With the winter holiday break just a few short weeks away; we want to take this opportunity to provide a reminder of our holiday compensation policy. You were previously sent the holiday schedules for the Fiscal Years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 and you can view a copy of the Holiday Schedule online. A memorandum dated June 21, 2005, summarized the revision to our standard holiday benefit to include extra holidays and the policy for the winter holiday compensation. In accordance with that policy, this year the College will officially be closed from Friday, December 23, 2005 through Monday, January 2, 2006.

We typically get questions on how to complete Time Report Forms during this time period. Therefore, we thought it would be helpful to clarify in advance how to process the Time Report Forms. No employee will be paid for more than seven days of holiday time during the period of December 23, 2005 through January 2, 2006. If an individual is required to work a full shift on a day designated as a holiday and that day would be a normally scheduled work day, that individual will be paid time and one-half for the actual hours worked, and will accrue a full day to be used at a later time. In the event, the individual works a partial shift on a day designated as a holiday, the individual will be paid time and one-half for the actual hours worked, will be paid holiday time for the remaining hours, and will accrue the number of hours actually worked on the holiday up to the number of hours normally scheduled for that day. For example, if an individual is regularly scheduled to work 8 hours and works 3 hours, the individual would be paid 3 hours at time and one-half and 5 hours of holiday pay. In addition, the individual would accrue 3 hours of holiday time to be used at a later date.

If an individual is asked to work on a day designated as a holiday, but that day would not be a normally scheduled work day, the individual will be paid time and one-half for the actual hours worked. The individual will not receive holiday time for that day since it is not a normally scheduled workday for that individual.

An employee who is not eligible for benefits does not receive holiday pay and in the event that s/he works during this time frame, she/he will be paid straight time for the hours worked.

This period is an opportunity to provide more time to relax and enjoy family, friends, hobbies and/or leisure activities. Supervisors should not schedule people to work, unless it is absolutely essential or an emergency.

Please feel free to contact Cindy Reckdenwald, Director of Compensation & Organizational Design, if you anticipate a need to schedule people to work during this period or if you have any questions.