preference leave, although you will report the use of those hours in accordance with your department’s procedure.

Your accrued vacation and sick will stay in PeopleSoft.  You should use sick and vacation tracked by your department first, then if more is needed, you can use accruals in PeopleSoft.  If you don’t have Kronos access, you will need to submit an accrual adjustment form when banked accruals are used.

Upon termination of employment, your accrued staff vacation will be paid out and charged to the department where you are working and at your rate of pay in effect at the time of termination of employment.

Your contract with the Community Clinics will include information about your new vacation.  All existing vacation accruals will be paid out to you.

You will continue to accrue sick leave and personal preference leave, although you will report the use of those hours in accordance with your department’s procedure.

Your accrued sick leave will stay in PeopleSoft.  You should use sick leave tracked by your department first, then if more is needed, you can use accruals in PeopleSoft.  If you don’t have Kronos access, you will need to submit an accrual adjustment form when banked accruals are used.

You will have 15 days per year of vacation.  Your vacation will be prorated for the remainder of the year.  Your new vacation is use or lose each year and will not pay out at termination.  You will continue to accrue sick leave and personal preference leave, although you will report the use of those hours in accordance with your department’s procedure.

Your accrued vacation and sick will stay in PeopleSoft.  You should use sick and vacation tracked by your department first, then if more is needed, you can use accruals in PeopleSoft.  If you don’t have Kronos access, you will need to submit an accrual adjustment form when banked accruals are used.

Upon termination of employment, your accrued staff vacation will be paid out and charged to the department where you are working and at your rate of pay in effect at the time of termination of employment.

You will begin accruing vacation leave based on your total years of full-time service with the University.  You may continue to use unused vacation hours with your new department’s consent and tracking through the end of the year; however, you cannot roll over anything to the next year.

If your sick leave is not reflected in Kronos, you will need to have your prior department submit an accrual adjustment form to add unused sick leave to Kronos.

You will report use of all vacation, sick and personal preference leave through Kronos.

Your accrued leave time will remain in Kronos and can be used as needed in your new position.  You will not accrue any additional sick or vacation time.

Your accrued vacation leave will be paid out to you and your sick and personal preference leave will be adjusted to zero.  You will not be able to use any of that time in your new position.

If you later return to a full-time, benefit-eligible position, your service date with the University will be adjusted and your sick leave will be reinstated.  You will receive personal preference leave as if you were a new hire.  If this doesn’t happen automatically, contact the Department of Human Resources.

In accordance with University Rule 5-301A, up to 80 hours of PTO will be transferred to vacation and the balance of your PTO will be paid to you.

You will receive your vacation payout on the next regular pay cycle after your department submits your termination ePAF.

Yes.  Before you receive your final paycheck, log into UBenefits.  Click on the Retirement Savings tile and enter the amount you would like to defer into your retirement account.  You will pay FICA taxes on the amount you defer (this happens with all retirement contributions) and the balance will be paid to you through payroll.