Definition: Accrued hours that may be used by twelve-month faculty and staff, with supervisory approval, for paid time off. Summary of Policy:To accrue paid leave employees must hold a continuous appointment of at least 50% Full Time Equivalent (FTE).
FTE is based on the total of all hours in an employee’s active job record(s). 1.00 FTE = 173.33 standard hours each month.
Leave accrual rates are based on employment category and/or years of service. Accrual maximums are the same for all employees of an employment category regardless of FTE.
Medical residents, 9-month faculty, temporary and student employees do not accrue paid leave. See details under "Accrual Rates & Guidelines by Employee Group."
Find more information about leave accrual for Norman programs here.
If leave balances need to be adjusted for Norman programs, contact Payroll and Employee Services.
Paid Leave will accrue for the amount of time or percentage of time a benefits-eligible employee is on:
Biweekly paid employees will receive paid leave accrual on the hours submitted as hours worked or for the leave types listed above under ‘When does leave accrue?’.
HR PeopleSoft HCM will automatically calculate overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per work week.
Overtime is compensation for hourly employees (non-exempt employees) that are required to work in excess of 40 hours in a designated work week. Part-time hourly employees (less than 1.0 FTE) do not accrue overtime unless they work more than 40 hours in a designated work week.
Overtime work must be approved in advance by the supervisor.
Hourly employees accepting work in a budget unit other than their primary one are responsible for notifying the secondary budget unit of their employment status with the university. Whenever the combined hours of work of hourly employees exceed 40 hours in a work week, overtime pay must be paid for the excess hours. In each such instance, the budget unit exceeding the appointed FTE will be responsible for paying overtime.
Excluded from overtime compensation are unscheduled paid leave, extended sick leave, administrative leave, and services that are occasional and sporadic in nature, performed solely at the employee’s discretion, and that are unrelated to the type of work normally performed by the employee (e.g. taking tickets, ushering, parking cars, keeping athletic scores, etc.).
Salaried employees (exempt employees) are not normally eligible for overtime pay. Exceptions to this policy must be approved in advance by the appropriate provost or vice president.
Compensatory time (comp time) is an alternative method for compensating hourly (non-exempt) employees who work overtime. No overtime is to be worked unless it is approved in advance by the employee's supervisor.
No employee shall be required to receive compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay unless an agreement or understanding is reached by the employer and employee before the performance of the work.
Compensatory time is accrued as one-and-one-half hours for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours in a work week. Compensatory time can be used by the employee like paid time off.
Compensatory time off must be taken within one year of the date of accumulation. Employees will be automatically paid for compensatory time not taken after one year.
No more than 90 hours of compensatory time (60 hours worked) may be accumulated. Employees will be paid automatically for any compensatory hours in excess of 90.
Transferring or terminating employees will be required to use all compensatory hours before transferring or be paid by the department in which the compensatory time was accrued.
Salaried (exempt) employees are not normally eligible for compensatory time. Exceptions to this policy must be approved in advance by the appropriate provost or vice president.
The normal, designated work week shall begin at 12:01 am Saturday and end the following Friday at midnight. Departments working flexible or alternative schedules may change the standard work week with approval from Human Resources.
Review the Holiday Calendar here.
Definition: Designated days when university offices are closed and employees receive pay. To be eligible for holiday pay, employees must hold a continuous appointment of at least .50 FTE. Summary of Policy: Holiday time is granted to benefits eligible employees in proportion to their full-time equivalency (FTE). Faculty appointed to 9-month positions* will be granted holiday time for those holidays which fall within their contract. Students and other temporary employees are not eligible for paid holidays.
The university recognizes 11 paid holidays each academic year. Human Resources publishes the Holiday schedule. The Tulsa Campus may operate under varied policies and may publish a separate schedule. Holidays on Saturdays will be observed by the university on the preceding Friday. Holidays on Sundays will be observed by the university on the following Monday.
*HSC programs may also rarely have faculty appointed to 10-month positions. In those cases, policies for 9-month faculty also apply to 10-month faculty.
