During the first month of employment, an employee must begin working on or before the 15th and must work (or be in a paid status) through the end of the month in order to accrue any vacation for the month. No time will accrue for a month in which employment begins on the 16th or later. For persons terminating before the 15th, vacation does not accrue for that month. It will accrue if the employee’s last working day is on or after the 15th. No vacation time is accrued by an employee during a nonpaid leave of absence. Vacation time does not accrue past the last working day.

It is the responsibility of the employee’s home department to ensure that vacation balance(s) are accurate. When vacation has been reported incorrectly in a prior pay period, the department’s administrator must send an email to payroll’s customer service desk: pay.ask@ohr.gatech.edu. The adjustments must be made to time reported and current balance(s) on the Georgia Tech Vacation & Sick Adjustment Request Form (scanned copy of the form should be included with email).

All regular employees working half-time or more, but less than full-time shall accrue vacation in a ratio to his/her percentage of time worked.

Up to 45 days (360 hours) earned vacation may be carried over each calendar year. Once time taken through December 31st has been posted, individual vacation records are adjusted to show no more than 45 days of vacation time. Vacation time may be taken as accrued upon the consent of the employee’s immediate supervisor.

Vacation time may not be taken in excess of the amount accrued. To do so places the employee in a nonpay status for the overdrawn hours. The department’s administrator must send an email to pay.ask@ohr.gatech.edu to request that future pay be docked for the overdrawn hours.

Employees should complete the GT Vacation and Sick Leave Request Form or follow his/her department’s procedure for requesting vacation time. An employee’s immediate supervisor must approve all requests for taking vacation time in advance so that proper provision can be made for absences. Reasonable effort will be made to accommodate the employee’s wishes in this matter, but the time selected for vacation must be mutually acceptable to the employee and to the supervisor. Taking of vacation time must not be allowed to interfere with essential work. Vacation time must be reported on time sheets/time documents or forms specified by each department. Employees will be instructed by their respective department on reporting vacation time according to the department’s specifications.

Upon termination of employment, payment shall be made for accrued vacation time (up to a maximum of 45 working days) that has not been used by the employee. Such compensation shall be based on information derived from vacation leave records.

Classified Non-exempt Employees
Full-time regular non-exempt employees who are not members of the general faculty shall accrue vacation according to his/her length of service and they begin accruing vacation from the first day worked. Accruals for a pay period will not be posted to an employee’s record until the pay period has ended, which will prohibit charging vacation against accruals earned in the same period in which the leave is taken. Accruals will be based on factors which were computed by dividing the number of vacation hours accrued per year by the number of working hours in the fiscal year (2080). Ex.15 days = 120/2080 = .057692

Classified Exempt Employees
Full-time regular exempt employees who are not members of the general faculty shall accrue vacation as follows, according to his/her length of service.

Research Faculty, Academic Faculty, General Faculty, and Post Doctoral Fellows
Full-time, regular fiscal year employees who are members of the research and general faculty, as well as post-doctoral fellows, shall earn 21 working days vacation per year, accrued at the rate of 14 hours per month.

A regular employee who accrues vacation while working on sponsored research within instructional units is encouraged to take all vacation accrued prior to the expiration of the sponsored research.

Research faculty who are working shared time with another Georgia Tech department shall also accrue vacation time in an equivalent ratio to his/her percentage of time worked within the home department and the shared department. Prior to the end of the shared period, the employee must take all vacation accrued in the shared unit. The employee is responsible for reporting vacation time accurately.

Academic faculty from an academic unit who are appointed on a nine-month basis do not accrue vacation during the academic year.

Twelve-month academic faculty (working under a fiscal contract) who are working shared time with another department shall accrue vacation time in a ratio to his/her percentage of time worked with the shared department. Prior to the end of the shared period, the employee must take all vacation accrued within that unit. The employee is responsible for reporting vacation time accurately.

When research faculty members transfer to other Georgia Tech units, the liability for accrued vacation will normally be transferred along with the faculty member to his/her new administrative unit. Faculty members changing from a fiscal year contract to an academic year contract shall be paid their accrued vacation time subject to the 45-day maximum payment restriction upon termination of the fiscal year contract.

Vacation: Transfer between Institutions
Upon a move between University System institutions, with no break in service, an employee must transfer accrued vacation leave of between 1 and 20 days (160 hours). For employees with accrued vacation leave of greater than 20 days (160 hours), the employee may elect one of the following options:

1. Transfer of the total accrued vacation balance, not to exceed 45 days (360 hours)
2. Transfer of 20 days (160 hours) accrued vacation and payment by the Institution from which the employee is moving of accrued vacation greater than 20 days (160 hours). The total accrued vacation for which the employee may be paid shall not exceed 25 days (200 hours).

Vacation hours will not be accepted for an employee who moves from a State of Georgia agency to the University System of Georgia.