Paid Time Off & Leaves of Absence

The university recognizes specific holidays during the year and provides paid time off for employees at these designated times.

Eligibility

All regular employees are eligible for paid holiday leave.

Holiday pay

If you …

• do not work a holiday – you will be paid at your current straight-time rate of pay for the hours you did not work within your regular work schedule
• are required to work on a holiday – you will be paid at your current straight-time rate of pay for all the hours you work.  In addition, you will be granted commensurate time off during the same or subsequent work week for each holiday worked.
• are on unpaid leave of absence or in an unpaid status – you will not receive holiday pay or credit for a holiday that falls within that leave.

Holidays

Official university holidays have been designated by the President as follows:

• New Year’s Day
• Martin Luther King Day
• Memorial Day
• Juneteenth
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Veteran’s Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Winter Holiday
• President’s Designated Holiday

Please see the University Closure section below to see other days the university may be closed.

Review the holiday policy

Review the holiday schedule

Frequently Asked Questions about University Closures.

Frequently Asked Questions about Staff Community Engagement Time

Eligibility

Regular employees, except faculty working a contract period of less than 12 months, are eligible to accrue and use vacation.  Student workers, graduate assistants, temporary faculty or staff are considered variable hour employees and are not eligible for paid vacation time.

Earning vacation

Vacation is accrued on your hours worked up to 80 hours per pay period. You will accrue vacation on regular pay, holiday pay, paid compensatory time, approved vacation, and sick pay. You do not accrue vacation when you are on an unpaid leave of absence or in a unpaid status.

Accrual rates by employee type

Vacation carry forward

The maximum annual vacation carryover is 320 hours. If you have more than the maximum carryover amount, you will forfeit the overage.

Please note: Post-Doctoral scholars are not eligible to carry over a vacation balance into the next calendar year.

You have the option to donate excess vacation leave to the Compassionate Transfer of Leave(CTL). For details please visit the CTL section below.

Monitor your vacation balance

You should monitor your vacation balance to make sure that you do not lose any vacation. You can view your current vacation balance through Self-Service.

• Log into LOUIE at and select:
• Select ‘Self Service’ 
• Select ‘Payroll and Compensation’ 
• Select ‘View Leave Balances’ 

Vacation at termination or retirement

Upon termination or retirement from employment at the university, you will be paid up to one year of accrued vacation time.

Depending on operational needs and departmental budget restrictions, the university reserves the right to schedule an employee to use vacation prior to effective date of an employee’s change vacation eligibility or separation.

Eligibility

Regular employees are eligible to accrue, and use paid sick time.

Earning sick time

Paid sick time is accrued at the rate of one day for each month of service (3.68 hours per pay period for an employee working 40 hours per week).

You will accrue sick time on regular pay, holiday pay, paid compensatory time, approved vacation, and sick pay. You do not accrue sick time when you are an unpaid leave of absence or in a unpaid status.

Using sick time

• Sick time should be requested and approved in advance whenever possible.
• If sick time in unplanned you should follow your department’s call in procedures.
• Reporting sick time 

Sick time for care of covered family members

Sick leave benefits provide paid time off during periods of personal illness, to obtain medical services, or in order to care for an immediate family member.

• child
• spouse
• parent or parent-in-law
• brother or sister
• grandparent
• grandchild
• person who is a permanent member of the employee’s established household

Prolonged illness

For absences in excess of three days because of illness, injury, or other disability, or should there be reason to believe that sick time is being abused, the employee may be required to provide the university with a written statement from a physician certifying that the employee was unable to work during the period of absence.

Important: The department must notify the Human Resources Department after three days of sick time off due to possible Family Medical Leave of Absence qualification.

Sick time carry forward

Accrued sick time carries forward without any limitation of total accumulation.

Sick time at termination or retirement

Accrued sick time is not paid out upon termination, but you retire from NAU you may be eligible to be paid out a portion of unused sick time under the Retiree Accumulated Sick Leave Program.

What is a Leave of Absence?

A leave of absence provides approved time away from work.  Unless taking a planned vacation, you should request a leave of absence if you need to spend five or more consecutive days away from work.
Request a Leave of Absence

Review policy 4.10 – Absence Without Pay

Review policy 4.17 – Unauthorized Absence 

Compassionate Transfer of Leave(CTL) allows eligible employees who have exhausted all forms of paid leave to supplement their lost wages (or supplement short-term disability) using vacation leave transferred by another university employee.

Eligibility

To be eligible to receive or donate hours an employee must be regular, classified, professional and administrative employees who accrues vacation.

Process

• Complete a Compassionate Transfer of Leave Donor Form
• Submit the form to Human Resources to

nauhrbenefits@nau.edu

• Human Resources will verify that you are eligible to donate leave to the CTL pool.
  • If approved, the amount of donated leave will be removed from your leave balance and transferred to the CLT pool.
  • If denied you will be sent a notice containing the reason for the denial.

Donating vacation hours

Transfers of leave are voluntary, and no employee may be coerced, threatened, or intimidated into transferring leave hours under this policy. Employees must retain a minimum balance of 80 vacation hours after the transfer of leave hours.

Employee Receiving Leave

To be eligible to receive CTL an employee must:

• have been in an benefit eligible position for more than one year of continuous service and eligible for vacation during that period; and
• be on an approved medical leave for a catastrophic illness or injury that is expected to last for a period of at least 45 consecutive calendar days: and
• have exhausted all forms of paid leave.

Illness/injury is considered catastrophic for an employee or a covered family if it is:

• a serious or life-threatening injury or illness that is expected to last for a period of at least 45 consecutive calendar days and the employee is not able to work in any capacity for at least this period; and
• is a non-work related illness; and
• is confirmed in writing by the employee’s medical provider, subject to reconfirmation by a medical provider chosen by the university.

Refer to the Compassionate Transfer of Leave Policy for all of the requirements to receive CTL.

Process:

Approval of your CTL request is dependent on sufficient leave hours being available in the CTL pool.

• Complete the ‘Request for Compassionate Transfer of Leave’ form and submit the form to your department for approval
• Department submits the form to Human Resources
  • If approved, you will be notified of the amount of CTL leave you have been approved to use.
  • If denied, you will be sent a notice containing the reason for the denial.
• Human Resources will submit a ‘Leave Accrual Adjustment’ form to payroll.