Terminating employees must work either the day preceding or the day following a holiday to be eligible for holiday pay. Contact Human Resources for information. Retiring employees, i.e. employees receiving OTRS, OU, or Social Security retirement, and the beneficiaries of deceased employees will be paid for accrued paid leave time up to the maximum accrual allowance and will receive pay for holidays falling within the terminal pay period.
Holiday compensation is prorated based on full-time equivalency (FTE) for benefit-eligible employees with less than 1.0 FTE.
Example 1: Prorating for an employee with one position and an FTE of .50 for the month of November (16 holiday hours).
Calculation: 16 x .5 = 8 hours of holiday pay
Example 2: Prorating for an employee with multiple positions and an FTE of .60 – eligible for benefits at 60% - for the month of November (16 Holiday hours).
Calculation:
University offices are officially closed on these holidays except where continuous operations must be sustained to avoid conflicts with patient care, teaching schedules, and service-related functions.
Benefits-eligible employees who are required to work on these specific dates may be given an alternative date(s) to take the designated holiday. The alternative holiday is to be scheduled between the affected employee and their supervisor.
Employees must hold a continuous appointment of at least .50 FTE to accrue extended sick leave (ESL). ESL may be used only after hours have accrued. ESL is available to be used for personal illness of the employee or caring for a qualified family member who is approved under FMLA. How quickly ESL can be used depends on the kind of appointment the employee has (see following panes).
Acceptable medical documentation of illness or disability and supervisory authorization are required before charges to ESL are allowed.
For employees that are in 12-month appointments, extended sick leave for personal illness shall be taken in the following order:
Faculty appointed to 9-month positions* accrue 96 hours (12 days) of extended sick leave per year. There is no maximum accrual amount for full-time faculty members with the rank of instructor or above who hold continuous appointments. 9-month faculty do not accrue other paid leave. Nine-month faculty in Norman may use extended sick leave once hours have been accrued, with approval from their supervisor. If no hours have been accrued, time will be charged to leave without pay. Absences of 9-month faculty for reasons other than personal illness will be charged as leave without pay. HSC Faculty Handbook: Extended Sick Leave Policy for Nine- and Ten-month Faculty, Section 6.4.3 Norman Faculty Handbook: Extended Sick Leave Policy for Nine-Month Faculty, Section 3.21.4
An employee may transfer accrued paid leave time to an ESL account by submitting a written request to their supervisor or payroll coordinator. Time deposited in the extended sick leave account may not be transferred back to the employee’s paid leave account.
Terminal leave is when the university pays an employee the value of their accrued paid leave balance when they terminate. The policy depends on the kind of appointment the employee has. No payment is made for extended sick leave balances. Payment for terminal leave will not include university holidays that fall within the terminal leave payout period except for retiring employees (see below).
Contact Payroll and Employee Services.
12-month employees who terminate employment and who have been employed by the university in a benefits-eligible position will be paid for accrued paid time off, not to exceed the employee’s annual accrual amount.
Administrative leave with pay may be granted when it is determined to be in the university’s best interest that an employee not return to work for a specified period of time or for designated emergency closings of the university because of inclement weather, natural disaster, pandemic illness, or other events as determined by the President. If the University has a partial closure due to inclement weather, eligible employees will receive Administrative Leave. If the employee decides to remain off work after the University reopens, that time shall be deducted from the employee’s PTO bank. Authority to grant administrative leave requires prior approval by the President, appropriate provost, or vice president. Time approved for administrative leave will not be charged to an employee's paid time off account.
Pay will be given to benefits-eligible employees who are 1) called for jury duty or 2) subpoenaed as a witness before a court of law, legislative committee, or judicial body. Documentation is required to access time off for judicial (jury) leave and should be maintained in the department file.
Employees who are members of the Oklahoma National Guard or any branch of the United States military or its reserve components are entitled to a leave of absence with pay for the first 30 regularly scheduled work days of active military duty during any federal fiscal year (October 1 through September 30) when ordered by proper authority to active or inactive duty. The leave with pay will not be charged against paid leave or other accrued benefits. Employees who are employed by the university for brief, nonrecurring employment that is not expected to last indefinitely or for a significant period of time are not entitled to military leave except under limited conditions. Contact Human Resources for assistance regarding such determinations. The employee must provide their department a copy of written military orders before time off can be granted.
