Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Paid Time Off Benefits

The Colleges provide generous paid time off benefits for vacation, personal, sick and holiday time to assist employees in balancing work and life commitments.

Holidays

The Colleges holiday calendar follows the calendar year.

2023 Holiday Schedule
Holiday	Day(s) and Date(s)	Administrative Leave Day/Date
New Year's Day	Monday, January 2, 2023
Memorial Day	Monday, May 29, 2023
Independence Day	Tuesday, July 4, 2023	Monday, July 3, 2023
Thanksgiving	Wednesday, November 22, 2023 Thursday, November 23, 2023 Friday, November 24, 2023
Winter Holiday	Monday, December 25, 2023 Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Administrative Leave Days		Wednesday, December 27, 2023 Thursday, December 28, 2023 Friday, December 29, 2023
New Year's Eve	Monday, January 1, 2024
New Year's Day	Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Floating Holiday* (*Floating Holiday must be planned in advance as a full day off and approved by your supervisor)	Employee choice - 2 days per calendar year

Considering that HWS is a residential campus, the Colleges does not completely close for holidays during academic terms. If an office, service, or program must remain open on a holiday, employees who are scheduled to work on a holiday will be entitled to schedule a substitute day off during the same academic year. Scheduling is subject to the supervisor’s approval. Such substitute days are not eligible to be carried over from academic year to year or paid upon termination of employment. Certain offices, such as Campus Safety, may have a different holiday schedule or holiday obligations. Employees in these areas will receive information regarding holiday schedules from their supervisors. Administrative staff shall not be eligible for holiday pay unless they have worked their scheduled work day immediately before and immediately after the holiday, except in cases of pre-approved vacation or personal time off, a demonstrated illness, or other emergency not permitting such work.

Summer Schedule
The Colleges has a practice of reducing the number of work hours per week for a defined period of time during the summer months. This reduction of summer hours applies to all full-time staff who are normally scheduled to work 37.5 hours or more per week. Employees will receive advance notification if this practice will be implemented for the summer.

Reporting Paid Time Off (PTO)
All Paid Time Off (PTO) requests are to be reported in the HR module of Peoplesoft. Below are links to the instructions of reporting Paid Time Off (PTO) for Benefits Eligible Administrative Exempt Employees, Administrative Non-Exempt Employees and Hourly Employees.

• Manager Approval Time Off Request Instructions
• PTO FAQs
• Salaried Exempt Time Off Request Instructions
• Salaried Non-Exempt Time Off Request Instructions

Vacation Days
The Colleges recognizes the importance of vacation time in providing rest, recreation and personal enrichment. The vacation benefit is structured on a fiscal year basis (July 1-June 30).

Full-time, benefits eligible 12-month Administrative Salaried Employees

• Twenty vacation days per year, awarded each July 1, to be used July 1 - June 30 (pro-rated the employee’s first and last day of employment).

Part-time, benefits eligible Administrative Salaried Employees

• Earn vacation days on a pro-rated basis. For example, an employee who works 30 hours per week will earn ¾ of the amount of vacation a full-time employee earns while an employee working one-half time earns one-half the vacation of a full-time employee.

Hourly, benefits eligible Administrative Employees

• Accrue vacation days based on the number of hours worked and paid by the Colleges. Beginning with the first day of work, vacation time is earned on each hour paid (worked and paid time off), up to 40 hours per week at the below hourly accrual rates.
• Vacation time will be paid at the employee's regular straight time hourly rate.
• Changes to accrual rates are adjusted in the pay period following the employee's anniversary date.

Years of Service	Hourly Accrual Rate	Annual Accrual Based on 1950 Hours (12 mo.)	Max Accrual Possible
0-2	.041	76.26 hours	114 hours
3-8	.061	113.46 hours	170 hours
9 or more	.081	150.66 hours	226 hours

76.26 hours = 10.168 days (based on a 7.5 hour day)
113.46 hours = 15.128 days (based on a 7.5 hour day)
150.66 hours = 20.088 days (based on a 7.5 hour day)

Vacation Carryover (for salaried employees only)
Employees begin to accrue vacation time when they begin work for the Colleges. Employees may use their vacation at any time after the first 90 days of employment. Employees may generally carry over vacation days from one year to the next. However, to encourage employees to use vacation, there is a maximum of 10 vacation days that may be carried over on July 1 each year. Also, there is a maximum of 30 earned and unused vacation days that may be paid out to employee at time of termination from the Colleges. Carryover amounts will be applied to vacation balances once they are verified by Human Resources according to the employee’s regular time report approved by their supervisor.

Personal Days
Benefits eligible employees receive two Personal Days each fiscal year. Personal days may be used for personal business that cannot be tended to outside of work hours, e.g., a house closing.

Employees are not required to give any specific reason for using a personal day, however, advance notice should be provided to the supervisor. Personal days during the first year of employment - during the first year of employment, employees will receive two personal days if hired between July 1 and December 31. New employees hired between January 1 and June 30 will receive one personal day.

Each year personal days must be used by June 30th or they shall be forfeited since unused personal days cannot be carried over.

Sick Leave
For benefits eligible employees, an allotment of sick days is provided on a fiscal year basis. During the first year of employment, the number of sick days are  prorated. Typically, sick time may be taken in half-hour increments and may not be used during an employee's Introductory Period. Sick days cannot be carried over year to year.

Full-time and half-time administrative salaried employees are eligible for the following:

• Ten (10) days of sick leave per year will be granted to full-time, 12-month, benefits-eligible employees;
• Eight (8) days will be granted to full-time, 10-month, benefits-eligible employees;
• Five days (ten half-days) will be granted to half-time, 12-month, benefits-eligible employees, and
• Four days (eight half-days) will be granted to half-time, 10-month, benefits-eligible employees.

Administrative hourly employees earn sick leave beginning on the first day of employment on each hour worked including holiday, vacation, personal and sick time used up to 40 hours per week at an accrual rate of .047 hour of sick time for each hour paid. The maximum accrual limit of sick time is 715 hours.

Use of Sick Leave
Sick leave may be granted when the employee:

• Receives medical, dental or optical treatment or examination;
• Is incapacitated and unable to perform duties by sickness, injuries, or would jeopardize the health of others by his/her presence at work because of exposure to illness;
• Is required to give care and attendance to a member of his or her immediate family (as defined in the Benefits Handbook) who is sick or injured and in need of medical attention.

If you have been out of work for more than a period of five (5) consecutive work days due to an illness or injury, a physician's statement will be required before permitting you to return to work. Or in cases of personal illness or injury, you may be eligible to apply for New York State disability.

Any unused sick leave is not paid out at the time of termination. Sick leave does not accrue during an unpaid leave of absence.