Vacation Leave

Annual leave is credited to employees who are working, on paid leave, or on Workers’ Compensation leave and meet one of the following criteria:

• Full time and part-time permanent SHRA (Staff Subject to the Human Resources Act) employees, persons in time-limited appointments, trainees, and probationary employees.
• Permanent Senior Academic and Administrative Officers (SAAO), Exempt Professional Staff (EPS), and 12-month faculty employees, hired prior January 1, 2025, in a leave earning role, who work between 20 hours per week (.5 FTE) and 40 hours per week (1.0 FTE), and are employed on a 9, 10, 11, or 12 month Appointment; Research Associate (Post-doc), Teaching Associate (Post-doc), (Post-doc) Intern and Resident (Post-doc) employees.
• Note: 9-month faculty do not earn leave. SAAO, EPS and 12-month faculty employees hired January 1, 2025 or after are subject to personal leave.

Annual leave may be used for a variety of circumstances:

• Vacation
• Other periods of absence for personal reasons
• Absences due to adverse weather conditions
• Personal illness (in lieu of sick leave)
• Illness in the immediate family
• Time lost for late reporting; however, deductions should be made from the employee’s pay where excessive tardiness or absenteeism occurs
• Donations to an employee who is an approved voluntary shared leave recipient

Note: Although approval of the use of vacation leave is discretionary, requests by an employee to use vacation leave for cultural and/or ethnic-related events should be granted if the employee has accrued vacation leave and the granting of the leave will not result in undue hardship on the department or its employees.

To accrue leave under the annual leave program, eligible employees must be permanent part time or full-time employees who are at least .50 FTE on a recurring contract basis. Leave accruals are prorated based upon FTE an appointment length.

EPS employees accrue 24 annual leave days annually or 16 hours monthly.

SAAO employees accrue 26 annual leave days annually or 17.33 hours monthly.

SHRA employees earn the following amounts of annual leave per month based on years of service:

• 0-5 years: 9.33 hours
• 5-10 years: 11.33 hours
• 10-15 years: 13.33. hours
• 15-20 years: 15.33 hours
• 20+ years: 17.33 hours

Post-Doc employees (12-month) earn 12 annual leave days annually.

View Leave Accrual Chart

Employees should submit a request for annual leave to their supervisor; employee preference should be considered and schedules worked out bearing in mind individual departmental needs.

Employees must enter leave into the WolfTime Leave and Timekeeping system upon use for supervisors approval. Supervisors must approve leave weekly in order for employee leave balances to remain up to date.

The transfer of Annual Leave is generally dependent on the policies of the receiving agency.

Several factors are considered when determining eligibility of leave transfer such as: When was the employee originally hired into a leave earning position? What employee class are they currently in? What employee class are they transferring to? What leave program are they currently in? Is the employee transferring to another UNC System Institution or a State of NC Agency?

The details can be found in the OSHR policy for Annual Leave.

Common scenarios for leave transfer for new employees and transfers into new positions at NC State:

• NC State Internal Transfers
• Incoming Employees from a UNC Institution
• Incoming Employees from a State of NC Agency
• New Employees from Private Sector or Previous State Service

If the situation doesn’t fit into any of these categories, please reach out to a departmental HR representative for more information.

Common Scenarios for employees separating from NC State:

• Transferring to a UNC Institution
• Transferring to a State of NC Agency
• Leaving State Government

If the employee separates from service due to resignation, dismissal, retirement, reductions in force, or death, accumulated Annual Leave will be paid in a lump sum. However, payment for accumulated leave must not exceed 240 hours. This maximum hour payout is adjusted for FTE and appointment basis. For example, a person working .75 FTE (30 hours/week) would only receive a maximum payout of 180 hours.

If an employee separates and is overdrawn on leave, it will be necessary to make deductions from the final salary check. Amounts are deducted in units nearest to a tenth of an hour (i.e., 1/10 of an hour for each 6 minutes overdrawn).

