Policy: Vacation Policy for Support Staff Excluded from Bargaining Units

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 1994 (replaces policy dated July 1, 1990)

AUTHORITY

Vice-President (Finance and Administration)

PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to define the vacation plan for support staff excluded from bargaining units. This policy establishes an annual paid vacation in order to provide employees with a break from their regular duties. It is the intent of this policy that the vacation entitlement be taken in the year in which it is provided.

SCOPE

This policy applies to all support staff at the University who are excluded from bargaining units. For employees who are members of a bargaining unit, consult the corresponding article in the appropriate collective agreement.

RESPONSIBILITY

The Director of Human Resources is responsible for the communication, administration, and interpretation of this policy.

POLICY

Definitions

The vacation year shall be defined as a one-year period from April 1st to March 31st.

Vacation Entitlement shall be defined as the number of days available to an employee for use as vacation in the current vacation year.

Vacation Credits shall be defined as the number of days accumulated towards the next year's vacation entitlement.

Accumulated Service shall be defined as the total accumulated time in years an employee has worked for the University without termination, resignation, leave of absence without pay, or lay-off for twelve (12) consecutive months.

Approval

Where the term approved or approval is used in this policy, it shall mean the approval of the appropriate manager. The appropriate manager shall be defined as the President, Vice-President, Dean or Director, Head of Administrative Unit or Department Head to whom the employee in question would normally report.

Vacation Plan for Salaried Employees

Support staff members excluded from bargaining units shall be entitled to vacation with pay in accordance with the following table. Column A represents the accumulated service at March 31st of any year, and Column B represents the number of days of vacation for each bi-weekly pay period or prorated part thereof worked in the interval between April 1st of the previous year and March 31st of the then current year. Column C represents the annual equivalent of Column B assuming continued full-time employment.

Table 1

Rounding of Vacation Entitlement

Vacation entitlement amounting to a portion of a day shall be rounded to the nearest full day, e.g. 12.50 shall be rounded to 13, 12.49 shall be rounded to 12.

Calculation of Vacation Entitlement

To determine an employee's vacation entitlement:

a) determine the appropriate accumulated service category at March 31st in Column A. (e.g. for an employee with 2.82 years accumulated service the appropriate category is 0.00 to 5.99.)
b) for a salaried employee who was employed full time for 26 bi-weekly pay periods during the previous vacation year, the days of vacation entitlement appear in Column C.
c) for a salaried employee who was employed full time for less than 26 bi-weekly pay periods in the previous vacation year, a detailed calculation is required. Determine the number of biweekly pay periods worked during the previous vacation year. Periods of less than a full pay period are prorated (e.g. an employee who has worked 17 full pay periods plus 6 days has worked 17.6 pay periods.) Multiply the number of pay periods by the appropriate decimal factor in Column B. (In the example above, this would be 17.6 x .58 = 10.21 days of vacation.)
d) for employees who work less than the full-time bi-weekly hours in a pay period, the result would be prorated. Where an employee works six (6) of the ten (10) full days of a biweekly pay period, the result would be multiplied by 6/10ths. (In the example above, the results would be 10.21 x 6/10 = 6.13 days of vacation entitlement.)
e) the application of rounding takes place at this point. (In the examples above, 10.21 would be rounded to ten (10) and 6.13 would be rounded to six (6) days of vacation entitlement.)

Leave with Pay

Any absence from work with pay such as sick leave, vacation, bereavement leave, etc. (excluding adoption leaves and S.U.B. payments) shall not affect the calculation of vacation credits and shall be considered as time worked.

Vacation in Lieu of Overtime

In addition to vacation entitlement based on accumulated service, those employees who are covered by the section of the Overtime Policy for Support Staff Excluded from Bargaining Units entitled "Vacation in Lieu of Overtime," may be entitled to a maximum of five (5) additional working days of vacation entitlement in each vacation year in lieu of pay for future overtime.

Employees commencing employment after March 31st shall be credited with a pro rata portion of the five (5) days of vacation in lieu of overtime.

Leave without Pay

Leaves of absence without pay totalling more than (10) days in a vacation year shall result in a pro rata reduction of the bi-weekly pay periods worked, thus affecting the number of vacation days calculated.

Vacation Entitlement Lists

In May of each year, a list of vacation entitlements for the current vacation year shall be provided by the Human Resources Department for distribution to areas concerned.

Vacation in Advance

Subject to the written approval of the appropriate manager, up to ten (10) working days of vacation may be taken in advance of the next vacation year provided that the employee has the equivalent vacation credits. Copies of the agreements regarding vacation taken in advance shall be forwarded to the Human Resources Department.

Carry Over of Vacation

An employee may request approval to carry over up to a maximum of five (5) working days of vacation entitlement to the next vacation year. The Human Resources Department shall be advised of any agreements regarding the carry over of vacation days.

Approval of Vacation Dates

An employee's request for specific vacation dates are subject to the approval of his/her appropriate manager. Such approval shall take into consideration the needs of the department.

Paid Holidays

When a day observed as a paid holiday occurs during an employee's vacation period, the day shall be recorded as a statutory holiday and not a day of vacation.

Extension of Vacation

Where a leave of absence without pay is approved in order to extend a vacation period, the period of leave without pay shall follow the paid vacation period.

Sick Leave

Information regarding sickness and injury occurring during a period of vacation is contained in the Sick Leave Policy for Support Staff Excluded from Bargaining Units.

Payment in Advance

Employees leaving on vacation may receive their vacation salary prior to the start of their vacation upon request to the Payroll Department at least ten (10) working days in advance of the start of their vacation period.

Vacation on Termination of Employment
Should a salaried employee be laid off, resign, retire or for any other reason including long term disability have his/her employment interrupted or terminated, the vacation entitlement and vacation credits shall be paid to the employee. Vacation entitlement shall be paid in days of regular salary while vacation credits shall be paid in accordance with Table 2. This provision shall not apply to an employee temporarily laid off or on a leave of absence from his/her position.

Vacation Pay for Hourly-Paid Employees

Hourly-paid employees shall have vacation pay added to their regular pay in each pay period in accordance with Table 2 in lieu of annual vacation with pay. Column A represents the number of years of accumulated service at March 31st and Column B represents the percentage of the normal hourly rate to be paid in addition to the normal hourly rate.

The vacation pay shall not be added to hours worked at overtime rates.

Hourly-paid employees shall be entitled to leave without pay for a vacation period equal in days to the amount of vacation pay received during the previous vacation year.

Table 2

Christmas - New Year's Vacation Entitlement

Salaried employees who qualify for Christmas, Boxing Day, Floating Holiday, New Year's Day and the 1/2 day holidays before Christmas Day and New Year's Day (when applicable) as paid holidays shall also be entitled to three (3) days paid Christmas - New Year's Vacation Entitlement.

The three (3) days paid Christmas - New Year's Vacation Entitlement shall normally be taken in conjunction with the annual Christmas - New Year's Break on such days as designated by the University by March 1st preceding the Christmas - New Year's Break in each year.