Note: This is a printed version of https://isc.uw.edu/your-time-absence/time-off/using-your-personal-holiday. Please visit this page on the ISC website to ensure you're referencing the most current information.

ISC

Using Your Personal Holiday

Last updated Wednesday, November 30, 2022

At the University of Washington, all monthly paid employees receive one paid personal holiday each calendar year. Similar to other Time Off requests (e.g., sick time or vacation), to use this paid holiday, employees must request the Personal Holiday Time Off in Workday.

On This Page:

Eligibility

To be eligible to use the Personal Holiday Time Off type, you must have completed a minimum of four months of continuous University employment. There are two exceptions:

  • Classified non-union employees need only to be scheduled to have at least four months of continuous employment (as opposed to having completed four months of continuous employment)
  • Academic Student Employees (ASEs) are not subject to the four-month requirement, but must meet eligibility criteria as outlined in the UAW ASE contract.

Accrual

Your work schedule determines how many Personal Holiday hours you accrue:

  • Full-time employees receive eight hours of time off for their paid holiday.
  • Part-time employees receive a prorated amount based on their FTE percentage.

Accrual works differently for Nonpermanent/Intermittent Employees – open/expand the below menu for details.

Because Nonpermanent Hourly and Intermittent employees are not assigned an FTE percentage, their Personal Holiday accrual is based on the “FTE equivalent” of the number of hours they worked in the month they take their Personal Holiday:

  1. An eligible Nonpermanent Hourly or Intermittent employee schedules their Personal Holiday in Workday.
  2. At the end of the month in which the employee takes their Personal Holiday, Workday calculates the amount of accrued Personal Holiday hours based on the “FTE equivalent” of the number of hours the employee worked that month.
  3. The payment for the accrued Personal Holiday hours will then appear on the employee’s second paycheck of the month after the employee took their Personal Holiday.

Example
An eligible Nonpermanent Hourly or Intermittent employee enters their Personal Holiday in their Workday Absence Calendar on October 10. At the close of the October 31 pay period, they were paid the equivalent of 75% FTE for that month. The employee will be paid for 6 hours of Personal Holiday on their November 25 paycheck.

Deadlines for Using Your Personal Holiday

  • Your Personal Holiday must be used or donated by December 31 of each year.
    Per University policy, unused Personal Holidays do not carry over to the following year and are forfeited if not used.
    Academic Student Employees (ASEs) are an exception – open/expand the below menu for details.

Because ASEs might start working during any quarter during the year, rather than December 31, they must use their Personal Holiday within the year after they start, specifically by their Time Off Service Date.

To review your Time Off Service Date in Workday:

  1. In the search bar, enter “View My Service Dates”
  2. In the popup window, in the Worker field, enter your name then select it from the search results (make sure your name is checked). Select OK.
  3. In the table, review the Time Off Service Date column.

How to Schedule Your Personal Holiday Time Off in Workday

When you are ready to schedule your Personal Holiday:

  1. Log into Workday using the “Sign in to Workday” link at the top of this page. Then, in the upper left corner of Workday, select Menu > Absence.
  2. On the next screen, select the Request Absence button.
  3. Select the date for which you’d like to schedule your Personal Holiday Time Off, then select the Request Absence button at the bottom of the screen.
  4. For Select Absence Type, choose Personal Holiday Time Off (or, if you’re a Nonpermanent/Intermittent Hourly employee, choose Personal Holiday Hourly Accrual), then select Next.
  5. On the final screen, select the Submit button – your request will be routed to your Time & Absence Approver.
    Note for Nonpermanent Hourly and Intermittent employees: On this final screen, the “Quantity per Day” column will display “1 hour” – this is a placeholder amount until Workday can calculate the exact Personal Holiday Hours you accrued based on your particular work schedule; do NOT use the “Edit Quantity per Day” to change this amount.

For more detailed guidance, start with step 1 in the Enter Absence (Time Off) User Guide.

Note for Med Centers Employees:
If you have not scheduled your Personal Holiday this year, please follow your department’s usual procedure for requesting Time Off.

FAQs

Can I use my Personal Holiday on December 31?
Yes, absolutely. Your Personal Holiday simply needs to be used prior to the end of the day on December 31.

I would like to donate my Personal Holiday hours – how do I do that?
To request to donate your Personal Holiday hours to another employee or a shared leave pool, please refer to the Donate Shared Leave User Guide for step-by-step guidance.

Note that, in order to donate your Personal Holiday hours to another employee, the receiving employee will first need to have an approved Shared Leave of Absence in Workday.

For more information, visit UWHR’s Shared Leave webpage.

Related Links

For more information about the UW’s personal holiday policy, visit UWHR’s Personal Holiday webpage or, for ASEs, visit UWHR's Time Off Policies for ASEs webpage.