Centralized Accrued Leave Management (CALM) Project

• General Information
  • 1. What policies are being revised and when will the new policies become effective?

    The revised policies are vacation, sick days and personal days. They will become effective July 1, 2012.

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  • 2. Do the revised vacation, sick and personal time policies delineate how much time employees get based on when they are hired or terminated or begin or return from an unpaid leave of absence?

    The policies specify how many days employees get, based on when they are hired or terminated. The amount of vacation, sick or personal days full-time employees get is: 

    Type of Leave	Hired		Terminated
    	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30
    Personal	2 days	1 day	1 day	2 days
    Sick	8 days	4 days	4 days	8 days
    Vacation	2 days/month	2 days/month	2 days/month	2 days/month
    Type of Leave	Days 1–15	Days 16–end of month	Days 1–15	Days 16–end of month
    Vacation	2 days	1 day	1 days	2 days

     

    Time off for part-time employees is prorated based on the above schedule.

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  • 3. Do the policies require employees to track time off?

    Yes, everyone should be tracking time now. If you haven’t done so before, you should figure out how much vacation and sick time you have and confirm it with your supervisor. HR recommends using the new Attendance and Tracking tool, but you can use whatever method your department selects. In FY2013, the new PeopleSoft Absence Management System will be implemented in your department to track time off.

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  • 4. How do the changes to the policies revised under CALM affect unionized employees?

    It depends on each contract. You should refer to the appropriate union contract. Contracts are available on the HR website in the labor relations section. Your senior HR manager is also available to provide policy guidance to you.

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  • 5. What is happening to the compelling reason time policy?

    As a result of the CALM project, the two days currently provided by the compelling reason time policy will be converted to two extra vacation days for biweekly-paid staff. By doing so, the total number of vacation days for all full-time employees — exempt/monthly-paid and nonexempt/biweekly-paid — will be 24 vacation days per fiscal year.

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  • 6. How has the holiday policy been affected by CALM?

    The two optional holidays are being moved from the Holiday policy to the newly created Personal Days policy. Instead of being designated as “optional holidays,” the two days will become personal days. The holiday policy continues to provide nine paid holidays as before.

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  • 7. How are part-time employees affected by the new policies?

    Each policy clearly specifies the current practice of prorating time off based on the employee’s regular work schedule, i.e., duty time and the number of pay periods. It also specifies how time is calculated for new employees based on when they start work, for terminating employees based on their last day and for employees who go on or return from an unpaid leave of absence.

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  • 8. Can I read the new policies now?

    The policies are available and posted on the CALM website. They will be migrated to the policy section of the HR website on July 1, 2012.

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  • 9. How should time off benefits be prorated for part-time employees?

    Prorating time is based on the employees’ duty time, e.g., 50%, and number of pay periods worked during the year, e.g., 10 or 23. The new HR Attendance and Tracking Tool has formulas built into the worksheet to prorate the time automatically for you. When we implement the PS system, it will calculate available time according to each person’s work schedule.

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• Personal Days Policy
  • 1. How many personal days will employees get?

    The University provides employees with an allotment of two personal days for the year. Part-time employees receive prorated personal days based on their reduced work schedule.

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  • 2. How are personal days allotted?

    At the beginning of each fiscal year, i.e., July 1, full-time employees receive an allotment of two personal days for the year. Part-time employees receive prorated personal days based on their reduced work schedule.

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  • 3. How may employees use their personal days?

    Employees may use their two personal days each fiscal year for any reason not necessarily covered by the other time off policies. While personal days are tracked and paid in hours, it is strongly recommended that personal days are taken in full or half day increments. Personal days must be approved by the supervisor before it is taken. However, emergency or other unplanned and unavoidable situations for personal days will be considered by the supervisor on a case-by-case basis. Employees should notify their supervisors of such situations as quickly as possible through the normal departmental reporting channels.

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  • 4. Can personal days be carried over from year to year?

    Personal days do not carry over from one fiscal year into the following fiscal year.

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  • 5. Can employees use personal days during the probationary period (applicable to biweekly-paid staff)?

    Yes, employees can use personal days with supervisory approval during the probationary period.

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  • 6. How many personal days do employees get based on when they are hired or terminated or begin or return from an unpaid leave of absence?

