The University of Memphis

Annual Leave

POLICIES

The University of Memphis provides all regular full and part-time employees with regular periods of rest and relaxation away from the work environment, grants annual leave for the health, welfare and morale of all concerned, and recognizes length of service.  Annual leave benefits shall be administered by the Department of Human Resources. 

To explain the provisions and aid in the administration of the annual leave benefits available to eligible employees, as established by the Tennessee Board of Regents. 

An employee scheduled to work 37.5 hours per week, in a unique budgeted position, for a period that is expected to exceed six months. A full-time employee may be a non-instructional employee, or an instructional employee who is hired for a full academic year and teaches the equivalent of 15 undergraduate hours or the equivalent of 12 graduate hours each semester.

A non-instructional employee scheduled to work fewer than 37.5 hours per week or an instructional employee who teaches less than the equivalent of 15 undergraduate hours or 12 graduate hours each semester.

MODFY stands for Modified Fiscal Year. Regular, full and part-time, non-teaching personnel whose regular service period is at least nine months but less than twelve months. The actual length and work schedule can vary at the discretion of the President. Normally, a MODFY employee works ten months, August through May and is off the months of June and July. MODFY employees may be exempt or non-exempt, and regardless of the number of non-work months, MODFY employees are paid 1/12 of their annual salary on regular monthly payrolls twelve months per year.  

The individual who directs a program/project. The principle investigator or project director is the individual with primary responsibility for the proper conduct and management of research or project described in the proposal or award. The term Principal Investigator is used primarily for research projects, while Program or Project Director is primarily used in conjunction with instructional or public service projects. 

The following accrual rates apply to continuing periods of full-time employment, regardless of the employee's probationary status; i.e., leave will accrue during the initial six-month probationary period.

All regular executive, administrative/professional, and twelve-month academic personnel (exempt from the overtime and record keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act), and exempt MODFY employees, are eligible to accrue annual leave as follows:

• Accrual Rate -15.0 hours per month

All regular clerical/support and MODFY personnel who are not exempt from the overtime and record keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, are eligible to accrue annual leave as follows:

0 to 5 years of service	7.5 hours per month
5 to10 years of service	11.3 hours per month
10 to 20 years of service	13.2 hours per month
20 or more years of service	15.0 hours per month

Full or part-time nine, ten, and eleven-month academic personnel, temporary employees, student employees, and employees in leave without pay status do not accrue annual leave.

Annual leave may not be taken before it is earned. (See procedure in this policy for Establishing the Date for Leave Accrual.)

Regular, part-time exempt and non-exempt personnel employed on a twelve-month service basis and regular exempt and non-exempt part-time personnel on MODFY (Modified Fiscal Year) appointments, regardless of probationary status, are eligible to accrue annual leave on a prorated basis equal to the percentage of their full-time equivalency.

This percentage is to be applied to the accrual rate and maximum accumulation as listed for regular, full-time employees. This prorata leave accrual applies to employees who work less than 37.5 hours per week for a period longer than six (6) months).

Employees on grants and contracts who are otherwise eligible to participate in the leave program will accrue leave at the same rate as do regular University employees.

Terminal leave payment for accumulated but unused leave may not be provided for payment to the employee upon termination unless funds are provided for such payments in the grant/contract.  

Regular, full and part-time exempt, and twelve-month academic employees, may earn no more than 180 hours of annual leave per year and may accumulate a maximum of 315 hours to carry forward for use in the next fiscal year.  

Depending upon years of service, regular, full and part-time non-exempt clerical/support and MODFY employees may earn from 90 to 180 hours of annual leave per year. The maximum carry forward is in accordance with the following schedule:

Years of Service	Accrual Rate Per Month	Maximum Annual Accumulation	Maximum Total Accumulation Within FY	Maximum Accumulation Carried Forward to Next FY
0 - 5	7.5	90.0	315.0	225.0
5 - 10	11.3	135.6	405.6	270.0
10 - 20	13.2	158.4	450.9	292.5
20 or more	15.0	180.0	495.0	315.0

It is the responsibility of the department or activity head to administer annual leave for employees under their supervision, including establishing processes for requesting leave, granting approval, and recording annual leave use. 

Official University holidays, Saturdays, Sundays, or time normally scheduled off shall not be counted as annual leave unless such time is designated as a workday for the employee. Eligible employees earn annual leave for the full month after working the major portion of the month, i.e., more than 50%.

Activity heads should encourage employees who have been employed at the University one year or longer to take all annual leave that they accrue each year. 

Normally the computation for leave credit begins on the employee's date of employment. The employee will receive leave credit upon working the major portion of the month, i.e., more than 50% the first calendar month. However, the date must be adjusted if the employee incurs a break in service, e.g., more than five days on unpaid leave of absence or other temporary breaks in employment. 

Regular, part-time employees later reclassified as regular, full-time employees will retain their original leave accrual dates; and their available, unused annual leave hours may be carried forward to the new full-time assignment. 

Employees who serve in temporary appointments accrue no leave; however, if they are subsequently appointed as a regular employee with no break in service, they will receive retroactive credit for the appropriate amount of annual and sick leave.

Employees on MODFY appointments shall receive a full year's credit for accrual level purposes for each MODFY completed. 

Occasionally an employee uses all his or her available sick leave hours, both personal and Sick Leave Bank membership, when absent due to illness or injury. In these cases, the Human Resources system will automatically deduct hours from the employee's annual leave balance to cover reported sick leave. If all sick and annual leave hours are exhausted, the employee will be placed on unpaid leave.

 In addition, the Sick Leave Banks provide emergency sick leave to members of the programs who have suffered an illness, injury, disability or quarantine who have exhausted their personal sick and annual leave. Refer to University policies Faculty Sick Leave Bank and Non-Faculty Sick Leave Bank for additional information.

