Time off considerations
Table of Contents
Last updated: September 11, 2025
For all time off types
The recommended practice is to enter Time Off Requests prospectively.
Time offs are entered in hours for staff and days for academic personnel with rounding to 2 decimal precision.
Time offs cannot be entered on the absence calendar to a position once the worker has left that position (based on Change Job effective date).
Time & Absence Initiates can see all time offs that the worker is eligible for, but will not be able to transact those that are centrally entered by UW-IT Application Management.
Retroactive time off entries of more than 90 days must be transacted by the HCM Operations team. Workers cannot enter time offs if their “no retro prior to” date has been moved up; these also must be transacted by the HCM Operations team.
Time off balances do not go negative. Entry of Unpaid Time Off should account for time away from work if the paid time off balance is not available.
Employees are able to use accrued vacation time off as soon as it is available, however, only individuals who have been employed for at least six continuous months shall be paid for accrued vacation leave upon termination. This replaces any previous contract term regarding how long an employee must have worked at UW before being eligible to use accrued vacation. These changes were implemented beginning October 1, 2017, and are not retroactive. Employees cannot request to replace time off taken prior to October 1, 2017, with vacation hours they were not yet eligible to use.
If a Postdoctoral Scholar receives a grant which funds additional Sick Time Off and/or FMLA Leave beyond that provided in their contract, the HCM Operations team can adjust their time accordingly. Contact us for assistance.
For specific time off types
Bereavement Time Off
Critical validation message (hard stop) for if single request exceeds 3 days for staff or 5 days for extension lecturers.
Compensatory Time Off
Critical validation message (hard stop) for the worker if trying to use it before holiday credit time off, but can be transacted by the Time & Absence Initiate if compensatory time is to be used the calendar day before a holiday.
Accrual posts at the beginning of the work week in which it was accrued. This accrual will not post until the timesheet where the Compensatory Time Accrual was calculated has been approved.
Accrual limits are automatically enforced in Workday.
Compensatory Time Off – job change/annual
The Time & Absence Initiate enters this time off on 6/30 to reduce the balance at the annual deadline.
Cyclic Yearly Time Off
Usage allows months of service to continue to accrue, but time off accruals will not accrue.
Only appears if worker is placed on Cyclic Yearly Leave of Absence.
Entry of Cyclic Yearly Time Off on a holiday removes the accrual for the holiday
Discretionary Time Off
Awarded with the HCM Operations team’s assistance; visit the Request Discretionary Time Off User Guide for procedural details.
Automatically forfeited on 3/31 of the year following the year in which it was awarded.
Critical validation message (hard stop) for the worker if trying to use it before holiday credit and vacation time off, but can be transacted by the Time & Absence Initiate if Discretionary is to be used the calendar day before a holiday.
Military Training Paid Time Off
Instances of military time off taken will be counted up to 21 days each federal fiscal year (10/01-09/30).
Workday will not enforce the 21-day rule for those working over midnight, as each instance will count as a day. Workers will need to contact the HCM Operations team to transact.
Military Unpaid Time Off
Usage allows months of service to continue to accrue, but time off accruals will not accrue.
Paid Holiday Eligibility
Worker must be in paid status on scheduled work day proceeding the holiday, in order to be eligible for the paid holiday.
Paid Time Off
Maximum duration of PTO for extension lecturers must be manually enforced.
Police Disability Supplement
Open only to those on a Worker’s Compensation Leave of Absence.
Personal Holiday
Maximum of 8 hours x FTE. All hours should be used on a single day. This, however, is manually enforced because workers who work over midnight can transact this across two calendar days.
If a worker changes their FTE in the middle of a pay period and tries to use the personal holiday within the same period, the hours’ value of the personal holiday will be inaccurate. Contact the HCM Operations team for assistance.
Must be used by December 31 or will be forfeited. (Academic Student Employees (ASEs) have until their Time Off Service Date.) For more information, please visit Using Your Personal Holiday page.
Shared Leave Time Off and Shared Leave Time Off – Organ Donor
Only appears if worker is placed on Shared Leave of Absence. The balance award will occur in collaboration between HR Operations and the HCM Operations team.
Critical validation message (hard stop) for the worker if trying to use Shared Leave Time Off before holiday credit, vacation time off, compensatory time off, discretionary time off, personal holiday, and sick time off.
Shared Leave entries by the worker cannot be transacted on the last work day of a month that is also the last calendar day of the month because time off accruals of sick and vacation will appear then. The Time & Absence Initiate will need to transact this on behalf of the worker.
Shore Leave Time Off
Accrues when “sea hours” are entered in Workday. The sum of shore leave time off and compensatory time off should not exceed 480 hours in total. This will need to be manually enforced using the Shore and Comp Time Balance report.
