Institutional Holidays

All full and part time employees (at least .5FTE/20 hours per week) in a benefits eligible position including educational appointees, students and trainees, are eligible for institutional holidays.¹

New employees beginning work on the first workday of the month receive pay for institutional holidays falling before the first workday of the month. (e.g., When New Year’s Day falls on Friday, Jan. 1, employees hired on Monday, Jan. 4 receive pay for that day).

Source:

¹Texas Government Code Section 662.011

Holidays Falling While on Leave

• Paid Leave: If you are on a leave of absence and in a paid leave status when an institutional holiday occurs, holiday pay is received for that day(s) and no accrued time (Ex: EIB, PTO, etc.) will be used. The only exception is Reduced Paid Leave (RPL). Those on RPL will continue to receive 50% of their pay on institutional holidays.
  
• Unpaid Leave: If an institutional holiday occurs while you are on a leave of absence and in an unpaid status, you are not eligible to be paid for the holiday. This means, you would not receive pay for the holiday.
• Please note: With both paid and unpaid leaves of absence, you are not eligible to bank a holiday for future use.

Working an Institutional Holiday

• An employee who is eligible to receive paid institutional holidays and works on an institutional holiday (whether they are scheduled to work or are called into work), will receive:
  • Regular pay for the hours worked.
  • Earned Holiday Bank (EHB) equivalent to the number of hours worked.
  • Holiday pay for the hours not worked.
  • Example: An employee is required to work 4 hours of their normally scheduled 8-hour shift on an institutional holiday. They will receive 4 hours of regular pay, 4 hours of holiday pay and 4 hours of EHB.

• Documenting the time worked
  • Non-exempt and exempt overtime eligible employees - Use Kronos to swipe in and out as normal. Kronos will automatically bank the equivalent number of hours.
  • Exempt (not eligible for overtime) - Document the actual hours worked and submit for manager approval. Once approved, the timekeeper banks the approved hours. Keep documentation for audit purposes.

• An employee who is eligible to receive paid institutional holidays and works on a holiday that they are not scheduled or required to work will receive Earned Holiday Bank for the hours they work with prior approval from their manager.
• A combined maximum of 8 hours can be given in holiday pay and EHB for each institutional holiday.
• Employees eligible for overtime may also be paid for this additional pay for hours worked in excess of the normal 40-hour work week, but this is based on the total hours worked, excluding any holiday time or leave taken.
• Employees required to work on an institutional holiday may work remotely if the nature of their work allows for them to conduct business away from the campus. This arrangement must be approved in advance of the holiday by an administrative head of the department. The employee will earn one Earned Holiday Bank hour for each hour worked, up to 8 hours.
• The employee and manager select a mutually agreed upon date for the Earned Holiday hours and must be used within 12 months of the holiday or those hours will be forfeited.

On Call

If an employee is on call during an institutional holiday but is not called or required to work, then they will be paid for the holiday. See Call Pay Policy (MD Anderson Institutional Policy #ADM0249) for information on how pay is applied for time spent on call or working as a result of being called back.

Holiday Falling On their Regularly Scheduled Day Off

• If an institutional holiday falls on an employee's regularly scheduled day off (not a PTO day or other day of paid leave), the employee observes their scheduled day off and receives equivalent time off, up to a maximum of 8 hours. These hours will be recorded as Earned Holiday Bank.
• The employee and manager select a mutually agreed upon date for the equivalent time off. Earned Holiday hours must be used within 12 months of the holiday, or those hours will be forfeited.
• See the Alternative Work Arrangement Policy (MD Anderson Institutional Policy #ADM0320) for further details on exceptions and timekeeping guidelines.

 Unscheduled Absences on Institutional Holidays

• If an employee is scheduled to work on an institutional holiday but incurs an unscheduled absence, the department should code the leave as appropriate (ex: PTO or EIB) and the employee will receive Earned Holiday Bank for the holiday.
• The department should reference the Attendance Policy (MD Anderson Institutional Policy #ADM0289) for guidance on unsatisfactory attendance.  

Earned Holiday Bank  

Hours earned for working institutional holidays as of January 3, 2021. See Work Schedules & Taking Leave for details on earning these hours.

Legacy Holiday Bank

This bank serves different purposes and evolves as needs change. Examples of uses include:

• Transfer of unused holiday bank from the old timekeeping system to the new system hours on Jan. 3, 2021. Unused hours given for this purpose expired on Jan. 3, 2022.
• Award of 8 hours of leave to employees working onsite in the Houston area during Hurricane Beryl from Sunday July 7, at 7 p.m. through Monday July 8, at 11:59 p.m. Eligible employees receive the hours on Sept. 1, 2024 and have one year to use them before they expire on Aug. 31, 2025.
• Peace Officer Supplemental Holidays.
  
  

Preserved Holiday Bank

Employees with unused holiday hours prior to Sept. 1, 2004 may have Preserved Holiday Bank hours that may be used as PTO, or if unused, paid out upon an employee’s separation from employment.  Preserved Holiday Bank does not expire but no new hours accrue to this bank after Aug. 31, 2004. Employees may carry forward unused Preserved Holiday time from one fiscal year to the next, with no maximum. For this reason, it is suggested that employees use other paid leave prior to using PHB.

