Changes in Vacation Policy for URA-AFT, AFSCME, MPSC, and Doctors Council

I am pleased to announce that Rutgers is introducing a new vacation policy that will go into effect on July 1, 2010 for these employee units:

• Union of Rutgers Administrators-American Federation of Teachers (URA-AFT)
• American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Locals 1761 and 888 (AFSCME)
• Managerial, Professional, Supervisory, and Confidential (MPSC)
• Doctors Council, SEIU, Local 10MD (Doctors Council)

The new policy provides greater flexibility by allowing employees to use vacation days as they are accrued rather than the current practice that restricts use until the first day of the fiscal year. It also simplifies the calculation of maximum carry over during “break” years (i.e., years during which an employee’s vacation accrual rate increases.) A draft of the policy is available for review here.

Under the new policy, employees will be able to carry over only a one year allotment of accrued vacation time. Some employees may find that they will exceed this one year accrued allotment if they are currently carrying over a large number of days and they do not use enough vacation days in the coming year. They will have until June 30, 2013 to reduce their accrued time without risking forfeiture beyond the current carryover policy. However, it is recommended that staff be aware of their current vacation accruals and try to limit the number of carry over days.

Over the next three months, educational sessions will be made available for staff employees to help them understand the changes in the vacation policy. Registration for sessions is available by visiting this website: https://uhrapps.rutgers.edu/profdev/script/login.asp and selecting “Understanding the URA-AFT, MPSC, AFSCME and Doctors Council Vacation Policy.” For more information, you may also contact UHR at 732-932-3020.

C: Bruce Fehn