Frequently Asked Questions - Policies

If you have at least 12 months of University employment (all prior University employment counts) and if you have worked at least 1,250 actual hours during the 12 months prior to the requested leave, you are covered by the provisions of FMLA and CFRA.

You cannot request a diagnosis or description of the condition. Medical certification is limited to the following information:

• Confirmation that the employee (or the employee's family member) has a serious health condition as defined by Federal and State law;
• The date of the onset of the serious health condition;
• The probable duration of the serious health condition;
• A written statement that the employee is not able to perform the essential functions of his or her job; and
• If intermittent leave or a reduced work schedule is being considered, a statement that it is medically necessary.

Under law, medical certification is discretionary for both staff and academic appointees. Leave may be designated by the Department as falling under FMLA/CFRA if you know, or have reason to believe, a serious health condition exists (e.g., the employee is hospitalized). However, University policies and union contracts for staff and academic personnel differ on whether medical certification is mandatory in order to document a FMLA/CFRA qualifying event. Check the applicable policy or union contract, or consult with your Employee Relations Specialist or Office of Academic Personnel.

The University may require medical re-certification of employees who are completely off work or on a reduced schedule leave once the originally specified leave period has ended. In cases where the leave period is indefinite, a request for re-certification may be made every 30 days.

An employee who is returning from an intermittent family and medical leave cannot be required to obtain a return-to-work medical certification. However, the University can seek re-certification of the underlying illness or injury once the leave period specified on the medical certification has come and gone or prior to that time if:

1. The circumstances have changed (e.g., the employee is absent more
   frequently than the certification indicated); or
2. The University obtains information casting doubt upon the stated
   reasons for the absence.

Yes, under the following circumstances:

Certification of medical release to work may be obtained from staff employees who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement if the department has a uniformly applied policy requiring all employees who take medical leaves for similar purposes to obtain medical certification of their ability to perform the essential functions of their position.

Certification of medical release must be obtained from employees who are covered by system-wide collective bargaining agreements where family and medical leave has been negotiated, if the employee has been granted a medical leave for any reason except pregnancy-related disability.

Certification of medical release to work may be required from academic employees in accordance with local procedures.

Failure to provide a medical release to return to work when requested by the University may result in denial of reinstatement until after the employee submits the required medical release.

Although the University is not permitted to request additional information from the employee's health care provider if the employee has submitted a complete certification signed by the health care provider, a health care provider that represents the University may contact the employee's health care provider, with the employee's permission, for the purpose of clarifying and authenticating the medical certification.

Generally, leaves cannot be retroactively designated as falling under FMLA/CFRA. Any request to retroactively designate time off as FMLA/CFRA leave should be carefully reviewed with your Employee Relations Consultant. If an employee wishes to request that time off be considered as FMLA/CFRA leave, he/she should make the request within 2 days of returning to work.

Yes. Departments must provide the employee with notice of eligibility and designation of the leave as qualifying under FMLA/CFRA. The University's initial notice to an employee that a request for leave will be designated as family and medical leave must be given verbally or in writing within two business days of the date the leave was requested. If the notice is verbal, it must be confirmed in writing no later than the following payday (unless the payday is less than one week after the verbal notice, in which case the notice must be given no later than the subsequent payday). The written notice may be given in any form, including the "Leave of Absence Form."

Grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws or other persons that are not related but are residing in the employee’s household are not covered by FML.

Because health premiums are paid in advance for the entire month (e.g., August earnings generate September UC contributions for September coverage), premiums would have already been paid for the entire month even if the leave began in the middle of the month. If the leave lasted the full twelve weeks, it would also end in the middle of a month. UC contributions for Health insurance coverage would have already been generated at the beginning of that month for the entire month. As a result, the UC contribution may be generated for up to four months, although the actual entitlement is only 12 workweeks.

An eligible employee may take FMLA covered leave in order to care for a seriously ill spouse, child, or parent as defined by the law, policy or contract. The health care provider must either certify that third party care is required or that the employee’s presence would be beneficial to the patient. Certification will be sufficient to satisfy this requirement and entitle the employee to FMLA time off. This provision is intended to accommodate needs for leave to provide psychological comfort for a seriously ill eligible family member, and to arrange “third party” care for an eligible family member.

