University Holidays
(Fayetteville Policies and Procedures 409.2, 509.1; UA Systemwide Policies and Procedures UASP 435.1; Arkansas Code Ann. §1-5-101 through 104)
The Board of Trustees delegates to the campuses the schedule of official holidays for each fiscal year. There are ordinarily 12 official paid holidays and one or two additional days when the university is closed and which are charged to your annual leave. The usual schedule includes the following holidays: Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday following Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, the Friday of Spring Break (in lieu of Presidents' Day/Daisy Gatson Bates Day), Memorial Day and your birthday. Because the university ordinarily closes for the entire week between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, you will be charged annual leave for any days during that period not covered by regular holidays or additional holidays declared by the governor. One of the days will be a holiday in lieu of your birthday. If you decide to observe your birthday on the date it occurs, instead of using it in lieu of an annual leave day between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, be certain to inform your department leave representative as far in advance of your birthday as possible. If you decide to observe your birthday on the date it occurs, you will be charged annual leave for the day your birthday would be observed between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day. If you do not observe your birthday on the date that it occurs and your employment ends before the observed day between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, you will be paid for the holiday in lieu of your birthday.
University non-exempt employees may work additional hours during the month of December, which may be substituted for annual leave on those days when the university is officially closed which are not covered by holidays. Specific instructions will be sent to employees annually.
When a holiday (except December 25) occurs on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is observed; when December 25 occurs on a Saturday, the following Monday is observed. When a holiday (except December 24) occurs on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed; when December 24 occurs on a Sunday, the preceding Friday is observed.
If you are assigned a work schedule which requires you to work on a regularly-scheduled holiday, you may be granted time off on another date that is convenient for you and your department. If the workload in your department makes it difficult to arrange an alternate day to observe your holiday, you may be paid for the holiday at your regular pay rate in accordance with provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
If you are a full-time employee, you are eligible to observe these holidays at full pay. If you work less than full-time, but half-time or more, your holiday pay will be proportionate to the time worked. For example, if you work half-time, your holiday pay will be at a rate equivalent to four hours. You must be in a paid status (not on leave without pay) on your normally scheduled work day before the holiday and your normally scheduled work day after the holiday. If you are a non-student, regular hourly employee and regularly work 20 or more hours a week, you are eligible for pay for university holidays at a rate proportionate to the number of hours you regularly work, provided you work your last scheduled day before and your first scheduled day after the holiday. (Example, if the employee has been given the Thursday off before the Friday holiday, their last scheduled day is now Wednesday. They would need to work that Wednesday and the next scheduled day after the holiday to be eligible.) Students hourly employees are paid only for hours actually worked. You are considered a student, and therefore not eligible for holiday pay, if you are taking six or more undergraduate credits or five or more graduate credits.
Wednesday, November 11, 2020 8:58 AM
Thursday, November 29, 2018 6:18 PM
Wednesday, March 03, 2010 11:15 AM