Timekeepers load institutional holidays for all employees. Employees do not need to request time off for an approved institutional holiday.

STEP 1: Employee requests EHB with reasonable advance notice through the timekeeping system and follows their Departmental Time Off procedures.

STEP 2: Manager approves time off request as appropriate or communicates reasons for not approving a request (e.g., scheduling conflicts, not eligible, etc.).  Employee is responsible for ensuring that EHB is requested and taken appropriately prior to expiration.

STEP 3: Manager and employee work to ensure necessary coverage is in place for the employee’s absence.

HR Leave & Accommodations will apply the holiday pay towards an employee who is on a paid leave approved by HR Leave & Accommodations.

Certified Peace Officers commissioned by the University of Texas System Police Department who are required to work on a national or state holiday that falls on a Saturday or Sunday (known as Peace Office Supplemental Holidays) will receive one hour of Earned Holiday Bank for each hour worked on the holiday.³  For example, if a certified peace officer worked 12 hours on the holiday, they will earn 12 hours of Earned Holiday Bank.  This only applies to holidays that fall on a weekend.

To receive banked Peace Officer Supplemental Holidays, the employee must be present at work. The holidays are not banked in the following conditions:

• Being on call
• Holiday falling on a scheduled day off
• Unscheduled absences on a Peace Officer Supplemental Holiday
• Holiday is recognized by the institution on another day

Peace Officer Supplemental Holidays

Fiscal Year 2025

• Yom Kippur: Saturday October 12, 2024
• Confederate Heroes Day: Sunday, January 19, 2025
• Texas Independence Day: Sunday, March 2, 2025

Process for Taking a Peace Officer Supplemental Holiday 
Note: The process for banking a Peace Officer Supplemental Holiday is different from banking a regular institutional holiday.

STEP 1:  Human Resources will code the banked hours for peace officers working on a supplemental holiday.

STEP 2:  The employee and manager select a mutually agreed upon date to use the Earned Holiday hours. These hours must be used within 12 months of the holiday or they will be forfeited.

Source:

³Texas Government Code Section 662.005(b)

Status Change:

• If you change status from temporary or hourly/per diem to a regular full-time or benefits-eligible part-time status, you will be eligible for available banked and institutional holidays effective with your change in status payroll date.
• If you change status from regular full-time or benefits-eligible part-time status to either hourly and/or temporary, you are not eligible to use Earned Holiday Bank or the Preserved Holiday Bank until you change back to a benefits-eligible status. You must use earned holiday hours prior to changing status or your banked time will be subject to the 12-month forfeiture provision of the earned holiday bank. Hours not taken prior to the change in status are frozen until they can be used, paid out at termination or forfeited. 

Holidays and Employees Terminating their Employment:

• Employees ending employment on the last workday of the month receive pay for institutional holidays falling after the last workday of that same month.
• Employees are paid for all unused and unexpired Earned Holiday time and even if they have not worked 6 months.
• Employees earn 8 hours of holiday leave for each institutional holiday falling between the employee’s termination of employment date and the projected date calculated from their unused PTO, EHB, PHB.  For example, an employee’s last day is November 25th and has 32 hours of PTO.  If the institution observes November 26th and November 27th as holidays, the employee would receive pay for the two holidays and the 32 hours of PTO in their final paycheck.   The hours of holiday are prorated for part time employees based on their FTE (full time equivalency.)⁴
• If the termination is due to realignment, a holiday falling during a period of transition assistance for an employee counts as one of the days of transition assistance.  See Realignment Policy (MD Anderson Institutional Policy #ADM0323).
• An employee must be a state employee on the workdays before and after a recognized state or national holiday to be paid for that holiday, unless the holiday falls on the employee’s first or last workday of the month.  A state employee, for the purposes of this statement, does not include an individual who uses unpaid leave from a state agency for this provision.⁵

Transfer of Employment:

• In the event an institutional holiday falls between the dates an employee separates from one state agency and begins employment with another state agency (without a break in service), the agency to which the employee transfers is responsible for paying the employee for the holiday.⁶
• Remaining earned holiday time and all preserved holiday time is transferred to the receiving state agency with no maximum, if the receiving state agency accepts accrued holiday time. If not, earned holiday time that is not forfeited, and unused preserved holiday hours will be paid out at termination. When considering employment at another state agency, be sure to confirm their rules for transferring leave.
• If an employee transfers to MD Anderson, the losing state agency must pay out accrued holiday hours since MD Anderson does not accept accrued holiday hours.

Death:  In the event of an employee's death, all unused Earned Holiday time and unused Preserved Holiday time is paid to the employee's estate even if the employee had not worked 6 months.

Sources:

⁴Texas Government Code Section 661.064
⁵Texas Government Code Section 662.010
⁶Texas Government Code Section 662.0072