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Under the previous university vacation policy, the number of vacation leave hours that could be carried over from one calendar year to the next is limited to the number of hours earned by the employee that calendar year. At the end of the year, any accrued vacation hours above that amount were “lost.” The previous maximum annual vacation leave accrual amounts were 200 hours for Office/Service Staff and 192 hours for Academic/Administrative and Managerial/Professional Staff.
The policy revision is in response to a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling last year in the Roseland vs. Strategic Staff Management case. As a result of that ruling, NU Central Administration advised all employees in December that the university would not require employees to “use or lose” their excess accrued but unused vacation balances as of the end of 2006, and all vacation leave balances were carried over into 2007.
Under the changes to university policy and bylaws approved by the Board of Regents on Friday, the maximum vacation balance for all employees was increased to 280 hours effective April 1.
However, once an employee has accumulated 280 hours of unused vacation, he or she shall not earn or receive additional vacation accruals until his or her accumulated and unused vacation is less than 280 hours.
Under the new policy, employees who possess more than 280 hours of accrued but unused vacation may wish to schedule vacation leave during March and thereafter in order to continue to accrue additional vacation.
Employees who have accumulated more than 280 hours of vacation leave as of April 1 will be entitled to retain such excess vacation leave of more than 280 hours for future use but they will not continue to accrue more leave until their balance drops below 280 hours.
The policy revisions also modify the sick leave policy for Office/Service Staff.
Under the previous policy, Office/Service Staff could accumulate above the maximum limit of 1440 hours, with the balance being adjusted back to 1440 at the end of each calendar year. The new policy caps sick leave accumulation at 1440 hours (180 days) in order to remain in compliance with the law. Office/Service Staff who retire will continue to receive a supplemental salary payment equal to one-fourth of their accumulated sick leave up to a maximum of 360 hours under the revised policy.
Leave balances are displayed at the bottom of the pay advice and are also available in SAP ESS. Employees can access the SAP ESS Web site at http://ess.nebraska.edu/ess/index.shtml.
Questions should be directed to UNMC’s human resources payroll department at 559-7460.