Regular employees (employees appointed for a minimum of 20 hours per week for at least four and one-half months in a fiscal year) of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC-H) are entitled to a vacation in each fiscal year.
The eligibility requirement for accrual of vacation time, as for most leaves, is that the employee must be appointed for a minimum of 20 hours per week for at least four and one-half months in a fiscal year. (Employees with appointments of less than 50 percent time do not accrue vacation time.)
Vacation should be requested in advance and must be approved in advance by a representative of departmental management. Approvals of vacation leave requests are contingent upon the employee having sufficient accrued vacation leave to cover the absence at the time the vacation is taken. Negative vacation leave balances cannot be carried over from one calendar month to the next. An employee with a negative vacation leave balance must be placed on leave without pay for any unearned vacation leave taken. Each department is responsible for maintaining accurate vacation records.
The monthly vacation accrual rate for eligible employees is based on two factors: the employee's length of state service, and the percent time of the employee's appointment. For example, an employee with three years of total state service accrues 9 hours of vacation time per month if engaged in a 100 percent time appointment, 6.75 hours per month if engaged in a 75 percent time appointment, and 4.5 hours per month if engaged in a 50 percent time appointment.
Note: An employee on development leave accrues at the full-time rate.
Full credit for one month's accrual will be given for each month or fraction of a month of service. An employee earns vacation entitlement beginning on the first day of employment and ending on the last day of employment.
Less than full-time, benefits eligible employees will accrue vacation leave on a proportional basis, and the maximum carry over will also be proportional.
If an employee is absent on a paid leave status, he/she will continue to accrue paid leave each month on leave. The hours accrued while on leave may be posted to the leave balance only when the employee returns to work. Should the employee fail to return to work, he/she will not receive the accruals and will not be paid for those hours.
No vacation will be accrued while an employee is on unpaid leave of at least one full calendar month. When an employee is approved for an unpaid leave to extend a vacation, all leave accrued prior to the beginning of the vacation must be exhausted before the unpaid leave is used.
Employees are encouraged to use vacation hours during the fiscal year in which they accrue. If this is not possible, employees are entitled to carry forward from one fiscal year to the next the balance of unused accumulated vacation leave that does not exceed the maximum amount allowed by law. All hours of unused accumulated vacation leave that may not be carried forward at the end of a fiscal year will be credited to the employee's sick leave balance effective on the first day of the next fiscal year. The vacation hours accrued per month and the maximum carry over amounts are published in the UTHSC-H Holiday and Vacation Schedule.
Although employees begin to accrue vacation time on their first day of employment, they will not be permitted to take a vacation with pay until they have completed six months of continuous state service. Continuous state service means the employee is paid a regular state salary for the period. The time an employee is on leave of absence without pay does not count toward fulfilling the six-month requirement if the period covers one or more entire calendar months. The six-month eligibility requirement does not have to be met again upon reemployment to state service.
Employees who transfer directly from another state agency without a break in service will carry their earned but unused vacation with them.
Employees who are eligible and who have vacation hours remaining when they are terminated will be paid a lump-sum payment for the remaining hours. The payments are computed based on the rate of pay on the last date of employment and an hourly rate calculation as prescribed by the State Comptroller.
In addition, eligible employees who remain employed in a non-benefit eligible position may receive a lump sum vacation payment.
In lieu of a lump-sum vacation payment, employees may, with the approval of a representative of departmental management, be allowed to remain on the payroll after the last day worked to utilize vacation leave. Compensation and benefits that the employee was receiving on the last active work day, including paid holidays, longevity, and/or hazardous duty pay will continue.
If employees are paid for vacation upon separation, they will be credited for any holiday that falls within the period after the date of separation and the last date of the period in which the employee would have used the time had they remained on the payroll. Lump sum payments for accrued but unused vacation time are computed as though the employee worked the holiday.
Updated 12/02