The University provides paid vacation leave for rest, relaxation and renewal to career or limited staff employees who are appointed at 50% percent or more of full time for six or more months. The amount of vacation leave accrued is determined by the appointment's personnel program, the appointment's percentage of time and the amount of qualified service credit.
Service Credit Types and Definitions
Vacation Accrual Rate:Used for determining vacation accrual
rate and time towards service awards.
Sum of all months of qualifying service. A month of qualifying
service is a month on pay status at 50% time or more. Service need
not be continuous to be counted. Qualifying service includes staff
and academic service at
- University of California
- California State University
- State of California service (including Hastings College of the Law)
- Department of Energy Laboratories
Retirement: Used for determining service credit
towards retirement.
Accrues directly proportional to time
on pay status (for example, an employee on 50% pay status for one
year earns one-half year of service credit). Please contact Benefits
Office regarding retirement service credit.
Seniority: Used for layoff and reduction in
time purposes.
Generally, seniority is calculated
by fulltime-equivalent months (or hours) of University service.
Employment prior to a break in service is not counted. (See individual
policy or contract for specific policies.) Contact Employee &
Labor Relations Office for questions.
Upon hire or appointment to a title eligible to earn vacation, the department assigns a Leave Code to the employee, using the Vacation Accrual chart.
Does the employee have previous qualifying service?
- NO. Use the lowest Leave code appropriate for the employee's title. The lowest code for Tier 1 employees (with title codes 4000 or greater) is 'A'. The lowest code for Tier 2 employees (with title codes less than 0800) is 'B'.
- YES. The employee completes the
'Request
for Service Credit Review" form.
If the employee has had previous qualifying service with institutions
other than UCSB, he needs to also use the 'Request
for Verification of Previous Employment' form to obtain documentation from those institutions. (For prior service
that is only at UCSB, the "Request for Service Credit
Review" form is all that is necessary.)
* Send all forms and documentation to Edna Arellano in Human Resources.
Human Resources Responsibilities
Human Resources (HR) tracks the employee's qualifying service credit.
HR contacts the department when the employee has reached a service anniversary, at 5 (for Tier 2 or grandparented A&PS employees only), 10, 15 or 20 years (for vacation accrual change). HR continues contacting the department each 5-year mark after 20 years for service awards but no vacation accrual change. HR sends official notice with service award and instructions to the department.
HR reviews "Request for Service Credit Review" forms when received and instructs department on how to resolve (changing Leave code, adjusting vacation balance, calculating retro vacation time owed to employee, etc.).
HR supplies documentation and complete forms as needed for separated employees wishing to inform their new employer of their service credit with UCSB.
Frequently Asked Questions on Vacation Service Credit
Q |
My Semi-Annual Benefits Summary shows a different service credit amount for me than PPS. Is this an error? Which figure is the correct one? |
A |
Service Credit for Vacation Accrual
is calculated differently than Retirement Service Credit,
so both figures may be correct. Vacation Service Credit is
the total number of qualifying service months at 50% pay status
or more. Retirement Service Credit accrues directly proportional
to time on pay status. For example, after one year, a 50%
employee will have 12 months of Vacation Accrual Service Credit
but only 6 months (0.5 year) of Retirement Service Credit. |
Q |
What type of appointments count towards "qualifying service"? |
A |
Any staff, student
or academic appointment at 50% pay status or more. Contract
and By Agreement appointments do not count. |
Q |
Which institutions count for Vacation Accrual Service Credit? |
A |
Any University of California location.
Any California State University campus. The State of California
(including Hastings College of the Law). The Department of
Energy Laboratories. |
Q |
Which institutions DON'T count? |
A |
Any institution not listed above.
For example: City
governments. County governments. Federal governments. Santa
Barbara City College. Out of state colleges or universities.
Private employers. |
Q |
How do I notify someone about previous employment at UCSB? |
A |
Complete the |
Q |
I had an eligible appointment with an eligible employer prior to my hire at UCSB. How do I get credit for my service there? |
A |
Complete the |
Q |
Do I have to fill out these forms? |
A |
If you have official, thorough and
detailed documentation then these forms are not required but
they are highly recommended. Completing the forms will
pinpoint the information needed and speed up the process of
verifying your service credit for vacation accrual. |
Q |
How will I know when I've officially hit my 5, 10, 15 or 20 years of service, triggering a change in my vacation accrual rate? |
A |
HR tracks employee service credit
and will notify your department's business officer or PPS
Preparer. |
Q |
What do I do if I think my service credit is incorrect? |
A |
Fill
out and return a |