Yes, in most cases:

• Staff employees who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement must exhaust all accrued vacation prior to taking an unpaid leave unless otherwise requested by the employee and approved by the department head, provided that the leave is not running concurrently with pregnancy disability or work-incurred illness or disability leave. At the employee's option, accrued sick leave may be used in the event that the employee is taking leave due to their own serious health condition or up to 30 days sick leave in the event that the leave is being used to care for the employee's family member.
• The use of paid leave varies by collective bargaining agreement for staff employees who are covered by contracts. You should consult the applicable contract for details.
• Academic appointees may exhaust accrued vacation and sick leave prior to an unpaid family and medical leave. Under no circumstance may the University require that an employee use accrued compensatory time off during family and medical leave. However, if the University allows an employee who is otherwise qualified for family and medical leave to use accrued compensatory time off, such time cannot be counted against the employee's entitlement to 12 work weeks of family and medical leave.

If an employee receives temporary disability payments under the Workers' Compensation Act and the employee has a serious health condition as defined by Federal and State family and medical leave statutes, the first 12 workweeks of the leave should be designated as family and medical leave, provided that the employee meets the eligibility requirements and has not already exhausted their 12 workweek entitlement.

No. If the university allows an employee who is otherwise qualified for family and medical leave to use accrued compensatory time off, such time cannot be counted toward the employee’s entitlement to workweeks of family and medical leave. Further, under no circumstances may the University require that an employee use accrued compensatory time off during family and medical leave.

The employer is responsible for designating the FML, not the employee. Leave may be designated by the university as FML if you have knowledge or reason to believe a serious health condition exists (e.g., the employee is hospitalized or off work due to an occupational injury or has communicated to you that the need for leave is to care for a seriously ill family member that is medically documented). It is critical that the University designate qualifying leave as family and medical leave for a number of reasons:

1. to ensure that the employee gets the benefit and protection of the law
2. to establish that we have complied with our notice and designation obligations
3. to make sure that we are not obligated to give additional family and medical leave during that leave year simply because of a failure to properly designate the original leave

ASMD does not affect FML. ASMD is not a leave, therefore FML is not affected.

No. The fact that a holiday may occur within the week taken as family and medical leave has no effect; the week is counted as a week of family and medical leave. However, if employees generally are not expected to report for work for one or more weeks (e.g., winter holiday closure), the days of the closure do not count against the employee's entitlement to family and medical leave.

When an employee takes leave by working a reduced work schedule (e.g., reducing from 100% to 80%) or on an intermittent basis (e.g., a day here and there in different weeks), only the amount of leave actually taken is counted toward the 12 weeks leave entitlement.

Under the FMLA, employers are allowed to dock the leave banks and pay of FLSA exempt employees for partial day absences without affecting the employee’s qualification for exemption under FLSA. Records of actual hours worked by FLSA exempt staff and faculty who are granted family and medical leave on either a reduced work schedule or on an intermittent basis must be kept to ensure that the employee or member of the faculty receives their complete entitlement to 12 workweeks of leave and so that the department knows when the family and medical leave ends.

An eligible part-time employee is entitled to family and medical leave for a period not to exceed 12 of his or her scheduled workweeks. For example, an employee who has a scheduled workweek of four hours a day (five days a week) is entitled to leave for 12 workweeks each comprised of four hour days.

If an employee's schedule varies from week to week, a weekly average of the hours worked over the 12 weeks prior to the beginning of the leave period should be used to calculate the employee's normal workweek.

The 12-month period is a calendar year, January – December.

The University is required to keep such records for Department of Labor inspections for a period of no less than three years. Failure to maintain records is a violation of FMLA and subjects the University to applicable sanctions. If complete records are not kept of all qualified family and medical leaves, the University may find itself in the position of granting additional time off (i.e., up to 12 workweeks) with health care benefits coverage for a qualified family and medical leave because records do not exist showing that family and medical leave had already been taken. Additionally, failure to properly document leave as covered by FMLA could result in disciplinary action being taken against an employee based on absences that were for protected family and medical leave purposes.