Sick Time Off
Refer to the information about Sick Time Off provided on the Time Off Types For General Use page.
Suspended Operations Time Off
Entered for the worker to account for the lost hours that will be made up; refer to the Suspended Operations User Guide.
Tracking Time Off – Parental
The sum of parental tracking time offs cannot exceed 6 months.
Tracking Time Off – FMLA
The sum of FMLA tracking time offs cannot exceed 12 workweeks in a rolling backward 12-month period.
Vacation Time Off
Vacation accrual rates are prorated based on workers’ FTE, even while on a leave of absence.
Accrues at the end of the calendar month. It will appear as if the accrual posts on the last calendar day of the month, but it cannot be used until the first of the next month.
Beginning June 6, 2024, the balance of vacation time off above 280 for classified workers is automatically forfeit on the worker’s Time Off Service Date. UWHR can grant extensions and will work with HCM Operations to execute the extension in Workday.
Unpaid Time Off
The entry of work hours and unpaid time off is allowed in Workday for professional staff. Enforcement of partial day absence is manually enforced. Enforcement of entering unpaid time off on a holiday if the day before a holiday is also unpaid must be manually enforced.
The use of reason code “Conscience” cannot exceed two (2) instances in a calendar year.
Unpaid time off the day before a holiday that results in the holiday also being unpaid is manually enforced. Departments must ensure Unpaid time off is entered not only on the day before the holiday but also on the holiday. This will remove the holiday credit accrual as well. Use the Audit Unpaid Holiday R0012 report.
Employee type-specific scenarios
Non-Permanent Work Shifts: Shift Differential For Time Off
For workers who are not working a permanent work shift of night or evening but work an alternate work shift, the time off taken will not automatically be calculated as receiving shift differential. Upon entry of the time off request, notify your Time and Absence Initiate to add in the shift differential code at the time the time off is taken.
Multiple Positions – Primary Position is Academic Personnel
Workday assesses a worker’s primary position when determining which business process path an Absence Request for Time Off will follow. This design requires additional steps for workers who have a primary position in the Academic Personnel Job family but are entering time off for their non-academic position.
Example: Employee has a primary Faculty position and a second Professional Staff position. When the employee submits the Absence request to record Time Off for her Professional Staff position, Workday routes the business process to the Academic Partner for approval because her primary position is in the Academic Personnel Job Family.
In these cases, the unit must contact the HCM Operations team so that the HCM Service Partner can reassign the business process step for Time Off approval from the Academic Partner to the Time & Absence Initiate.
Contract Classified Employees – Extend Probation Period Based on Time Off
For certain contract classified employees, an employee’s probationary period will be extended on a day-for-a-day basis, for any day(s) that the employee has taken an approved Paid Time Off, Unpaid Time Off, or Shared Leave Time Off, except for military service reasons. The completion date will be set to the employee’s next scheduled work day. Review the worker’s applicable bargaining contract for additional details.
To monitor probationary period end dates and approved time off requests, department users with elevated security roles should run the report Probationary Period Audit R0491. This report will serve as an audit tool to determine which employees need their probationary periods extended (due to time off taken during their probationary period). If a Probation Extended End Date is needed, the department should contact the HCM Operations team.
Upstream processes impacting time offs
1. Job Change – Impacts to Time Off Accruals
A change in an employee’s job may impact time off accruals, such as Vacation Time Off.
If a change results in a different accrual rate, Workday will use the higher rate when posting the accrual at the end of the month.
Example
Change in Employment Program: If a CNU employee with 25 months of service moves to an exempt professional staff position, she will accrue 11.34 hours (the higher, pro staff rate) in the month the change is effective.
If only the employee’s FTE changes, then Workday will calculate the Average FTE percent based on the higher FTE from the 1st- 15th of the month and the higher FTE from the 16th – last day of the month. This Average FTE is used to calculate the accrual for the month the change is effective.
Example
Exempt Professional Staff employee has an FTE Change of 80% to 50% effective December 16, Workday will calculate 65% as the Average FTE and this will be used to calculate the accruals in the month the change is effective.
2. FTE Changes – Impacts to Time Off Usage
A change in an employee’s FTE may also impact time off usage. If an employee has proactively requested Time Off or if a Retro FTE Change is completed, all affected Time Off entries should be reassessed after the FTE Change is completed and should be corrected to reflect the eligible hours based on new FTE.
- This applies to any time off with usage rules based on FTE: Holiday Credit, Holiday Taken, Personal Holiday, Sick Time, & Vacation Time Offs.
- If the corrections are not made, this may result in Leave Without Pay for any Time Off approved in excess of the employee’s available balance.