8.1 Purpose
8.2 Guidelines8.2.1 Staff Holidays8.3 Resources
8.2.2 Faculty Holidays
8.2.3 Weekend Holidays
8.2.4 Agency Transfers
8.2.5 Required Work on Holidays
8.2.6 Compensation for Holidays
8.2.7 Rate of Holiday Pay
8.2.8 Unique Circumstances
8.2.9 Required to Work on a Holiday
8.2.10 Holiday on Employees' Scheduled Day Off
8.2.11 Holidays Which Occur During Leave of Absence
8.2.12 A Holiday is the First Day of a Pay Period
8.2.13 A Holiday is the Last Day of a Pay Period
8.2.14 When a Holiday Falls on the Last Day of the Month
8.2.15 Request for Time Off to Observe Religious Holidays
8.0 HOLIDAYS (H)
8.1 Purpose
To enable employees to observe specific days as holidays which would otherwise be considered workdays.
8.2 Guidelines
The following days are observed as holidays for classified staff. The holidays for 12-month faculty are nationally observed and classes are not in sessions. The university is closed with essential personnel being designated to work. The one exception is Labor Day, on which classes are normally in session. On this holiday, department heads have the flexibility to decide to close a department based on the impact on student services class scheduling, employee workload, and employee leave balances. The following holidays will be observed, as well as any other holidays designated by the Governor or by the President of the United States.
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8.2.1 Classified Staff Holidays Are:
- New Year's Day - January 1
- Lee-Jackson Day - Friday Preceding the Third Monday in January
- Martin Luther King Day - Third Monday in January
- Presidents' Day - Third Monday in February
- Memorial Day - Last Monday in May
- Independence Day - July 4
- Labor Day - First Monday in September
- Columbus Day - Second Monday in October
- Veteran's Day - November 11
- Thanksgiving Day - Fourth Thursday in November
- The day after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Day - December 25
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8.2.2 Faculty Holidays Are:
- New Year's Day - January 1
- Martin Luther King Day - Third Monday in January
- Memorial Day - Last Monday in May
- Independence Day - July 4
- Thanksgiving Day - Fourth Thursday in November
- The day after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Day - December 25
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8.2.3 Weekend Holidays
Saturday holidays are observed on the preceding Friday. Sunday holidays are observed on the following Monday.
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8.2.4 Agency Transfers
When an employee transfers between agencies that observe different holiday schedules, the employee shall observe the holidays of the agency to which they transfer. No adjustments may be made for possible holidays lost or gained. Compensatory leave for holidays worked will not transfer. Balances must be paid by the previous agency as applicable for classified and university staff employees (see section 9.2.2 a.). Faculty are not eligible to receive payment for compensatory leave and will, therefore, lose any unused compensatory leave.
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8.2.5 Required Work on Holidays
Departments should coordinate holiday schedules according to business needs requiring part or full staffing.
Management's Determination to Close on Holidays
- Department heads have the option to close their departments for all or part of the week between the holidays of Christmas and New Year's Day. This is an exception to University Policy 4300, "Hours of Work," which normally requires that all departments remain open between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. when the university is open. The announcement of a week long closing should be communicated well in advance to encourage employee to assess and protect their leave balances to cover the required time off.
- The decision to close a department on any holiday is the option of the department head. Consideration should be given to the flexibility of the department workload, sensitivity to employee preference, and available leave balances. Certain departments are required to remain open due to the nature of the work when minimal or, in some cases, full staffing may be necessary.
- Twelve-month faculty, administrative and professional faculty, and staff must use either annual or compensatory leave for all time taken off during office closure.
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8.2.6 Compensation for Holidays
Except when holidays are an employee's effective date of employment employees must either work or be on paid leave the full workday before and the full workday after the holiday in order to receive holiday pay.
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8.2.7 Rate of Holiday Pay
- Full-time employees will receive eight hours of pay for each qualifying holiday, regardless of work schedule.
- Part-time employees will receive holiday pay equal to the percentage of full-time hours they are employed to work. EXAMPLE: A part-time staff employee who works 50% of the normal full-time schedule, or 20 hours per week, will receive four hours of pay for each qualifying holiday.