FMLA paperwork should be maintained in a separate file like medical records. [Note: Medical records should not be kept in the employee's personnel file.]

The employee's family and medical leave records must be transferred to the new department or campus.

Local procedures may vary, but in most cases, the home department has been designated the Office of Record, and therefore, has the responsibility for maintaining all documentation and records pertaining to the family and medical leave. It is also the department’s responsibility to keep the local employee relations, human resources, or academic personnel office updated regarding the status of a given employee’s family and medical leave.

The home department is the Office of Record and therefore, responsible for determining and documenting eligibility.

FML generally cannot be retroactively designated/ therefore, it is important to provisionally designate leave as family and medical leave. According to the federal regulations, failure to designate a leave as family and medical means that the person may enjoy the protection of the Act for the period of the leave not properly designated and is still entitled to the 12 workweeks of FML from the date the leave is finally designated.

Yes. Campus departments may review your personnel file before making a selection. It's a good idea to request a review of your personnel file so you'll know what is in it, so you can be better prepared for job interviews. You want to be able to give your perspective on anything that is in your personnel file, since the department may not review your personnel file until after the interview.

You may be able to work in temporary assignments during this period, depending on your skills, the type of assignments available, and other eligibility criteria, based on current policies and contractual agreements.

If several employees apply for the same position under preferential rehire rights, the hiring department will review the resumes in the order in which they were received.

PPSM and many of the labor agreements (Teamsters 2010, UPTE Research, UPTE Technical, AFSCME) provide for reasonable release time with pay for job interviews on campus (and comparable time for interviews on other campuses). Paid release time is provided for you to meet with a campus Employment Analyst to work on your job search efforts (including resume preparation). Talk to your supervisor about the possibility of working on your resume or doing other job search activities that are not disruptive during work time.

Recall rights are rights back to the same department and same classification title held at time of layoff.  The responsibilities and requirements could vary but if the department has a need for the classification title, it will refer to their recall list.

You should refer to the appropriate contract or Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM) to determine your rights to severance pay in a layoff. (See Policies and Contracts for links.)

Trial employment applies to preferential rehire, but not to recall. The difference between trial employment and probation is that if you are released during trial employment, you are placed back on layoff status without any loss of time towards your preferential rehire eligibility period.

Refusing a job offer while you're on preferential rehire or recall status may cause you to lose your preferential rehire and recall rights. The number of refusals allowed varies by policy and union contract, so you should check the contract or policy that governs your employment for details. The recruiter in Employment Services will also give you a layoff checklist that will include this information.

You can apply for as many jobs as you wish, as long as they meet the eligibility requirements for preferential rehire under the contract or policies that govern your employment and as long as you meet the qualifications of the job.

If you accept a job off campus, you can still exercise your preferential rehire and recall rights during your eligibility period. Be sure to verify your eligibility period with your recruiter in Employment Services or your Department Personnel Manager.

Preferential rehire covers any open, vacant position for which you are qualified and which is at the same salary or lower salary range midpoint as your former position. If you are covered by a bargaining unit, preferential rehire rights only apply to positions within that bargaining unit.

All University employees have certain rights in relation to layoff, unless they are Managers and Senior Professionals in Salary Grades VIII and IX or in the Executive Management Program. Your rights may vary depending upon the union contract or personnel policy that governs your position. These rights may include preference for reemployment and recall to the job from which you are laid off. You may be eligible for severance pay. To learn what you are eligible for, read the union contract or Personnel Policies for Staff Members that covers your position, in the section(s) relating to layoff or reductions in time.

If you believe your layoff violates the union contract or personnel policy covering your position, you may file a grievance (under union contracts) or a complaint (under Personnel Policies for Staff Members). The grievance and complaint procedures are included in the union contracts and in Personnel Policies for Staff Members.