NOTE: Although annual leave can be substituted for sick leave, the reverse is not allowed. Sick leave may not be substituted for annual leave.

Annual leave may be used in conjunction with other approved leaves such as Court, Military, Parental, and other approved leaves of absences.  Refer to those policies for more information.   

When a regular, exempt, MODFY employee is required to work during the non-scheduled working period of their assignment, up to two annual leave days per month may accrue.

For each of the non-scheduled working month a regular, non-exempt, clerical and support, MODFY employee works, annual leave is accrued in accordance with the maximum accumulation chart above.

For part-time, exempt and non-exempt employees, actual hours earned is calculated on a prorated basis equal to the percentage of their employment during that month compared to full-time employment.

When an employee transfers to a different category of employment, e.g., clerical/support to administrative/professional, he or she will retain the accrued annual leave up to the maximum allowed for the category to which he or she is transferred. 

However, if an employee has an accrued annual leave balance and transfers to a nine-month academic position, he or she is no longer eligible to accrue annual leave and will be required to (a) take all accumulated annual leave prior to the date of transfer or (b) receive lump sum payment for the hours of annual leave at the time of transfer.

Some positions are funded by grants or contracts and do not carry a budget adequate for paying out annual leave balances upon termination. This condition of employment is included in the job announcement and employment agreement.

If a current employee with a leave balance transfers into a position that cannot accept future annual leave payout liability, the employee nonetheless will transfer his or her leave balance to the new position and will be allowed to schedule annual leave upon request and approval by the Principal Investigator, Program/Project Director, or other designated supervisor. However, the employee will not be paid for accrued and unused annual leave upon termination from the position unless the budget is sufficient to cover the expense. Under these circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (P.I.) or Program/Project Director (P.D.) for the applicable contract or grant account to:

• Determine at the time an employee is transferred from another U of M department, TBR institution, or state agency, the account's ability to accept the future liability for the annual leave balance, e.g., possible payout upon termination.
• Before the job offer is made, discuss with the transferee the terms and conditions of employment as it relates to annual leave balances.

When an employee transfers from a grant or contract funded position to a position not grant or contract funded, any annual leave balance accrued while in the grant or contract funded position will be transferred with the employee to the new department with no restrictions.   

Upon separation, employees eligible to be paid for accrued but unused annual leave shall be paid by lump sum payment for all accrued and unused annual leave with these exceptions:

• Employees terminated for gross misconduct, or who resign to avoid termination for gross misconduct will not be paid for annual leave. NOTE: Employees may not resign to avoid termination after completion of an investigation into suspected theft of institutional property. See http://www.tbr.edu/policies/default.aspx?id=1402, TBR General Personnel Policy.
• Employees in positions funded by grants or contracts may be paid for accrued and unused annual leave by lump sum if the grant or contract provides for this payment.
• Employees who retire from the University may choose to be paid for annual leave either by lump sum payment or by remaining on the payroll by use of ‘terminal leave’.

During the period of terminal leave, the retiring employee shall not earn additional annual or sick leave, shall not be eligible to use sick leave, and shall not be eligible for any salary increase. However, an employee shall receive credit for any official holidays occurring during the period of terminal leave. The employee shall also continue to be eligible for group health insurance coverage with payments being deducted from the terminal leave pay. 

When choosing 'Terminal Leave', the employee's official date of retirement shall be the date after the annual leave is exhausted.  If the last working day occurs prior to July 1, payment for accrued annual leave under this section is not limited to the maximum accumulation that may be carried forward from one fiscal year to the next, even if the terminal leave period extends beyond July 1.

Other employees terminating and being paid for all accrued and unused annual leave by lump sum payment will have their last physical working day listed as their official date of termination.

Hourly employees are paid their annual leave based on their last hourly pay rate. In order to determine the amount due a monthly paid employee, the annual base salary will be converted into an hourly rate (pay rate divided by 1950 hours) and then multiplied by the number of hours of annual leave remaining.

In the case of death of an employee, payment for the employee's unused accrued annual leave is paid to the employee's estate or designated beneficiary.

An employee who transfers to another Tennessee system institution/school or another State of Tennessee agency shall not be paid for his or her accrued and unused annual leave. Instead, all unused annual leave shall be transferred to the other institution, school, or state agency in accordance with the Tennessee Board of Regents policy.         

When regular employees are involuntarily terminated, the University is ordinarily required to pay at least a two-week notice to hourly paid employees and at least a one-month notice to monthly paid employees. Likewise, when regular employees voluntarily terminate (resign), they are expected to give the University a comparable notice, i.e., a two-week notice from hourly employees and a one-month notice from monthly paid employees. The only exception to the notice requirements is for employees who are still in their six-month probationary period and employees who are involuntarily terminated for misconduct. Temporary employees are not entitled to receive nor are they required to give notice.

Occasionally, regular employees are not required to work during their notice period, and the University compensates them for the customary amount of time.  This is referred to as "pay in lieu of notice". When this occurs, employees are entitled to receive annual leave accrual for the period paid in lieu of notice. 

Employees are not eligible to accrue annual leave while in temporary status. However, temporary employees who are subsequently appointed, with no break in service, as regular employees are eligible to accrue annual leave and will be credited with leave accruals retroactive to the date of employment.

Eligible employees will accrue annual leave based on their date of employment. Eligible employees earn annual leave for the full month after working the major portion of the month, i.e., more than 50%.

Leave may be used when earned, regardless of an employee's probationary status, subject to the discretion of the approving authority. Annual leave may not be taken before it is earned.

UM1573

UM1569

http://policies.memphis.edu/UM1527.htm 

UM1544

UM1547