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8.2.8 Unique Circumstances
If a holiday is a day that an employee is normally scheduled to work more than the number of hours for which they would receive holiday pay, the employee may be allowed to work the additional hours on another day or charge the additional hours to applicable accrued leave. EXAMPLE: An employee who normally works 50% of a full-time schedule, or 20 hours per week, has the following schedule:
Monday 8 hours Tuesday 8 hours Wednesday 4 hours
Monday is a holiday and the employee does not work, but is entitled to only four hours of holiday pay. To make up for the additional four hours that the employee would have worked had Monday not been a holiday, those hours may be worked on another day within that workweek (with supervisory approval), or be charged to accumulated leave.
If an employee does not work the additional hours or have accrued leave to cover them, they will be placed on leave without pay for those hours, will not be eligible for the holiday pay, and will not accumulate annual or sick leave during that period.Alternate Work Schedules
Full-time employees who work alternate work schedules (more than an eight hour day, possibly resulting in additional days off between Monday and Friday) receive eight hours for holidays. EXAMPLE: If an employee works four, ten hour days and their work schedule is the following:
Monday 10 hours Tuesday 10 hours Wednesday 10 hours Thursday 10 hours
Monday is a holiday and the employee does not work, but is entitled to only eight hours of holiday pay. To make up for the additional two hours that the employee would have worked had Monday not been a holiday, those hours may be worked on another day within that workweek (with supervisory approval) or charged to accumulated leave.
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8.2.9 Required to Work on a Holiday
Employees required to work on a holiday will be paid for the hours they work and will be credited with compensatory leave for the hours worked, not to exceed the proportionate number of hours to the percent of time employed.
- Effect on Overtime Pay
For non-exempt employees (eligible to receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek), only hours worked over 40 in any one workweek shall be compensated at the overtime rate, regardless of how many hours are worked during a holiday.- Employee does not work on holiday
When determining total hours within a workweek for overtime purposes, holiday hours that are not worked are not included.
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8.2.10 Holiday on Employees' Scheduled Day Off
- Employees who are not required to work
If a scheduled day off is a holiday and an employee does not work that day, they may receive compensatory leave for the holiday.- Employees required to work
Employees required to work on a holiday that also is their scheduled day off will receive pay for working, and receive compensatory leave for working a holiday.
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8.2.11 Holidays Which Occur During Leave of Absence
- Leave with pay
Employees will not charge leave for a holiday that occurs during leave with pay. Holiday hours will be recorded as a holiday taken, and no compensatory leave is earned.- Leave without pay
Employees on any type of leave of absence without pay on the work day before a holiday and/or all day the work day after the holiday will not be paid or receive compensatory leave for the holiday.
If an employee works the holiday, they will receive pay for working only, and will not earn compensatory leave for the holiday.- Workers' Compensation Leave
Employees who are on workers' compensation leave and receiving salary supplements provided by the Commonwealth (see state policy 4.60, Workers' Compensation) when a holiday occurs, the holiday will be counted as part of the 92 calendar days for which the supplements are payable, and the employees will not receive compensatory leave for the holiday.- VSDP
An employee will not charge or earn leave for a holiday that occurs while the employee is on full disability and is receiving full short-term disability pay provided under the VSDP. The holiday will be recorded as VSDP.
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8.2.12 A Holiday is the First Day of a Pay Period
If a holiday is the first workday of a pay period and employees are scheduled to begin employment or return from leave with or without pay on the following day, the first day of the pay period will be considered the first day worked or the first day of return from leave, therefore employees will be paid for the holiday.
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8.2.13 A Holiday is the Last Day of a Pay Period
If a holiday is the last workday of a pay period and employee's last day worked in state employment, or last day of paid leave related to illness or disability before leaving state employment is the day before the holiday, the holiday shall be considered to be the date of separation, therefore employees will be paid for the holiday.
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8.2.14 When A Holiday Falls on the Last Day of the Month
If a holiday falls on the last day of the month and the employee will retire on the first day of the following month, the employee will receive pay for the holiday if he or she worked, or was paid leave on the last workday before the holiday.
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8.2.15 Request for Time Off to Observe Religious Holidays
- Departments should make reasonable accommodation for the religious holiday needs of employees, unless accommodation will result in undue hardship to the department.
- If employees request time off to observe religious holidays, which are during their normal work hours, departments should make reasonable efforts to allow time off for the holidays. Employees should request leave in advance to permit departments to accommodate the request.
- Requests for time off for religious holidays should be denied only if department management determines that the employees' absence would cause the department undue hardship in conducting business. If a request for leave for this purpose is denied, the department should be prepared to demonstrate that granting the request would have resulted in such a hardship.
- Leave shall be charged to employees' applicable, accrued leave balances, and in the absence of leave, to leave without pay.
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8.3 Resources