If you meet eligibility requirements, (a University of California Plan member who is age 50 or more with 5 years or more of retirement service credit or a member of a reciprocal retirement plan) the University may continue to contribute toward the cost of your University-sponsored medical and dental coverage when you retire from the University. To be eligible, you must begin receiving monthly retirement income within 120 days of your separation from employment (your coverage in the medical and dental plan must be uninterrupted during this period). Your eligibility for this benefit also depends on the date you were hired and your years of service credit in UCRP or other retirement plan to which the University contributes. For more information, see the Retirement Handbook (PDF), also available from your Department Benefits Counselor.

UC's health plans do have mental health coverage. For more information on how to access this coverage, contact your health plan directly or go to CARE Services, who can assist you with a referral.

The UCRP retirement calculation is based on your age and total service credit at time of retirement and your highest average plan compensation (HAPC), the full-time salary rate over any consecutive 36-month period. Therefore, accepting an appointment at a lower compensation level will not reduce your HAPC.

Some benefits can be continued through the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA). You and/or your eligible family members may be eligible to continue your UC-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and Health Care Flexible Spending Account (Health FSA) through COBRA continuation. Note: All payments under COBRA, including those for the Health FSA, are with after-tax dollars; you must apply within 60 days of receiving a COBRA notice or your layoff date, whichever is later.

Some coverage can be maintained for four months by paying premiums, and then converted: You may continue your Supplemental Life, Dependent Life, Accidental Death, and Dismemberment for up to four months after the month your layoff begins. To make arrangements, contact Angela Dizon (adizon@berkeley.edu or 642-0684) in the Central Payroll Office.

Some coverage can be converted: You may convert your Basic Life, Supplemental Life, and/or Dependent Life (each plan converts from group life to an individual policy) within 31 days of your coverage end date without proof of insurability. For more information, contact the Prudential Life Insurance Conversion Office at 1-877-889-2070, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, EST.

Some coverage stops: Group disability insurance, Business Travel Accident, and Workers' Compensation end on your last day actively at work.

Generally, you are eligible for unemployment insurance if you are laid off. Contact your local Employee Development Department (EDD) or look on the EDD website to file a claim and locate Unemployment Insurance benefits information.

1. Go to Employment Development Department (EDD).
2. Click on Claims.
3. Find the Unemployment Insurance section and follow the steps listed.

Please note that the address you use on your EDD claim must match the address on your paycheck. If you need to update your address, visit UCPath Online.

The What To Do If You're Being Laid Off and Benefits Checklist Supplement, provide full information about how benefits are affected when an employee is laid off.

The department and employee work out an arrangement for the payback. Payment can either be made in a lump sum or through payroll deduction. Lump sum payments should be made out to UC Regents. If payroll deduction is chosen, a reasonable payback schedule should be determined. For example, it may be reasonable to ask the employee to have one week of severance deducted from his paycheck for each upcoming month. This agreement should be in writing. Individuals should confer with their personal tax consultants regarding tax implications.

The department that is rehiring an employee needs to ask whether the employee has received severance from the University. If the employee has, and is still receiving severance, the department that originated the layoff calculates the amount to be refunded to the University. To determine repayment policy, consult the appropriate contract or policy.

In PPSM, for example, if an employee received 12 weeks of severance pay and returned to a career position two weeks after being laid off, at the same or higher salary and at the same percentage of time as the position held at the time of layoff, he would owe the University back pay for 10 weeks. The amount would be calculated based on gross earnings and would be submitted to payroll for processing.

Funding for severance payments when a layoff occurs will be made available through department funds. Departments will want to consider the potential obligation to make severance payments as a part of the budget planning process.

Most contracts and policies specify whether or not severance pay is appropriate. For example the UC - Teamsters 2010 agreement specifies that severance pay can be given in lieu of preferential rehire and recall rights. First, read the appropriate contract or policy. Then if you have questions, contact your Employee Relations Specialist to determine whether severance pay can be offered in your layoff situation.

"Special skills" are considered in out-of-seniority layoff actions. There may be situations where a position requires special licensing that the senior person cannot acquire. Or the position may require a credential that cannot be obtained in a reasonable amount of time (3-6 months). The same would hold true if special skills were needed that the senior person could not acquire within a reasonable period of time (3-6 months). Rationales for out-of-seniority layoffs should state that specific skills are required and why the senior person cannot acquire them in a reasonable amount of time.

