Administrative Staff - Vacation Policy

Effective Date:	May 28, 2019
Downloadable Version:	Administrative Staff - Vacation Policy
	This document is available in alternate format on request.

Purpose/Rationale:

Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (hereafter referred to as “Humber” or “the College” recognizes that a healthy work-life balance is a key contributor to employee wellness. Humber strongly encourages employees to take their annual vacation entitlements as part of achieving this balance. Vacation entitlement and planning are managed in accordance with the provisions outlined within this Vacation Policy and in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of employment and legal provisions that guide the employment relationship.

Scope:

This policy applies to all full-time administrative employees. Part time administrative employees are referenced below in Section 7. Unionized employees are not covered under this policy. Provisions related to unionized employees are covered under the respective Collective Agreements.

Definitions:

Vacation Year: For the purposes of carry-over, the vacation year is defined as September 1 to August 31 of the following year.

Carry-Over: The amount of vacation days, in excess of their annual entitlement that an employee is allowed to carry-over from one vacation year to the next.

Policy:

1. Vacation Entitlement

Administrative staff accrue vacation from September 1 to August 31 in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of Employment. Vacation days are accrued (earned) on a bi-weekly basis and generally should be accrued before taken. Administrative staff accrue twenty-two days (22 days) of vacation, pro-rated, over their first year of service, accruing an additional day each year of service to a maximum of thirty days (30 days) after 8 years of service.

Administrative Staff Vacation Entitlement
Years of Service	Vacation Entitlement
1	22
2	23
3	24
4	25
5	26
6	27
7	28
8	29
9+	30

2. Vacation Planning and Scheduling

All vacation requests must be submitted in advance using HRMS or any other approved process suggested by the manager, for review and approval by the supervisor/manager before vacation is taken. Regardless of the internal departmental process preferred by the manager for managing and approving vacation requests, once approved, all employees MUST submit vacation requests through the HRMS for appropriate record keeping. Vacation requests are in half day or whole day increments. College operational needs will be taken into consideration when approving vacation requests.

Employees are able to view vacation balances in the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) and request vacation based on what has been accrued (earned) and not yet been used.

The employee’s supervisor/manager may schedule the employee’s vacation at their discretion, where deemed necessary and/or for operational reasons.

3. Transfer to Another Department

When an employee transfers to another department it is the responsibility of the transferring employee to inform the receiving department as early as possible of any pre- scheduled, pre-approved vacation. The receiving manager should strive to support any pre-approved vacation requests whenever possible. It is the responsibility of the receiving department to schedule vacation in accordance with policy and to follow applicable vacation scheduling requirements.

4. Vacation Accruals During Leaves of Absence

Long Term Disability (LTD) Leave and any other Unpaid Leave of Absence: vacation will not accrue for the period of an unpaid leave of absence or during Long Term Disability leaves.

Short Term Disability: vacation accrual will continue during Short Term Disability (STD) Leave where an employee’s short term disability claim has been approved.

Maternity or Parental Leave: vacation accrual will continue during Maternity or Parental Leave where an employee’s benefit claim has been approved through Employment Insurance (EI).

5. Vacation Carry-Over

Administrative staff are expected to take all accrued (earned) vacation in accordance with the terms and conditions of employment. Administrative staff may carry-over a maximum of fifteen (15) vacation days above their annual entitlement to the subsequent vacation year.

Any unused vacation in excess of fifteen (15) days above their annual entitlement will be eliminated from the employee’s vacation bank on September 1 each year.

Carry-over in excess of fifteen (15) days above an employee’s annual entitlement may be permitted in extenuating circumstances subject to formal approval by the Vice President of the employee and the Vice President of Human Resources. An employee requesting to carry-over more than fifteen (15) days above their annual entitlement must submit this request by completing and submitting the ‘Vacation Carryover Exception Form’ to their manager by June 1 each year outlining the reason for the exception request, as well as the plan to use the additional vacation. The Manager will discuss the request with their Vice President, and submit a recommendation to Human Resources. After a final determination has been made, the Manager will provide a written response to the employee and maintain a record of the approved form within the department.

The only situations that do not require Vice President approval to carry over an excess of fifteen (15) days above the employee’s annual entitlement without forfeiture, applies to an employee who has been on a maternity/parental leave or extended sick leave during the vacation year when the excess days accrued. Upon return to work the affected employee will be expected to create a vacation plan to utilize the accumulated vacation time and to discuss this with their manager. To be clear, any excess of fifteen (15) days above the employee’s annual entitlement in future vacation years will be subject to the Vacation Policy and not considered an allowable exception.

Vacation Carryover Exception Form can be found on the HR website, or by navigating to hrs.humber.ca/forms

6. Termination of Employment

Unused accrued vacation days will be paid out to an employee as a lump sum payment upon termination of employment to a maximum of ten (10) weeks’ salary. Vacation pay is subject to statutory deductions as required by law.

7. Part Time or Temporary Employees

For part-time administrative employees, vacation shall be administered in accordance with the Employment Standards Act (ESA), 2000 the details of which can be found in PART XI of the ESA. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41#BK56

Vacation scheduled will be in accordance with operational requirements.

8. Responsibilities

1. The employee is responsible for:

(a) Using the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) - Employee Direct Access to request vacation time in advance

(b) Discussing excess vacation balances with their supervisor/manager and establish a plan to reduce vacation balances to within limits by July 31st annually

2. The supervisor/manager is responsible for:

(a) Monitoring staff vacation requests and approving or denying to ensure the operational needs of the department are maintained;

(b) Supporting a work culture that values time off for staff and works with their team to ensure all vacation entitlements are used each year;

(d) Administering vacation leave in accordance with Humber policy

9. Advance Vacation Pay

Vacation pay advances will not be provided.

References:

Terms and Conditions of Employment for Administrative Employees
I:\Departmental\Human Resources\0_Units\Recruitment\Terms and Conditions Admin