The following guidelines are applicable for military leaves on or after September 11, 2001, and during the period that “Operation Enduring Freedom” is in effect:
Review these links for more information:
Norman
The department processes an ePAF placing the employee on paid military leave (PLA/MIL) for the first 30 days. Once the 30 days have elapsed, the department will process an ePAF placing the employee on military leave without pay (LOA/MIL). When the employee returns from military leave, the department will process an ePAF returning them from leave (RFL/RFL) to place the employee back in pay status. Health Sciences Center
Review the Family & Medical Leave Act policy and forms here. FMLA leave runs concurrently with other types of leave. Employees are required to use accrued paid leave and extended sick leave (for their own serious health conditions) while taking FMLA leave before taking any unpaid leave of absence. Absences related to an on-the-job injury for which Workers’ Compensation is received will also be designated as FMLA if the employee and/or the event is eligible. See the Staff Handbook, Section 3.10 and Section 3.11, regarding paid leave and other types of leaves of absence.
Health Sciences Center
Leaves of absence without pay may be reported for an employee when no paid leave time is available. Leaves of absence without pay (LWOP) for personal reasons may be recommended by the Budget Unit Head or Medical Program Director (for Medical Residents) when it appears to be in the best interests of the university and the employee. Such leaves may not exceed one year in length. Leave without pay for FLSA-exempt (salaried) employees may not be for absences of less than one day's duration. LWOP does not count as service time worked for computation of benefits other than retirement or FMLA as specified.
Review the Workers' Compensation policy and forms here. When employees are off work as part of a workers' compensation claim, use the codes below to track their time away from work.
An employee may be placed on investigative leave and temporarily released from duty for up to five working days with pay to permit investigation of apparently serious infractions of university and/or departmental rules, policies, or applicable law. Extensions may be granted at the discretion of the Chief HR Officer. (Adopted: 7/1/11)
Health Sciences Center: 085 - Administrative leave
Norman: Contact the Provost's office for assistance recording sabbatical time. Health Sciences Center: 100 - Sabbatical with full salary Health Sciences Center: 110 - Sabbatical with half salary
The official record of leave for employees is in HR PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM).
For monthly-paid employees, each monthly paycheck reflects pay for the current month and leave balances as of the end of the previous month. When processing payroll each month, payroll coordinators report pay for the current month and deduct leave that the employee used in the previous month. This is called Exception Time reporting. For biweekly-paid employees, each paycheck reflects the hours actually worked and the leave actually taken during the pay period.
Procedures for tracking time on time sheets or by other means depend on the campus and the department.
Time sheets and time tracking procedures are department specific. Employees should follow the processes provided by their department. Time tracking will be updated for HSC programs in May 2015 as part of the TAL Project.
Leave balances: Paid Time Off (PTO) and Extended Sick Leave (ESL) balances are stored in HR PeopleSoft HCM and reflect the balance accrued as of the last day of the previous month for monthly paid employees and as of the last day of the pay period for biweekly paid employees. In Norman these balances are reflected on the Leave Accrual Balances screen in HR PeopleSoft HCM. For biweekly paid employees the balance is as of the 'Accrual Date' and for monthly paid employees the balance is as of the month before the 'Accrual Date'.
Review Time Reports: To check PTO and ESL balances in HR PeopleSoft HCM against departmental records, compare departmental records with these reports:
The PTO and ESL accrual balances shown on these reports are as of the last day of the previous month for monthly paid employees and as of the last day of the pay period for biweekly paid employees.
Record Leave: In addition to recording PTO and ESL hours during payroll processing, the following types of leave should also be posted to the Job Record within HR PeopleSoft HCM:
Verify Payments: To verify direct deposits and supplemental payroll information at HSC, refer to the Departmental Payroll Report forwarded by Payroll to all departments after each payroll cycle.
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