    The number of personal days that full-time employees get based on when they are hired or terminated is:

    Type of Leave	Hired		Terminated
    	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30
    Personal	2 days	1 day	1 day	2 days

     

    Time off for part-time employees is prorated based on the above schedule.

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  • 7. Can you summarize the key changes to the Personal Days policy?

    Key changes to the Personal Days policy are:

    -Two optional holidays currently in the holiday policy are incorporated in this new policy.
    -Proration of the number of days for part-time employees is clarified.
    

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• Sick Days Policy
  • 1. What are sick days?

    The University provides employees with up to eight paid sick days a year for occasional absence from the workplace needed for personal illness, injury, or medical appointments and or for the care of a sick or injured immediate family member or resident member of the household. Designating this policy as “Sick Days” will replace the current designation of “Sporadic Absence Because of Illness or Injury.”

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  • 2. How are sick days allotted?

    At the beginning of each fiscal year, i.e., July 1, full-time employees receive an allotment of eight sick days for the year. Part time employees receive prorated sick days based on their reduced work schedule.

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  • 3. How are sick days taken?

    It is strongly recommended that sick time be taken in full or half day increments.  Managers may request that nonemergency planned doctor visits or procedures be arranged around the needs of the department.

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  • 4. Can sick days be carried over from year to year?

    Employees may carry over any portion of their eight unused sick days from one fiscal year to the next fiscal year to a maximum of 16 days in any fiscal year.

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  • 5. Can employees use sick days during the probationary period (applicable to biweekly-paid staff)?

    The new policy eliminates the restriction on how many sick days can be used during the probationary period.

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  • 6. How many sick days do employees get based on when they are hired or terminated or begin or return from an unpaid leave of absence?

    The number of sick days full-time employees get based on when they are hired or terminated is: 

    Type of Leave	Hired		Terminated
    	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30
    Sick	8 days	4 days	4 days	8 days

    Time off for part-time employees is prorated based on the above schedule.

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  • 7. Can you summarize the key changes to the Sick Days policy?

    Key changes to the Sick Days policy are:

    -Policy is renamed from “Sporadic Absence Because of Illness or Injury.”
    -The limitation during the probationary period is eliminated.
    -Policy clarifies proration of time off benefits for part-time employees.

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• Tool for Absence Management
  • 1. What is the absence management tool and how will it work?

    The absence management tool is a module within the PeopleSoft application that will allow employees to see their current balances for vacation, sick and personal days at the end of each pay period. Monthly-paid employees will view balances and enter their time off through HR Self Service. Biweekly-paid employees will continue to enter their time off in the Time Collection System but will access employee self service to view their balances. The information stored in the system will be the authoritative source for balances and allow the University to have an accurate estimate of liability for these paid time off categories.

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  • 2. Will all employees be required to enter their own time in the absence management tool?

    Biweekly-paid employees will continue to enter their time off in the Time Collection System. Monthly-paid employees will enter their time off through HR Self Service.

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  • 3. When will the absence management tool be available?

    The module will be rolled out to departments over a period of six months between July 2012 and December 2012. Departments will be scheduled be added to the new system within that timeframe.

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  • 4. Why is Princeton implementing the absence management tool?

    The University is not able to estimate accurately its liability for the vacation, sick and personal days of employees, because no centralized system currently exists to track this information. One of the key goals of this project is to improve management practices to support the University’s financial stewardship, planning and audited financial statements. Having an authoritative repository of this absence information will help achieve this goal.

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  • 5. As a biweekly-paid employee, will I still have to enter time into Time Collection?

    Yes, biweekly-paid employees will continue to enter time off for vacations, sick days and personal days into the Time Collection System. Data from the Time Collection System will be transferred to the absence management tool in order to maintain accurate balances of available time. You will be able to view your balances in HR Self Service at the end of each pay period.

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  • 6. As a monthly-paid employee, will I have to enter time into the absence management tool?

    Yes, monthly-paid employees will enter time off for vacation, sick and personal days into the absence management tool through HR Self Service. There, you also will be able to view your available balances for these time off categories at the end of each pay period.

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  • 7. How will the approval process work in the new absence management tool?

    Approvals are required for time off taken by employees as described in the respective policies. In the system, department managers will have the ability to view all time off taken for people in that department.

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  • 8. How will my balances for vacation, sick days and personal days be tracked in the absence management tool?

