Holidays & Holiday Pay Policy

Title

Holidays & Holiday Pay Policy

Introduction

Each permanent SHRA employee is scheduled for the same number of holidays, listed in the University holiday schedule. Each permanent SHRA employee must either be scheduled off on the specified holiday and receive paid holiday or, if required to work on the holiday, receive holiday premium pay and equal time off as defined in the Policy below.

Eligibility

* includes probationary, trainee, and time-limited

University Holiday Schedule

The University Holiday Schedule is published by the Office of Human Resources (OHR) on the "Leave & Holidays" page of the OHR website.

The State provides 12 paid holidays each calendar year. The North Carolina Office of State Human Resources (OSHR) allows the University to modify its holiday schedule, provided that the total number of paid holidays for the calendar year is the same as other State agencies. Therefore, other Universities and other State agencies (including UNC Hospitals) may observe different holiday schedules.

Each holiday is observed in the continuous 24-hour period that exactly coincides with the work day, that is, 12:00 a.m. on the calendar date of the holiday and ending at 11:59 p.m. of that date.

Exception: If an employee’s designated work shift crosses the day-divide, the work shift shall be recorded on the date on which the majority of the hours occurred.

Relationship to Other Paid Time

Paid Holidays that are not worked are not offset by additional hours worked in the work week and are not considered time worked for the purposes of determining overtime eligibility. If an SHRA non-exempt permanent employee works additional hours in the work week, this may result in additional hours paid at the employee’s hourly rate for that work week. The State does not allow for a deferred compensation for these hours.

However, any hours worked (by requirement or voluntarily) on the date of the Paid Holiday will offset the Paid Holiday allowable and will be considered time worked for the purposes of determining overtime eligibility.

The use of accrued Holiday ETO (Equal Time Off) as paid time off is offset by additional hours worked in the work week and is not considered time worked for the purposes of determining overtime eligibility.

See Determining Time Worked for details.

Compensation for Holiday Not Worked

Paid holidays are pro-rated based on the employee’s regularly scheduled hours per week, regardless of the number of hours the employee would have been scheduled on a particular work day.

If an employee is regularly scheduled to work a longer shift on the University holiday than can be covered by their pro-rated paid holiday allotment, the remainder of the shift must be made up with available leave, additional hours worked in the workweek, or leave without pay.

An eligible employee receives a paid holiday if:

• The employee is in active pay status (including paid leave) either the last work day before a paid holiday or the first work day after the paid holiday (see below regarding separating employees); or
• The employee is not in active pay status (including paid leave) through the paid holiday but has been in pay status for one-half or more of the workdays and paid holidays in the month when a short leave without pay is involved.

An otherwise eligible employee does not receive a paid holiday if:

• The employee’s regularly scheduled hours falls below half-time, or
• The paid holiday occurs during a period of unpaid leave and the employee has not been in pay status for one-half or more of the work days and paid holidays of the month, or
• The holiday occurs before the employee’s first date of employment, or
• The holiday occurs after the last day of work when an employee separates, unless the employee is transferring to another state agency, in which case UNC-Chapel Hill and the receiving agency will agree upon who will pay the employee for the holiday (paid leave cannot be used to retain an employee in pay status beyond the last day worked for the purpose of receiving pay for the holiday unless the employee is retiring and exhausting vacation leave).

Compensation for Holiday Worked

Not Required to Work

An employee who works on a University holiday but is not required to work receives only straight pay for the number of hours worked on the holiday and does not receive holiday premium pay or equal time off.

If the total hours worked on the holiday are less than the eligible permanent employee’s allotted number of paid holiday hours, the permanent employee shall receive the remainder of the hours as paid holiday.

Required to Work

Each permanent or temporary SHRA employee who is required to work on a University holiday receives normal hourly pay for the number of hours worked on the holiday and receives holiday premium pay for each hour worked. Permanent employees also receive holiday equal time off for each hour worked (not to exceed eight hours, pro-rated for part-time employees).

If the total hours worked on the holiday are less than the eligible permanent employee’s allotted number of paid holiday hours, the permanent employee shall receive the remainder of the hours as paid holiday.

Equal Time Off

Holiday Equal Time Off (ETO) is recorded on an hour-for-hour basis for hours required to be worked on the holiday, not to exceed the employee’s regular paid holiday earnings (eight (8) hours per Paid Holiday for a full-time employee). The amount of Holiday ETO is limited in this manner in order to equalize the paid time off benefit provided to all eligible employees.

Holiday Premium Pay

An eligible employee who works on any University holiday receives hourly pay and holiday premium pay as well as any eligible overtime pay, shift premium pay, on-call, or callback pay that may apply, as provided by their respective policies. Holiday premium pay is not included for the purposes of determining the employee’s regular rate for overtime pay.

Alternate Holidays

Management may designate an alternate holiday for employees for the following reasons:

Religious Observance

Department management should make every effort to accommodate an employee’s request to be away from work for religious holiday observances. While business needs should be considered to ensure continuity of critical services, accommodating employee requests for alternate holidays can be accomplished with thoughtful planning and open communication with the employee making the request. Efforts such as this help to make the University community more inclusive by recognizing that not all employees share the same beliefs or celebrate the same holidays.

In these cases, management is strongly encouraged to approve employee requests to exchange the paid Spring Holiday (Good Friday) or Winter Holidays (Christmas) for another religious holiday within the employee’s religious faith, provided that meaningful work can be accomplished by the employee on the University’s regularly scheduled holiday. The unscheduled religious holiday and the University’s scheduled holiday must occur in the same calendar year. Alternatively, employees may also use available vacation, bonus, or other available paid time off.

Holiday Falls Outside Regular Work Schedule

If a recognized University Paid Holiday occurs outside the employee’s normal work schedule, the Paid Holiday shall continue to be recorded on the recognized University holiday date. For SHRA non-exempt employees, this may result in additional straight-time hours to be paid in the work week. Therefore, management may adjust the work schedule for these employees to allow an equivalent amount of time off in the same work week in order to offset any additional hours of compensation. (See “Timesheet Examples” in the Recordkeeping section below.)

Employee Scheduled to Work Actual Weekend Holiday

The University provides a scheduled holiday on Friday when the actual holiday occurs on Saturday, or on Monday when the actual holiday occurs on Sunday.

When an employee’s regular work schedule includes weekends, management shall arrange with the employee to designate either the University holiday or the actual holiday (eg, either Friday or Saturday) as the employee’s paid holiday.

• If the employee is subsequently required to work on the designated alternate holiday, holiday compensation (including Holiday Premium Pay and Holiday ETO) shall be applied.
• If the employee is required to work both dates, holiday compensation (including Holiday Premium Pay and Holiday ETO) shall be applied to hours worked on the scheduled University holiday.

Recordkeeping

Holiday ETO must be used within 12 months (52 weeks) of its accrual, or it must be paid out. (This applies to both SHRA exempt and non-exempt employees. Additional information:

• Leave, Paid time off, Payout & Transfers
• Determining Time Worked
• Timesheet Examples

Definitions

Paid Holiday - Paid time off, up to 8 hours (pro-rated for part-time employees) for hours not worked on a University holiday (as established on the University Holiday Schedule).

Holiday Premium Pay - One-half the employee’s hourly rate times the number of hours required to work on a University holiday.

Holiday Equal Time Off - Paid time off, up to 8 hours (pro-rated for part-time employees), for hours required to be worked on a University holiday.