Your first contact when contemplating a layoff action should be with your Employee Relations Consultant. He/she will help you develop a time line for layoff notice to the employee and the union. In general, we want the employee to be informed as soon as the layoff date has been set.

It's important that you communicate with employees early and often. When you believe layoffs may be possible, keep the staff informed. When you are ready to provide information to the union about specific individuals, tell the employee(s) who are the most likely to be laid off that their position/work is targeted, but that it is in the proposal state. Employees should find out from you, not from the union, that they may be laid off. More detailed information about communications related to layoff may be found in the Communication Guidelines for Departments.

Generally, a layoff is by seniority, which means that the least senior person (amount of service with the University) in the classification is laid off. In some situations certain positions require very "special skills," which may require the retention of the employees in these positions. If this occurs, a more senior person may be laid off first. This is an out-of-seniority layoff. Please see Seniority Provisions Calculations for detailed information.

Because contracts have different provisions, it is best to talk to your Employee Relations Specialist about exact requirements for your situation. However, usually the following is required: proposed layoff date, the reason for the layoff, budget information and other information used by management in reaching the decision, names, classification, seniority points for employees in the same classification, rationale for out-of-seniority layoffs, and "before" and "after" organization charts.

The Labor Relations unit provides the notice to the unions after you provide the information to your Employee Relations Specialist, who will coordinate with Labor Relations. The process for the final notice may take up to a week.

A furlough is that portion of a partial year career appointment during which an employee does not work, planned in advance as part of the schedule. For example, a unit may not need certain staff during the summer months and every year these employees are scheduled to be off for the months of July and August. Furloughs may not exceed a total of three months in a calendar year.

A temporary layoff, however, is usually due to unexpected loss of funding. Staff is laid off for a short period of time (not more than four months) and is then returned to work. Check the applicable contract or PPSM policy for details.

The notice procedure for laying off a group of employees at the same time, when they are covered under the same contract, may differ depending on the provisions of the contract. For example the UC Teamsters 2010 agreement specifies that for five or more full time equivalent (FTE) Teamsters 2010 employees being laid off at the same time, the University must notice the union at least 45 days before the layoff date. The union may use this time to meet with the department to discuss the impact of the layoff. Any meeting would be coordinated through the Labor Relations Unit.

Yes. If a career employee's time is reduced, it is considered a layoff, and the employee is entitled to layoff rights. If an employee has a 100% appointment and it is reduced by 20% to an 80% appointment, the employee has layoff rights to a 100% position. This is true no matter what percentage of time this job is reduced to.

A reduction of time is a layoff only if the University tells the employee he must reduce his time. If the employee requests a reduction, it is not a layoff.

Generally, vacation accrual rates are based on the employee’s length of service with the University. There are also some differences depending on the employee’s personnel program. Refer to the PPSM Absence from Work Policy (PDF) and labor contracts for specific accrual rates.

Time is reported to the nearest quarter hour only for employees in non-exempt positions. When a non-exempt employee takes time off for sick leave and vacation leave (if it is less than a full day), it is recorded to the nearest 15-minute increment.
For example, if an employee returns from a medical appointment at 17 minutes past the hour, you would record 15 minutes. If the employee returns at 24 minutes past the hour, you would record 30 minutes.

Employees in non-exempt positions accrue vacation leave and sick leave depending on percentage of appointment and time worked, and/or duration of appointment. They can earn overtime and may be paid for it or take compensatory time. Time off and time worked are recorded to the nearest quarter hour. Note: Part-time non-exempt fixed-percentage employees must always meet their percentage of time for hours worked for each week, as well as the entire month (excluding any holidays).
Employees in exempt positions also accrue vacation and sick leave; however, they do not earn overtime or compensatory time. Time off and time worked are recorded in whole-day increments for purposes of pay. A "whole day" may be less than eight hours if an employee’s appointment is less than 100% time.

