How to Calculate a Staff Retiree’s Last Working Day

When a staff employee applies for retirement, university policy requires that the employee takes all unused and accrued vacation days, administrative leave days (AL), and personal holidays (PH) prior to the effective date of retirement. The effective date of retirement must always be the first of a month. However, it is important to calculate the staff employee’s last working day, as it may be well in advance of the retirement date.

This webpage provides guidance for departments and staff employees on how to calculate a staff employee's last working day.

• Instructions on how to calculate the last working day
• Worksheet for completing the calculation
• Sample calculation 

If you require further assistance, contact the UHR Benefits staff at 732-932-3020, ext. 4077.

Note: Determination of a staff employee’s last working day prior to retirement must be at the agreement of the staff employee and his or her department. University Human Resources cannot calculate this date for the employee. This worksheet is intended to serve only as a resource to assist the employee and department in jointly calculating how to determine the last working day prior to the effective date of retirement. 

Instructions for Calculating a Staff Retiree's Last Working Day

1. Determine retirement date. The effective date of retirement must always be the first day of a month.
   
2. Use the worksheet and the staff employee's absence record to calculate the total amount of paid time off that the staff employee must use prior to his or her effective date of retirement:
   
   
   • Unused vacation days are earned vacation days that the staff employee currently has available to him or her
   • Accrued vacation days are the vacation days that have been earned during the course of the current fiscal year, including time in paid status, and will be available to the staff employee at the beginning of the next fiscal year
   • Available AL days are administrative leave days for the current fiscal year that the staff employee has not yet used
   • Available PH days are personal holidays for the current fiscal year that the staff employee has not yet used
   • If the staff employee’s retirement date is after July 1, he or she may earn additional AL and PH days, even if he or she is using paid time off prior to the effective retirement date. These days need to be counted in the total. For example, a full-time 12-month staff member is retiring August 1. He is in paid status as of July 1 (even if he is using vacation time), so he will earn 3 AL and 2 PH days. These days must be accounted for when calculating the last working day.
     
     
3. Using this total, count back from the retirement date the working days that the staff employee will be using paid time off prior to the effective date of retirement. Make sure not to count any approved paid University Holidays for which the staff employee is eligible.
   
4. Once all paid time off has been accounted for, determine the employee's last day in the office. The department and the staff employee should come to an agreement on this date. The termination date may be a vacation day, but not an AL or PH day. AL and PH days should be used prior to vacation days.

Worksheet for Completing Calculation

This worksheet can be used to assist in calculating the staff retiree's last working day prior to retirement.

Sample Calculation

Jane is a full-time, calendar year staff employee and is retiring after 35 years of service. She has decided to retire on August 1 and needs to calculate her last working day in the office. She has 9.9 vacation days available to her currently that she will not take prior to her last day. She also will need to take 22.1 accrued days (20 accrued during the current fiscal year, 2.1 accrued for July). She has used all her AL and PH days for the current fiscal year, but since she will be in paid status July 1, she will be granted 3 AL and 2 PH days. 

Therefore, she has the following days to use:

Type of Paid Time Off	Number of days
Unused Vacation Days	9.9
Accrued Vacation Days	22.1
Available AL Days	3
Available PH Days	2
Total	37

With the August 1 retirement date, she needs to begin counting back days starting with July 31. Using all her time off prior to August 1, Jane’s last day in the office will be Tuesday, June 10.

JUNE

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11 V	12 V	13 V	14	15
16 V	17 V	18 V	19 V	20 V	21	22
23 V	24 V	25 V	26 V	27 V	28	29
30 V	31 V

 

JULY

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	1 AL	2 AL	3 AL	4 H	5	6
7 PH	8 PH	9 V	10 V	11 V	12	13
14 V	15 V	16 V	17 V	18 V	19	20
21 V	22 V	23 V	24 V	25 V	26	27
28 V	29 V	30 V	31 V

 

V = Vacation
AL = Administrative Leave
PH = Personal Holiday
H = University Paid Holiday

 

 

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Last Updated: 03/13/2009