Annual and personal leave are provided to encourage faculty and staff to take time for rest and relaxation, as well as for personal business or emergencies. The pandemic has so significantly altered normal conditions this year that some faculty and staff have not used annual leave at normal rates. These employees may complete the calendar year with leave amounts that would ordinarily be forfeited according to the policies on use of annual leave.
The University encourages employees to use leave in the year it is accrued. We recognize that this is not always possible, especially this year, so HR has been authorized to implement the staff and faculty
- The exception permits up to 80 hours of leave to be carried over to the next calendar year beyond the standard 400 hours authorized by USM. Under the temporary exception, covered employees may carry over up to 480 hours of accumulated leave in 2020.
- This applies to each employee’s accrued annual leave balance on January 2, 2021.
- Staff and 12 month faculty who separate from USM will not be entitled to compensation for any unused portion of the hours of additional annual leave in excess of 400 that were carried over under this exception to current policy.
- Likewise, any unused portion of the additional 80 hours will not be transferred to a state agency or university outside the USM if an employee transfers to such state agency or university.
- For faculty members who are paid in whole or in part from contracts or grants, the temporary increase in annual leave carryover will not increase the number of days of unused annual leave for which such employees may be paid upon leaving employment or otherwise becoming eligible for a payout of leave.
- The 60 days maximum carryover (480 hours) will be prorated for part-time staff and twelve-month faculty working 50% or more.
This temporary policy change does not apply to personal leave. The deadline for using personal leave earned in 2020 is January 2, 2021. Any personal leave earned in 2020 that is not used by the deadline will be forfeited.
NOTE: At this time, the FY21 Carry-Over Leave program cannot apply to employees in positions covered by negotiated agreements with AFSCME Local 1072. The negotiated agreements include terms on annual leave, so the University and AFSCME must negotiate any change. The parties began negotiating on this temporary exception October 15. We are hopeful to reach agreement soon on this matter, however, agreement has not yet been reached. As a result, the current provisions in the nonexempt MOU and exempt MOU must continue to apply, so employees in positions covered by these negotiated agreements with AFSCME may carry forward only 400 hours of annual leave from one year to the next. We will communicate as soon as possible after negotiations are concluded.
Additional information about this Carry-Over Program can be found in the Annual Carry Over FAQ’s on the UHR Website.