Leave Accrual & Use of Leave Time

For a complete listing of all leaves and eligibility requirements (if applicable), please refer to the Leave Administration Policies, Procedures, Guidelines

Have questions? Contact HR Support Services.

Vacation Leave

  • Vacation leave is available to 12-month employees with an appointment at .50 FTE or greater
  • Vacation leave accrual begins upon hire and is available for use after the employee completes six (6) full months of service
  • Full-time (1.0 FTE) 12-month employees accrue 15 hours of vacation leave per month
  • Part-time (.50 FTE or greater) 12-month employees accrue vacation leave on a pro rata basis (e.g., .75 FTE x 15 hours = 11.25 hrs)
  • Vacation leave accrual is awarded at the end of the calendar month or pay period
  • Vacation leave is not available for use until the 1st of the month following the month or pay period in which it was earned
  • Vacation leave accrual is capped at 260 hours
  • Vacation usage is to be reported on a monthly basis by all employees on their timesheet
  • Vacation Leave is payable upon termination of employment up to a maximum of 180 hours
  • 9-month employees are not eligible for vacation leave
  • Returning Retirees
    • Vacation balance begins at zero
    • Must serve new six month waiting period before use of vacation leave
    • Unused vacation leave is not paid out upon termination

Holidays

  • Eligible employees will receive the following paid holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. 
  • OSU Unclassified Special Day - An additional day of paid leave which is to be taken between the day before Thanksgiving and January 31st.  The additional day is to be taken in a single block of time.  If the employee is unable to be away from their duties to take the additional day of paid leave, they may use the paid leave prior to June 30. The employee must coordinate schedules with his/her supervisor to maintain regularly scheduled services. Temporary employees and contractors do not receive this additional day of paid leave.
  • If employee is on leave without pay when the holiday occurs, the employee will not receive the paid holiday
  • Hourly academic wage appointment employees do not receive paid holidays

Current Year Holiday Schedule

Sick Leave

  • Academic and professional employees accrue 8 hours of sick leave credit for each full month of service
  • Part-time employees at .50 FTE or more accrue sick leave on a pro rata basis 
  • Effective January 1, 2016:  Part-time employees less than .50 FTE will earn sick leave on a pro rata basis
  • Sick leave usage is recorded on a monthly basis
  • Unused sick leave credits can be accumulated without limit
  • Sick leave is not payable upon termination from OSU
  • Returning Retirees
    • Up to 40 hours of unused Sick Leave will be restored if returning in a post-retirement position within xx years
    • Sick Leave is accrued on a pro rata basis (1.0 FTE is 8 hours)
    • Sick leave is not payable upon termination

Use of Sick Leave -

An unclassified employee who has earned sick leave must use his/her sick leave accrual for any period of absence from service that is due to the employee’s illness, injury, disability resulting from pregnancy, necessity for medical or dental care, exposure to contagious disease or attendance upon members of the employee’s immediate family (employee’s parents, spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or another member of the immediate household) where the employee’s presence is required because of illness or death in the immediate family of the unclassified employee or the employee’s spouse. As an alternative, the employee may submit a request to be on sick leave without pay, upon approval of his or her dean, director or department head. The University may require a physician’s certificate to support the sick leave claim for any absence in excess of fifteen consecutive calendar days or for recurring sick leave use. The University may require a physician’s certificate before allowing the unclassified employee’s return to work to certify that the return would not be detrimental to the unclassified employee or to others.

Effective January 1, 2016 immediate family is expanded to include:  Domestic Partner (same or opposite sex) and Grandchildren.  The term Parent will include:  custodial, non-custodial, adoptive, Foster, biological and step.  The term child will include (biological, adopted, Foster, and step).

Sick leave without pay: An unclassified employee may make a written request to the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs to be on sick leave without pay for up to one year when he/she has used all accrued sick leave with pay. The employee must submit a written request for the leave and is required to submit a physician’s certificate attesting to the need for the requested leave period. Approval of such a request is at the discretion of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. Absences covered under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may have additional requirements for medical certifications.

Unearned sick leave advance: A full-time tenured or tenure-track employee may receive a sick leave with pay advance as needed to provide the difference between sick leave earned at the onset of an illness or injury and 520 hours. A part-time tenured or tenure-track employee may receive a sick leave with pay advance proportional to his/her FTE. As sick leave is earned, the amount shall replace any sick leave advanced until all advanced time is replaced with earned time. No more than a 520 hour sick leave advance is available during a seven year period beginning with the first sick leave advance. A fixed-term unclassified employee may receive an advance so long as it does not 1) extend beyond the end date of their current appointment and 2) it can be repaid before the end of their current appointment, except upon written approval of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.

Transfer of Sick Leave:  An unclassified employee is not permitted to transfer sick leave for use by another employee, either classified or unclassified.

Paid Family and Medical Leave

  • Effective September 16, 2020
  • Paid Family and medical leave may be taken for family, medical and safe leave as described by law and university sick leave policy, administered by the University Human Resources.  This leave provides one-hundred and twenty (“120 hours”) of paid family and medical leave to eligible faculty members. This leave amount and this policy replace the previous Paid Parental Leave policy that provided sixty (“60”) hours of paid parental leave.
  • The full policy can be found here: https://policy.oregonstate.edu/UPSM/05-035_paid_family_and_medical_leave.  For more information about this leave contact [email protected].

Sabbaticals

Academic faculty that hold tenure may be considered for sabbatical leave. Visit the Sabbatical Leave page for additional information.

Parental or Family Medical Leaves

The Federal Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the State of Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) provide qualified employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a seriously ill family member, for personal serious health conditions, and to care for a child with a non-serious health condition requiring home care (OFLA only). Within the 12-week time frame, classified employees use accrued paid leave (sick leave, vacation) before taking unpaid leave.  On FMLA-qualifying leaves, OSU will continue to pay the employer-paid portion of OSU medical and dental premiums as long as the employees pay their own portion, if any.