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CONTENTS
Scope
Policy Statement
Procedures
Sanctions

ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Web Address
Related Information
History

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Effective: July 1, 2012
Last Updated: July 1, 2012

Responsible University Office: University Human Resources

Responsible University Administrator: Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Policy Contact: University Human Resources

A. Scope

This policy applies to all Service Staff employees at Bloomington, IUPUI, and South Bend.

B. Policy Statement

1. It is the policy of Indiana University that Staff employees should be afforded reasonable time away from work to conduct personal affairs and to have a break from the demands of the workplace.
2. FTE Staff employees earn vacation hours as outlined in the following Schedule of Earnings.
3. Part-time Staff employees with an FTE of 50% or greater earn a prorated amount, according to their FTE, of the vacation hours indicated in the schedule.
4. Vacation hours are earned when the employee is in pay status or absent with benefits accrual and are not earned during certain categories of absences.  See the Absences With and Without Pay policy for details.
5. Schedule of earnings - 100% FTE Appointed Employees:

   Staff with this amount of university service credit*	Earn this amount of vacation for every 80 hours in pay status	For a total of this amount each year
   From 0 to end of 6th year	4.31 hours	112 hours (14 days)
   Start of 7th year to end of 13th year	5.85 hours	152 hours (19 days)
   Start of 14th year to end of 29th year	7.39 hours	192 hours (24 days)
   Start of 30th year and beyond	8.29 hours	232 hours (29 days)

   *University service credit is defined in the Seniority Dates/Service Credit policy.

C. Procedures

1. Use of Vacation
   1. Departments will identify the maximum number of employees under each supervisor’s area of responsibility that can be off at any one time.  Departments will also identify any peak periods of time that no one can be off due to departmental needs.
   2. All vacation must be approved in advance by the Supervisor before it can be used. 
      1. At Bloomington and IUPUI, requests for vacation time off must be approved or disapproved within three working days of the receipt of the request.
      2. At South Bend, requests for vacation of one week or more which are submitted by March 1st will be processed and preference will be given on the basis of occupational unit seniority.  Vacation requests must be submitted at least three working days in advance and will be approved/disapproved within three working days of the request or the request is automatically approved on the fourth working day.  Requests will be honored in the order in which they are received.
   3. If multiple requests within a department are made for the same vacation period (any period of time for which a person is charged vacation), preference will be given according to occupational unit seniority in determining which employee's vacation request is approved for that particular time.  However, if a supervisor has given prior approval to a less senior employee for the same time period, the prior approval is honored.
   4. When vacation time is taken, the exact number of hours, including tenths of hours, are reported and subtracted from accumulated earnings.
   5. The maximum vacation hours that may be used during the 26 consecutive pay periods beginning with the pay period in which January 1 falls and continuing through the last full pay period in December (less for part-time employees--prorated by FTE) are as follows:
      1. 304 hours in years of service 0 through 13
      2. 784 hours in years of service 14 and beyond
      3. Vacation hours used during a Family Medical Leave of Absence (FMLA) do not count toward the maximum annual usage
   6. New Staff employees may use accumulated vacation time after receipt of their first paycheck.
   7. Unused hours are accumulated from year to year. Pay can be received for unused vacation at time of separation and is explained in the Separation Pay policy
   8. Employees who wish to use accumulated vacation causing a lengthy absence from work should make their intentions known to the supervisor six months prior to the planned vacation period. Supervisors are obligated to honor these requests unless the request is for time off in the unit’s established and known peak work period in which non-emergency time off is routinely restricted or more than one employee requests the same time period. If more than one request is received, occupational unit seniority prevails in determining which employee's request will be honored.
   9. Vacation cannot be used before it has been earned with one exception: if a new employee has not earned enough vacation to cover a department’s closing between Christmas and New Year holidays.
2. Personal emergency
   1. Employees who encounter a personal emergency and who have unused income protection time, unused vacation time, and/or unused compensatory time off may elect to charge time off for personal emergency to any of these three categories of time.
   2. These events will typically be unforeseen, will require immediate action, and are beyond the employee’s control.
   3. The employee must notify the supervisor as soon as possible as to the reason and the expected time of return.
   4. The employee may be required to provide documentation on the nature and circumstances of the absence.
3. Converting Income Protection Time to vacation
   1. Eligible employees may, if they choose, convert 80 hours of their accrued income protection time to 40 vacation hours subject to the following limitations and conditions.
   2. Eligibility is limited to employees who meet all of the following criteria:
      1. Have 560 or more hours of accumulated income protection (sick) time as of the first full pay period in either March or September of any qualifying year
      2. Have at least ten consecutive years in an appointed position
      3. Work in an appointed position and be in pay status when they submit the application for conversion and when it is implemented
      4. Have not converted any income protection time to vacation time during the previous four years under this policy
   3. During a specified period in either March or September, eligible employees have the option of converting 80 hours of income protection time to 40 hours of vacation time.
   4. Staff must submit conversion requests according to the procedures and deadline established by Financial Management Services (FMS). Requests that are submitted are irrevocable.
   5. This section does not modify the following:
      1. The maximum amount of vacation hours staff can use in a year as provided in this policy.
      2. The limitations of separation pay as provided in the Separation Pay policy.

D. Sanctions

Managers, supervisors, and employees who violate this policy are subject to corrective action, up to and including separation.

E. Web Address for this Policy

hr.iu.edu/policies/sm-all/time_off/vacation.html

F. Related Information

Absences With and Without Pay Policy

Separation Pay Policy

Seniority Dates/Service Credit Policy

G. History

In the Spring of 2012, Indiana University administration and  AFSCME Council 62 leadership worked to merge the personnel policies covering Service (SM) Staff at Bloomington, IUPUI, and South Bend into one set of policies. This is one of the 27 policies that is the product of their work. Effective July 1, 2012, it brought together the provisions that were the same on all three campuses; eliminated differences when agreement could be reached; and identified those provisions in which differences remained.