Process Considerations:

• Stated below is the high level process:
• Employee's Sick Leave Threshold is set during the last Pay Period of October (Oct B or Oct C).
• University Staff Annual Leave Conversion Eligibility process is run after Sick Leave Threshold is set.
• A summary report for eligibility population is generated and sent via Affinity Group calls for the Payroll Coordinators.
• Eligibility is available on employee's Absence Balances found in HRS.
• Forms are also created for each eligible employee and available in HRS under leave reports.
• Employees elect hours to bank or receive cash pay by submitting a form to Payroll Coordinator or entering through HRS.
• Payroll Coordinators enter the election via UWS Absences (procedure below). Employees enter through HRS. (AM - Entering Banked Leave Conversion Through ESS - University Staff Employee Self Service) 
• Employee balances are updated and/or payouts are received.
• Election Summary report can be run by Payroll Coordinators to validate who has requested conversion to banked leave.
• Entry can start after the 11A payroll confirms using dates between 12/1 - 12/31.

Important:

• Entries for Banked Leave and cash payments must be dated and processed between 12/1 and 12/31. For 2023, entries dated and processed prior to the December B payroll confirmation will be paid on the last check of the year.
• Entries should be made on a non-work day.
• Entries dated on or after December 17th will be paid on the 2024 paycheck.
• It is not required that cash payments be included in the last paycheck of the calendar year.
• If no option is selected before the end of the calendar year, annual leave shall be treated as though the options were not available.
• Vacation Carryover can be banked as well as current year vacation. The program will pull vacation carryover balances first, then pull from current year vacation.
• Labels indicate Banked Leave where it was possible to change them. Sabbatical is indicated in places that were not possible to change so you will see the term interchanged.

1. Navigate to: Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt > Payee Data > Maintain Absences > UWS Absences.
2. Search for your employee(s) either by Empl ID or Group ID. Click on the button Get Employees button to search.
   
   
3. Select the check-box next to the employee's name and click Request Absence.
   
   
4. Add a row by clicking the plus button. Enter the Event From Date. You should use a weekend date to avoid any possible collision with Time and Labor. The Event To Date will default to the same date.
5. Select the Absence Take: Convert Vac to Banked Lv (CLS). Do NOT choose Banked leave payout (aka Sabbatical Payout) or Banked Leave-Sabbatical (aka Sabbatical usage).
6. The Convert to Banked Leave absence or Convert to Cash take MUST be dated during the eligible period of December 1 through December 31.
7. Enter the number of vacation hours the employee would like to convert into sabbatical in the Conversion Hours box and enter the hours the employee has elected (if eligible) as a cash payment in the Override Payout / Payback Hours box as shown below. These should be listed on the SAME row. The program will pull from vacation carryover first then pull from current year vacation automatically.
8. Cash pay will be paid on the check nearest to the entry date. This no longer has to be on the final check of the year.
9. Click OK.
   
   
10. The conversion will process when the next absence calc runs and the payout will occur once the payroll calculation executes.
11. Hours requested beyond the max available, will allow you to enter but will NOT process. HRS will only process up to your maximum available whether that is your banked leave max or your VC/VNA max.
12. Conversion forms should be rejected if received after 12/31.
13. Entry must be done prior to the January A confirm.
14. Best practice is to use a Saturday or Sunday date to avoid conflicts with Time & Labor.
15. Once Conversion has processed and vacation hours have been placed in the banked leave "bucket", if the employee want to use those hours as vacation rather than converting them, they can simply charge them at "banked leave".

Additional Information on the Banked Leave Annual Conversion Eligibility Report Provided by the UWSS

This report identifies permanent and project University Staff eligible to convert unused vacation carryover and/or annual leave to either their banked leave account and/or to cash. It also identifies employees eligible to convert annual leave into banked leave based on sick leave accumulation.

The system permanently marks an employee’s leave record on the October B or C pay period if the employee reaches 520 hours of hours of sick leave.