• How many vacation or sick leave hours does the employee take per day?
  For both the non-exempt and exempt employees, the sick or vacation hours taken reflect the hours scheduled for the day. In this case it would be 10 hours vacation, or 10 hours sick leave.
• If a holiday falls on Monday, what then?
  The non-exempt employee gets the holiday (8 hours), but would need to add 2 hours of vacation (or could work or use comp time to make up the 2 hours). The exempt employee gets the holiday, but would not have to make up the two hours.
• If a holiday falls on Friday, what then?
  Both the non-exempt and exempt employees may take another day off.

Looking at the last two columns in the appropriate vacation leave tables, find the row that includes 90% time on pay status. The adjacent row will tell you how many hours of vacation that employee earns.
For example, looking at the PSS vacation leave table, a PSS employee who has less than 10 years of qualifying service on 90% pay status would earn 9 hours of vacation leave per month.
Likewise, looking at the last two columns of the sick leave table, the row that includes 90% time on pay status corresponds to 7 hours earned for sick leave each month.

It would depend on the exempt employee’s schedule for the particular day of sick or vacation leave. If on one of the sick or vacation days, the exempt employee was scheduled to work 8 hours – it would be 8 hours of sick or vacation leave reported. If on one of the sick or vacation days, the exempt employee was scheduled to work 4 hours – it would be 4 hours of sick or vacation leave.

No. These employees are not hourly workers; therefore, it is contrary to University policy to track time in this way for pay purposes. It would also constitute a falsification of time sheets to deliberately record whole-day absences that had not occurred.

For employees in non-exempt positions, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave is recorded in the same way as any leave without pay, sick leave, or vacation leave: to the nearest quarter hour. Compensatory time is not counted toward FMLA leave.

For employees in exempt positions, FMLA leave will normally be recorded in whole day increments. The exception is that if the employee takes FMLA leave as a reduced schedule or as intermittent leave, you should record the time hour-for-hour. Please see the appropriate FMLA section of the Absence from Work Policy (PDF) for a full explanation.

An exempt employee is given holiday pay according to his/her percentage of time. A 50% exempt employee would receive 4 hours for the holiday and get the full day off. (Refer to the Holiday Pay Table percentage column). If the holiday was one in which the exempt employee was scheduled to work 8 hours, the exempt employee does not have to add additional vacation hours, or make up the time that week. However, the exempt employee is still expected to complete the work required for that week; less emphasis is placed on working a specified number of hours.

A non-exempt part-time 70% variable appointment means the employee will generally work at least 50% each month and no more than 70%. (Note: the employee could work more than 70% time if the supervisor required it). Since the employee’s appointment is variable, accrual of holiday time will vary, depending upon the hours worked, which may vary each month.
Example: if the employee worked 102 hours in January 2010, January has 168 hours and 2 holidays (See Number of Working Hours in the Month Table).
Using the Holiday Pay Table, subtract 16 hours of holiday (168 – 16) and the correct column to use is "152-Hr Month."
At 102 hours, the employee will have accrued 5 hours of holiday pay.

Part-time non-exempt fixed-percentage employees must always meet their percentage of time for hours worked for each week, as well as the entire month (excluding the holiday).
Example:In January 2010, there were 168 working hours, including holidays. (See Number of Working Hours in the Month Table).
Using the Holiday Pay Table, subtract 16 hours of holiday (168 – 16) and the correct column to use is "152-Hr Month."
To meet a 70% appointment, the employee needs to work 70% of 152 hours, which is 102 hours.
At 102 hours, the employee would accrue 5 hours of holiday pay.
Depending upon hours in a particular month, the employee may have to add comp or vacation time to be sure he/she meets the fixed 70% appointment.

• If a holiday falls on Friday, the employee’s day off, does the employee get the holiday?
  Yes. Because the employee is on a fixed percentage of 70%, the employee would get paid for the holiday. Note: the employee still needs to be sure he/she is on pay status 28 hours for the week.
• If the employee works on the holiday, what happens?
  The employee would get paid for the hours worked. In addition, with supervisory approval, the employee may take another day off - perhaps in the same week. Note: the employee still needs to be sure he/she is on pay status 28 hours for the week.

