Information Regarding Spring Break Closure Days 2005

Spring Break for 2005 contains three University holidays (March 14, 15, and 16) and two closure days (Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18).

Closure days are those days when the University is not scheduled to be generally open for business because of its academic mission/schedule, but for which State law does not provide holiday time. State law provided for a total of 12 holidays in Fiscal Year 2004-2005 (for more information see the 2004-2005 Holiday schedule at  http://www.unt.edu/hr/records/holidays.htm

Closure days are not required every year. They are used only when necessary and allow a benefit to staff members by permitting the traditional closing of the campus for the full week of Spring Break. By shutting down or reducing heating/air conditioning, the University also realizes substantial utility savings over those generated during a partial week break.

For staff members, state-mandated absence/attendance reporting for closure days requires use of one of the following options:

1. The staff member may use previously accrued and unused Vacation Leave or Compensatory Time. For full time staff the number of hours Vacation Leave or Compensatory Time for March 17 and March 18 will be 16 hours. Part-time staff hours used shall be prorated according to their percentage of time; i.e., a 50% time employee would be required to use 8 hours of leave time for the two closure days, a 75% time employee would be required to use 12 hours of leave time for the two closure days, etc.

2. The staff member may be docked for an equivalent number of working hours (again, 16 hours for full time staff, 8 hours for 50% time staff, etc.)  There are two circumstances in which a dock will apply.

First: If the staff member does not have sufficient leave time or is not eligible to use their accrued vacation time (probationary employee) and if they exercise no other option listed here, they are required to be docked for those hours not covered by leave. The employee may not make up the Closure days with leave earned later; it is against state law to advance leave time to a staff member.

Second: Staff members who do have sufficient leave time but prefer not to use it may elect to be docked for all or part of the Closure days. Because the Closure days are a special circumstance not controlled by the employee, the usual requirement to use all applicable accrued leave time prior to docking the employee does not apply.

3. At the discretion of management, the staff member may be required or may be permitted to work all or part of the Closure days or on alternate days during the week of Spring Break. There are two circumstances in which the employee would substitute work hours for the Closure days.  First: Some staff members are emergency response personnel and may be required to work to maintain essential services.  Second: other staff members may be permitted to work in circumstances for which there is a legitimate departmental need and as approved by management. Note that approval must be secured from the department's Vice President for the staff member to perform work at their place of residence. In either case, the employee's work time is applied to the Closure days.

  4. At the discretion of management, and if there is a legitimate departmental need, those staff members who are eligible for the accrual and use of Compensatory Time may be scheduled to work additional hours outside their regular schedule in advance of the Closure days to make up for all or part of the time scheduled to be off duty. All federal, state, and University regulations and policies apply. Non-exempt staff members are subject to the requirements of the FLSA and generally would earn compensatory time at 1.5 if their work performed exceeds 40 hours in a work week. Exempt staff members whose positions are eligible for the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) are not eligible for Compensatory Time accruals and may not exercise this option.

For questions, contact the Human Resources Department, Records Section.