Leave payouts are processed the month following your separation from service or retirement. For example, if your last day of employment is March 21, your leave payout will be processed on the April payroll.

If you wish to defer your leave payout into a voluntary retirement plan, please submit the applicable HRNow form no later than the 10th of the month in which your leave payout is to occur.

Note:

• There are special payout provisions for EHRA employees, specified in the Employees Exempt from the State Human Resources Act (EHRA) Policy.
• Only employment as an SHRA/EHRA counts toward the 24 month leave payout rule for EHRA employees.
• There is no payout for Postdocs.
• Annual Leave that was retained by employees who opted to convert to the Personal Leave program will be paid out upon separation.

• All permanent Senior Academic and Administrative Officers (SAAO), Exempt Professional Staff (EPS), and 12-Month Faculty employees hired on or after January 1, 2025 are subject to the Personal Leave Policy.
• SHRA (Staff Subject to the Human Resources Act) employees hired on or after January 1, 2025 who subsequently move to an EPS position must convert to Personal Leave at the time of transition to EPS. 
• Note: SAAO, EPS, and 12-Month Faculty employees hired prior to January 1, 2025 can make a voluntary irrevocable decision to opt-in to personal leave.
  • SHRA employees hired prior to January 1, 2025 who convert to an EPS position on or after Jan. 1, 2025 can make a voluntary irrevocable decision to opt-in to personal leave.
• Note: SHRA employees are not eligible for Personal Leave.

Personal leave may be used for a variety of circumstances:

• Vacation
• Other periods of absence for personal reasons
• Absences due to adverse weather conditions
• Personal illness (in lieu of sick leave)
• Illness in the immediate family
• Time lost for late reporting; however, deductions should be made from the employee’s pay where excessive tardiness or absenteeism occurs
• Donations to an employee who is an approved voluntary shared leave recipient

Note: Although approval of the use of vacation leave is discretionary, requests by an employee to use vacation leave for cultural and/or ethnic-related events should be granted if the employee has accrued vacation leave and the granting of the leave will not result in undue hardship on the department or its employees.

To accrue leave under the personal leave program, EPS, SAAO, and 12-month faculty employees must be permanent part time or full-time employees who are at least .50 FTE on a recurring contract basis. Leave accruals are pro-rated based upon FTE and appointment length.

EPS and SAAO employees accrue 26 personal leave days annually or 17.33 hours monthly.

Personal Leave is adjusted proportionally for part-time employees who work halftime or more (20-40 hours/week). Accruals are also prorated for those on a less than 12-month contract. (9-month faculty to do not earn personal leave)

View Leave Accrual Chart

Employees should submit a request for personal leave to their supervisor; employee preference should be considered and schedules worked out bearing in mind individual departmental needs.

Employees must enter leave into the WolfTime Leave and Timekeeping system upon use for supervisors approval. Supervisors must approve leave weekly in order for employee leave balances to remain up to date.

The transfer of Personal Leave is generally dependent on the policies of the receiving agency.

Several factors are considered when determining eligibility of leave transfer such as: When was the employee originally hired into a leave earning position? What employee class are they currently in? What employee class are they transferring to? What leave program are they currently in? Is the employee transferring to another UNC System Institution or a State of NC Agency?

The details can be found in the UNC System Policy for Personal Leave.

Common scenarios for leave transfer for new employees and transfers into new positions at NC State:

• NC State Internal Transfers
• Incoming Employees from a UNC Institution
• Incoming Employees from a State of NC Agency
• New Employees from Private Sector or Previous State Service

If the situation doesn’t fit into any of these categories, please reach out to a departmental HR representative for more information.

Common Scenarios for employees separating from NC State:

• Transferring to a UNC Institution
• Transferring to a State of NC Agency
• Leaving State Government

If the employee separates from service due to resignation, dismissal, retirement, reductions in force, or death, accumulated Personal Leave is forfeited and is not paid out.