With the exception of certain holidays listed in each contract, an employee required to work on a holiday shall be paid at the employee's regular rate of pay for the hours actually worked. In addition, at the option of the University, an eligible employee shall receive either compensatory time off or holiday pay at the regular straight time rate, including any shift differential. To determine exactly how specific holidays are to be paid, please review Personnel Policies for Staff Members or the correct contract.

The employee must work more than 40 hours of actual work in a work week to receive premium overtime. This employee should receive 5 hours of overtime straight (OTS) and 3 hours of premium overtime (OTP) for the Saturday work.

Yes, but overtime is based on time on pay status in excess of 40 hours in a work week. If a part-time employee works more than their usual hours in a week, but less than 40 hours, it would not constitute overtime. It would simply be additional regular time to be paid. A part-time non-exempt employee can, however, earn more vacation, holiday and sick leave if they work over the hours of their standard work week.

Depending on the contract or policy covering the specific employee, the department is responsible for notifying employees a specific number of calendar or working days before they are due to reach maximum vacation accrual. Employees can also review their accrual by logging into UCPath or checking in CalTime.

If you have other questions regarding maximum vacation accrual, please contact your Employee Relations Consultant or the Academic Personnel Office.

Yes, the system will automatically charge the department budget any time there is a vacation leave adjustment that increases the leave balance.

UCPath is programmed to let eligible employees accrue up to their maximum vacation leave amount (two times their annual accrual, prorated for part-time employees).  The system will not automatically accrue leave for an employee once the maximum has been reached. Employees can review their accrual balances via UCPath, as well as CalTime. Departments should notify employees 60 days prior to approaching maximum leave accrual and make sure leave is used in a timely manner.

No.

Departments are responsible for managing their workforce with regard to leave balances and workload issues, and must take all pertinent factors into consideration when making business decisions. Sometimes managers and supervisors believe that due to workload they cannot allow employees to take time off, even when the maximum vacation accrual has been reached. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to allow the employee to take time off. The University gives vacation time as a benefit, and employees should be encouraged to use this time to their own advantage. Managers who believe they can never let employees take vacation time need to review departmental priorities and work flow.

Managers are encouraged to be proactive in communicating with employees who are approaching maximum accrual the need to use their vacation time. The policies and contracts state that employees stop accruing leave once they reach the maximum. For further help on workload issues, contact your Employee Relations Consultant.

What if we find ourselves on an accrual reduction “merry-go-round?” That is, some employees like to stay near the maximum and we are always dealing with moving in and out of the four-month extension period (where that extension is allowed by policy or contract).
This type of extension should happen rarely, or only once per employee. The extension should only come into play when the operation cannot allow an employee to take time off. The extension is not automatic. Managers and supervisors have a responsibility to work with employees to schedule time off. The key is to give the employee a range of time during which vacation leave can be taken.

While no one should ever be allowed to accrue beyond the maximum stated in policy or negotiated in the contracts, if it has been allowed and recorded, it may not be taken away, because it is not legal to do so. The policies and contracts state that employees stop accruing leave once they reach the maximum.

The PPSM, the APM, and the union contracts are available in print and on the web and are available to all employees. Employees and the department know a vacation benefit exists and both share responsibility for knowing the associated rules.

The maximum or accrual cap is the amount designated for the employee’s category, pay status, and years of qualifying service by Personnel Policies for Staff Members, the Academic Personnel Manual, or the union contract. In most cases the maximum allowable accrual is two times the employee’s accrual for one year.

The maximum accruals (caps) have been set by policy for employees covered under PPSM or the APM and negotiated into union contracts for represented employees. It is a violation of the policy or contract to permit employees to accrue beyond the designated maximums.

In almost all cases, departments are to inform employees 60 days in advance of when their accruals will reach the maximum. This gives the employee the opportunity to use enough vacation to remain below the maximum after new monthly accruals are added. The "extension period" of four months, according to individual contracts and Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM), is to be utilized on a one-time-only basis only in the case of a department being unable to let the employee take the vacation that is necessary to bring the accrual below the maximum. The extension period is not to be repeatedly used, nor is it to be used when an employee does not wish to schedule and take vacation as required to bring the balance below the maximum.

