With winter break approaching, IU Human Resources offers reminders for staff about the additional winter break holidays, how and when to use time off during office closings, and 2024’s final paycheck.

Additional paid holidays for winter break

As shared by President Pamela Whitten, the executive leadership of IU is recognizing the efforts of IU faculty and staff with additional paid holidays over the upcoming winter break. Business days falling on Dec. 26, 27, 30 and 31 will be paid university holidays this year, with the workdays between Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 being recognized as official holidays moving forward until further notice. Most IU offices are expected to be closed, except where continuous service is required.

These are additional, paid holidays for the 2024-25 winter break. On these additional holidays, eligible staff employees are excused from work and will receive their regular pay. This closure is in addition to the university’s observed legal holidays on Monday, Dec. 25, for Christmas and Monday, Jan. 1, for New Year’s Day.

Timesheets and ePTO calendars will auto-populate with the holiday hours. For staff employees who must work on the paid holidays, these are non-premium holidays; refer to Human Resources policy HR-05-30 for details. They have a fixed date and cannot be deferred to a workday of the employee’s choosing.

For more information about the additional holidays, visit the related HR web page and FAQ.

Winter break office closings

Offices are expected to close on the following 2024-25 paid holidays dates or beyond for a winter break office closing:

• Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024
• Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024
• Friday, Dec. 27, 2024
• Monday, Dec. 30, 2024
• Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025

Use of accrued PTO during office closings

During any office closings other than paid holidays, staff may use accrued paid time off as follows:

• Non-exempt staff may use vacation hours or compensatory time off. Non-exempt PAO and PAU staff may use PTO or compensatory time off, as available. Exempt staff may use PTO. Staff in any of these categories may also choose to take the time off as absent without pay, with time off accruals.
• Non-exempt staff cannot use income protection time, and exempt and non-exempt PAO and PAU staff cannot use PTO sick leave to cover this time.
• Staff employees who do not have sufficient paid time off accruals to cover an office closing will either take the time off as absent without pay (with time off accruals) or be permitted to borrow up to 40 hours of time (see next section).

Borrowing vacation or PTO accruals during office closings

Staff employees who do not have sufficient time off accruals to cover holiday office closings beyond paid holidays will be permitted to borrow up to 40 hours of time off as follows:

• Employees should contact their unit payroll specialist for instructions.
• As soon as the employee earns vacation or PTO accruals, the borrowed time is charged against the accrued time.
• If the employee separates from university employment before earning the borrowed time, the employee’s final paycheck will be adjusted accordingly.

If the office remains open, staff may not borrow against future accruals. With supervisor approval, they may take time off (vacation/PTO) or be absent without pay and without time off accruals.

Year-end pay dates

• For non-exempt (including PAO and PAU) staff, the last pay date of 2024 is Dec. 20, for time worked between Nov. 24 and Dec. 7.
• Exempt staff will receive pay for work during December 2024 on Jan. 2, 2025.

Reminders for staff paid monthly:

• For tax purposes, the last 2024 pay date will be Nov. 27.
• The December 2024 paycheck will be paid on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. Please take this into consideration if you have automatic withdrawals from your bank accounts and ensure that you have adequate funds to cover them.

Use of unused 2023 holiday hours accruals

Unused holiday accruals from 2023 must be used by the end of the last pay period of 2024, which is Dec. 31, 2024.

For non-exempt (including PAO and PAU) staff, holiday time off earned in 2023 must be used by Dec. 21, 2024.

PTO rollover information

The following applies to exempt staff and non-exempt, non-union PAO and PAU staff.

At the end of each calendar year, full-time (100 percent FTE) employees with unused PTO hours can allocate up to 136 of those hours to their PTO sick leave account, which can be used to cover absences for personal and family medical needs. For part-time staff employees, this amount is prorated by their position’s FTE.

PTO sick leave can be used to cover absences for personal and family medical needs. Instructions on PTO rollover are available in a printable announcement, and IU Today will share more as the PTO rollover window approaches.

Printable office-closing, year-end and PTO-rollover announcements are always available at the HR website. For HR-related questions, contact askhr@iu.edu. For payroll-related questions, contact the Office of the University Controller.