Time off - Vacation, Holiday and Reduced Schedule

RIT generally observes twelve paid holidays per year:

• New Years Day,
• Memorial Day,
• Juneteenth,
• Independence Day,
• Labor Day,
• Thanksgiving Day,
• the day after Thanksgiving,
• Christmas Day, and
• four RIT-designated holidays
  • the RIT-designated holidays dates are determined annually, but are generally used to close RIT between December 25 and January 1 of each year. 

If a holiday falls on a Saturday, RIT will generally close the preceding Friday. If a holiday falls on Sunday, RIT will generally be closed on the following Monday, with the exception of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Observance of the Christmas and New Year holidays are established annually.

There are two dates each calendar year that are just before a University-designated holiday that are set as “early release closure dates.”

On early release closure dates, the university will officially close at 2:00 p.m.

The dates are set in conjunction with the approval of the holiday schedule. One of these dates will be set as the day before Thanksgiving; the other day will be the day before the first University-designated holiday in December.

Regular full-time and part-time staff and 12-month faculty are eligible for paid vacation. Staff scheduled to work less than 12 months per fiscal year have prorated vacation based on their weeks or months per year.  For example, if an employee is scheduled for 10 months per year, they would have 10/12 of the annual vacation calculation

Faculty members on contracts of less than 12 months follow Policy E4.0, Faculty Employment Policies. 

RIT’s vacation benefit is an accrual plan, which means eligible employees earn vacation during the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). The amount of vacation earned annually is based on the employee type and the employee’s length of service as outlined in the chart above.

An employee's total vacation time is based on the employee’s regularly scheduled weekly hours and scheduled months or weeks per year. Vacation is prorated for those who are scheduled to work less than 12 months per year. The accrual will increase based on years of service.

Vacation is earned during each pay period. Employees hired mid-pay period receive accrual for the full pay period. 

Staff Employees Scheduled for Less Than 12 Months Per Fiscal Year:

Vacation will be prorated for employees who are scheduled to work for less than 12 months per fiscal year, except as outlined below for those grandfathered as of August 1, 2012. Below are examples of proration:

Example 1: a nonexempt employee eligible for 2 weeks of vacation who is scheduled to work 35 hours per week, 44 weeks per year will have 59.220 vacation hours each fiscal year.

44 weeks / 52 weeks = .846 proration factor

35 hours per week x 2 weeks of vacation = 70 hours x .846 proration factor = 59.220 annual vacation hours

Example 2: an exempt employee eligible for 3 weeks of vacation who is scheduled to work 40 hours per week,10 months per fiscal year, will have 12.5 vacation days each fiscal year.

10 months / 12 months = .833 proration factor

40 hours per week x 3 weeks of vacation = 120 hours x .833 proration factor = 99.960 hours or 12.5 days

Employees should schedule their vacation in advance and obtain supervisor/manager approval. Earned, unused vacation time will be forfeited at the end of the fiscal year except as described in the Vacation Carry-Over section below.

All employees submit and track vacation in Workday.

RIT provides a vacation carry-over provision that an employee may carry over up to one-half of their total annual vacation accrual. The prior year’s carry-over from the prior fiscal year is not included in determining the amount.

The carry-over amount is based on the annual earned vacation time calculated as of July 1 of the next fiscal year (e.g., for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, the carry-over is based on the annual vacation calculated as of July 1, 2024).

Maximum carryover chart examples:

Vacation carry over is automatic for all employees in Workday.

You can view your vacation balance information in Workday as well as on your online or hard copy paycheck.  Please refer to the Payroll website to learn more about the vacation balance information.

Vacation carryover is automatic in Workday; there is no action required by employees.

Staff employees who were scheduled to work less than 12 months per year as of July 31, 2012 will be grandfathered and will not have prorated vacation time in the following scenarios:

• The employee remains in the grandfathered position with the same scheduled months,
• The employee remains in the grandfathered position with an increase or decrease in their scheduled months, or
• The employee changes jobs and increases their scheduled months.

If the grandfathered employee changes jobs and decreases their scheduled months or leaves employment and is later rehired into a less than 12-month position, the vacation time will be prorated.