Summary of the Eligibility to Bank Leave Based on the Earned Annual Leave

• Annual leave earning rate of 160, 176, or 184 hours may elect to convert not more than 40 hours.
• Annual leave earning rate of 200 hours may elect to convert not more than 80 hours of which not more than 40 may be paid in cash.
• Annual leave earning rate of 216 hours may elect to convert not more than 120 hours of which not more than 40 may be paid in cash.
• Employees with less than the 160 hour rate may elect to receive not more than 40 hours if they have accumulated at least 520 hours of sick leave by the time the eligibility file is created.  This is a permanent eligibility.  Once met, you will retain this threshold. 

NOTE: If the employee has more than one eligible job, one row will be included for each record on the Eligibility Report for the employee and a form will be created for each employee’s record. The Employee may convert time into one or more of their active eligible jobs up to the maximum Banked Leave Elig amount. Each form will indicate the maximum Banked Leave Elig amount for the employee as a whole. If the employee has 2 different payroll coordinators, they may have to print each form, indicate conversion amount desired on each, and turn in to their respective coordinator.

Summary of Action Required to Complete the Annual Leave Processing

1. Review the Timeline provided by UW Service Operations
2. Review the Eligibility Report provided by UW Service Operations and the included instructions.
3. Verify the number of hours an employee is eligible to convert if reaching a new eligibility threshold during the current calendar year. See Proration Logic below.
4. Verify the number of hours eligible for conversion if the employee was part-time during the current calendar year.
5. Notify employees of the deadlines and collect forms for processing prior to the last payroll calculated for the calendar year.
6. Process banked leave and/or cash payment options.

Summary of Pro-ration Logic

Pro-ration was determined using the following logic:

The value in the field VAC Hrs Available for Conversion on the Annual Leave Conversion Options Form was based on the employee’s eligibility to convert vacation to Banked Leave.

The number of hours available for use under the banked leave options must be prorated, in whole hours, if the eligible employee meets one or more of the following criteria within the calendar year:

• Employee returns from an unpaid leave of absence.
• Employee works part-time. The number of hours to be prorated shall be prorated at the pertinent annual leave rate or rates for employees who work less than 2080 hours during the calendar year. (There are some exceptions to this based on Sick Leave Thresholds)
• Employee reaches the 160, 184 or 200, or 216 hour annual leave rate during the year.

The amount of vacation hours available for use under termination/sabbatical options was determined by:

1. The number of hours paid during the calendar year for the employee at each vacation rate based on his/her seniority date.
2. The hours at each vacation rate:

• Divide the hours by 2080 and
• Multiply the result by the maximum hours available for conversion.

NOTE: The leave options should be rounded to whole hours as required by policy.

Examples of Pro-ration:

Non-represented annual leave option pro-rations	Hrs worked at the 184 hr rate	Hrs available for use at 184 hr option	Hrs worked at 200 hr rate	Hrs available for use at 200 hr option	Max Hrs term/sabb option*	Max Hrs cash option*
Employee A	1044	20	1044	40	60	40
Employee B	1566	30	522	20	50	20
Employee C	522	10	0	0	10	0
Employee D	N/A	N/A	1044	40	40	40

* The total combined hours used under the banked leave options and the cash payment option may not exceed the lesser of the whole hours available or whole hours of unused leave.

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Minimum Accrued Sick Leave Hours Required

• Required number of sick leave hours must be accrued by the end of the October B or C pay period of the current calendar year.
• The required minimum number of hours of sick leave must be accumulated in order for any covered employee to be eligible.
• There is no pro-ration of minimum required accrued sick leave hours for part-time employees.

Reports

Coordinators can run the Banked Leave Annual Elig/Elect Report whenever wanting updated information on which employees are eligible and whether they have selected to convert vacation to sabbatical or cash. The KB, Running the Banked Leave Annual Eligibility/Election Summary Report in HRS, includes instructions on running this report.

If there are employees you expect to be on the report and they are not, it is possible the absence has not processed.  To view if the absence has processed, you would visit Results by Calendar, Absence Data link.  

Additional Resources

Related KBs:

• Running the Banked Leave Annual Eligibility/Election Summary Report in HRS

Related Links:

• UPS Operational Policy: BN 1
• Annual Leave Conversion Form
  
• UW Shared Services Communication on Annual Leave Conversion Options has the detailed timeline.