    The balances for these time off categories will be stored in hours. Hours are a consistent, common measure between biweekly-paid and monthly-paid employees. Tracking in hours also reflects the fact that we have a substantial population that works part-time and/or irregular work schedules. While this represents a change in mindset for some individuals, we plan to have tools available to assist with the translation between hours and days.

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• Vacation Policy
  • 1. How many vacation days do I get each year and how do I accrue it?

    All full-time biweekly-paid and monthly-paid employees will accrue up to 24 days per fiscal year of either 7.25 or 8 hours per day, depending on their work schedule. This is the equivalent of 2 days credited for monthly-paid staff and equivalent of .92 days for biweekly-paid staff per pay period. Vacation time is accrued and credited on the last day of the respective pay period. Vacation time can be used as it is accrued.

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  • 2. How many vacation days can be accrued?

    Employees may accrue up to a maximum of 48 vacation days.

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  • 3. How many vacation days can be paid to me when I terminate my employment or begin an unpaid leave of absence?

    Up to 30 days of accrued and unused vacation time may be paid to an employee upon termination of employment, including retirement; at the beginning of an eligible long term disability leave; or at the beginning of an approved unpaid personal leave of greater than one month.

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  • 4. Can I schedule vacation during my notice period before I transfer to another department or terminate from the University, including retirement?

    When terminating or transferring, employees are expected to be at work and not to take vacation during their notice period, typically two weeks or one month, in order to ensure a smooth transition of work responsibilities. Any exceptional circumstances should be discussed by the employee’s manager and the senior HR manager.

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  • 5. When can new employees begin to use their vacation days?

    Employees may use vacation days as they are accrued. Employees will be credited with vacation days at the end of their respective pay periods, i.e. the monthly or biweekly pay cycle.

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  • 6. Can vacation days be advanced to use them before they are accrued?

    No. Normally, vacation time should be accrued before it is used. However, new employees may be permitted to do so if they arrange it at the time of hire due to a previously scheduled vacation.

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  • 7. Can newly hired employees who inform the hiring supervisor of a prearranged vacation be advanced vacation days?

    When new employees are hired, they may have scheduled vacations prior to receiving the job offer. In these instances, the hiring manager and staffing specialist should confer to permit the individual to take the vacation as paid time. However, if an individual should terminate from the University prior to accruing the equivalent number of vacation days taken, the unaccrued vacation balance will be deducted from the final paycheck.

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  • 8. How are vacation days calculated for employees who have an irregular work schedule, e.g., four 10-hour days?

    Employees working a flexible or irregular work schedule are expected to follow the same policy guidelines as employees on a regular work schedule. Examples to help individuals calculate their time will be provided on the HR website in the future.

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  • 9. How many vacation days do employees get based on when they are hired or terminated or begin or return from an unpaid leave of absence?

    The number of vacation days full-time employees get based on when they are hired or terminated is:

     

    Type of Leave	Hired		Terminated
    	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30	7/1–12/31	1/1–6/30
    Vacation	2 days/month	2 days/month	2 days/month	2 days/month
    Type of Leave	Days 1–15	Days 16–end of month	Days 1–15	Days 16–end of month
    Vacation	2 days	1 day	1 days	2 days

     

    Time off for part-time employees is prorated based on the above schedule.

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  • 10. Can departments with peak periods, e.g., reunions or admission season, determine when vacations can and cannot be scheduled?

    Managers should use their discretion when determining, based on operational needs, when staff can and cannot take vacation time. Managers should consider and balance the needs of both the business of the department and the need for staff to take time away from the office.

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  • 11. Can you summarize the key changes to the vacation policy?

    Key changes to the vacation policy are:

     

    --Manager and staff responsibility to track vacation time is emphasized.

    --Maximum of 48-day accruals permitted.

    --Vacation time can be used as accrued.

    --Vacation is credited at end of each pay period.

    --Biweekly-paid employees are eligible to accrue up to 24 days, incorporating time off for compelling reasons.

    --How vacation time is earned for partial month worked is clarified.

    --Newly hired biweekly-paid employees begin to earn vacation accruals immediately; restrictions during the probationary period are eliminated.

    --New hires can request time off for their pre-planned vacations.

    --No scheduling of vacation is permitted during termination notice period, typically two weeks or one month.

    --Vacation balance documentation and approval process is included for transferring employees.

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