HR, Payroll and Benefits News

Use of Vacation and Annual Leave Reserve Account (ALRA) for Faculty, Academic Staff and Limited Appointees
June 10, 2016

Faculty, Academic Staff and Limited Appointee (FA/AS/LI) with a 12-month appointment are eligible to bank leave into an Annual Leave Reserve Account (ALRA) after they have completed 10 fiscal years of employment.  Beginning with the 11^th fiscal year, an employee is eligible to bank up to 40 hours.  The option to bank vacation is offered immediately following the fiscal year in which an employee is eligible. FA/AS/LI vacation is allocated on a fiscal year basis. Unused vacation can be carried over into the following fiscal year, but must be used by the end of that fiscal year or it will be lost.

Your July Leave Report will indicate how many hours of unused vacation you are eligible to bank into ALRA. You are allowed to bank any unused vacation or vacation carryover as of June 30, 2016 (up to the maximum allowed).  If your institution uses Employee Self-Service (ESS), you may be able to convert hours into your ALRA account via ESS with your July leave reporting.  Check with your Payroll Coordinator to see if you may use the ESS option.

If you meet the eligibility requirements for ALRA:

• You may transfer unused vacation hours into an ALRA account to use at a future date (banked hours do not expire).  You may accumulate hours in your ALRA from year to year without limit.
• With your supervisor's approval, you may use ALRA hours at any time. These hours can be used in any circumstance where you are allowed to use paid leave.
• Any unused ALRA at the termination of employment will be paid to you at your current wage rate as a lump sum payment.
• You will be offered the option to bank hours in ALRA in July following the fiscal year in which you became eligible.  Example:  If you completed 10 years in May 2015, you are eligible effective July 1, 2016.  You will not be offered election to bank until July of 2017.
• Banking Schedule (the amount of leave that can be banked is prorated if part-time):
  • You are eligible to bank up to 40 hours of vacation into ALRA per year at the beginning of your 11th fiscal year of employment.  Option to bank is the fiscal year following eligibility.
  • You are eligible to bank up to 80 hours of vacation into ALRA per year at the beginning of your 26th fiscal year of employment.  Option to bank is the fiscal year following eligibility.

If you elect to bank hours to ALRA, the vacation hours used will first come from any remaining vacation carryover you had as of June 30, 2016. If you allocated more unused vacation to ALRA than you had as vacation carryover, the additional hours to be banked will come from your vacation balance as of June 30.

If you have questions, please contact the Payroll Coordinator.

Source: UW Service Center
Categories: Leave