Example: Employee covered by PPSM:
A PPS employee will reach maximum on May 1. In the 60 working days prior to May 1, his/her department should work with him/her to reduce his/her vacation balance so that the maximum is not reached.

If there is absolutely no way his/her department can allow him/her to take vacation leave during the 60 working days prior to May 1, then an employee covered by the PPSM potentially has four additional months in which to reduce the balance. The only reason an employee may be allowed an extension period is if the department cannot allow him/her time off due to operational demands. If an “extension period” is considered necessary due to operational reasons, the employee will continue to accrue time.

At the end of the four-month extension, however, time accrual stops. The employee will not accrue additional vacation leave until he/she brings his/her balance below the stated maximum. This means the employee must not only take enough time to get below the maximum, but also use any time accrued during the "extension period." It is important to consult each union contract and PPSM for specifics.
 

All Non-­‐exempt and Exempt employees have transitioned to Factor Leave Accruals, with the exception of Exempt Academic titles. Exempt employees in Academic titles will continue to accrue vacation and sick time as they have in the past.

To find out if you hold an Exempt or Non-­‐exempt position, do one of the following:

• Login into blu.berkeley.edu with your CalNet ID, and the top left corner of the webpage will display “Non-­‐exempt” or “Exempt.”
• If you know your title code, you can go tohttps://tcs.ucop.edu/tcs/jsp/nonAcademicTitlesSearch.htm.
• If you don’t have online access or are still unsure, please check with your supervisor.

Your accruals are based on your hours on pay status. If the time you are paid for varies, then so will your accruals. Therefore, a full-­‐time employee should expect to see the same accruals over the course of the year, while part-­‐time employees’ accruals will vary depending on the above.

Note: Leave Without Pay does not count toward sick and vacation accruals.

You can view your accrued vacation and sick leave balances in CalTime or UCPath.

Employees accrue sick and vacation leave as follows:

• Exempt employees accrue leave on the 1^st of each month, following the close of each calendar month cycle.
• Non-­‐exempt employees accrue leave after the conclusion of every two biweekly pay periods if eligible.

Sick and vacation leave accrual balances are then immediately updated in CalTime and UCPath.

Vacation and sick leave factor rates are assigned to an employee based on current UC policy and agreed upon union contract terms.

The number of hours you are on pay status is multiplied by your vacation and sick leave factor rate to determine how much leave you have accrued.

Calculation: Factor rate X number of hours on pay status = Amount of vacation or sick leave accrued

For example, if your vacation factor rate =0.057692 and your sick leave factor rate = 0.046154 and you worked 100 hours, you would accrue the following:

Vacation Leave:              0.057692 x 100 = 5.769200 hours

Sick Leave:                       0.046154 x 100 = 4.615400 hours

Pay status includes a period of time for which an employee receives pay, such as time worked and paid leave (including compensatory time, vacation, or sick leave).

Your sick and vacation leave accruals are calculated based on factor leave accrual rates. Non-­exempts will accrue leave every two biweekly pay periods (quadra­‐weekly). The employee’s factor leave accrual rate is multiplied by the number of hours on pay status during a quadra-­weekly cycle (160 hours in the case of a full‐time Non‐exempt employee).

For Exempt employees, the factor leave accrual rate is multiplied by the number of hours on pay status during a calendar month cycle.

Each calendar month has a different number of working hours. The total number of working hours in a month is calculated by multiplying the number of business days (e.g. Monday to Friday) in that month and by the number of hours in a workday (e.g. 8).

The number of working hours for each month (assuming a full-­‐time work schedule) can be found in UCPath under "Working Hours Calendar."

You can reach out to your Human Resources contact. They should be able to assist you.

Employees in an Exempt academic titles will not accrue leave based on a factor leave accrual rate and will continue to accrue leave as they do currently. Non-exempt academic employees will accrue leave based upon factor accrual rate.

Note: Being an employee who works in an academic department is not the same as being an employee who has an academic job title. Some employees work in academic departments but do not have an academic job title, in which case, they will be subject to the factor leave accrual method.

Your Human Resources contact should be able to inform you of your job title classification.