Winter Break 2021 Additional Holiday Days FAQ
Gov. Polis has granted additional days of paid leave over the holidays for all permanent, full-time and part-time state employees. The university will observe the additional holidays by closing offices on the full week of Dec. 20, adding Dec. 20 and 21 to the current university holidays of Dec. 22, 23 and 24. The state granted an additional one and a half days of paid leave for employees. Adding a day and a half to the three current holidays would leave the university open for only half a day the week of Dec. 20. To avoid this, the university has granted an additional half day of leave, closing operations for the entire week.
Who is eligible to take holiday days?
All state classified employees, along with salaried administrative professional, research, post-doctoral fellows, graduate assistants and faculty are eligible and encouraged to treat these designated days as a holiday. Non-student hourly and student employees are not eligible and should work with their supervisors to determine their work schedule for Dec. 20 and 21.
How will time for the holiday be reflected in the TimeClock Plus system?
Employees do not need to enter leave in the TimeClock Plus system for these two days. These two additional days of leave will be categorized as administrative leave.
More information departmental Human Resources professionals:
Human Resources will create approved “Admin Leave” entries for salaried employees on Dec. 20 and 21 according to the employee’s FTE: 8 hours each day for a 40 hour/week employee; 6 hours each day for 30 hour/week employee, etc. Department Human Resource users are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of TimeClock Plus entries, particularly if the employee’s full-time equivalent changes prior to winter break, if they work an alternative schedule, or if they will be working on Dec. 20 – 21 and observing the additional holidays at a later date.
Department TimeClock Plus users can unapprove, edit, and reapprove hours, or delete them entirely.
If you are an Human Resources representative for a department and want to request exemption in advance for specific job assignments or groups from receiving this administrative leave entry, please email [email protected] with the relevant assignment numbers (or department name, if exempting an entire department) as soon as possible.
I am an employee with essential or critical duties and cannot participate in the additional holidays on Dec. 20 and 21. What are my options?
Employees with duties that prevent them from taking these additional leave days should coordinate with their supervisor to schedule administrative leave before June 30, the conclusion of the 2021/2022 fiscal year. It is not required to take the two leave days consecutively. These days are not eligible for payout or rollover at the end of the fiscal year.
I have already submitted a leave day(s) that coincides with the Winter Break additional holiday days; can I participate in the holiday days instead of taking my leave?
If annual leave days have already been approved, please ask your department HR representative to delete the annual leave segments. Supervisors should deny any unapproved annual leave requests on Dec. 20 and 21.
Are administrative professional hourly and state classified hourly employees eligible for the additional days?
Admin professional hourly employees are not eligible for holiday pay, so therefore will not receive administrative leave for the additional holiday days.
State classified hourly employees will earn holiday pay on a pro-rated basis based on the number of hours worked in December. The holiday pay should be calculated and applied to the first pay period in January.
See the HR Manual for more details on properly calculating holiday pay.
My role and department are not considered essential and we are planning to work Dec. 20 and 21; is this allowable?
Consult with your supervisor to determine if your role and duties are required to meet business needs on the observed days.
If there is a business need requiring you to work on Dec. 20 or 21, work with your supervisor to identify future dates for you to observe these days during this fiscal year.
What is the deadline to edit administrative leave and holiday pay for December 20 and 21 to ensure it is recorded accurately for payroll purposes?
Administrative leave for salaried employees must be entered by Jan. 10, 2022.
Holiday pay for biweekly employees should be added to the biweekly pay period that ends Jan. 14 by Tuesday, Jan. 18.
I work on a sponsored research project; can I participate in the additional holiday days?
Yes, all employee classifications listed under the first question in this FAQ as eligible for administrative leave to observe the additional holiday days.