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PTR MANUAL, SECTION F - LEAVE ACCRUAL

F1.0  OVERVIEW OF LEAVE ACCRUAL


The EDB (Employee Data Base) is the official record for all leave balances at UCLA. These leave balances must be maintained in order to meet audit and other regulatory requirements. The leave accrual system is part of the Personnel/Payroll system (PPS). The PPS maintains leave balances for vacation, sick, and compensatory time by employee.

The department is assessed a leave benefit charge each month during month end processing for all employees who accrue leave. The assessment goes into a central pool which is used to fund vacation usage for all fund sources and terminal vacation payouts for non-19900 fund sources. Refer to the PPS Overview Manual Section D1.0 on Month End Reporting for specific examples of how the leave assessment, leave usage and TVP payments (19900 and non-19900) are recorded on the PPP5302.

For an employee to accrue leave, there must be a valid leave accrual code entered on the employee’s appointment line in the EDB system. If an employee has more than one current appointment, it is possible for the employee to have a different leave accrual code for each appointment. Assignment of the employee’s leave accrual code is based on the policy and/or the collective bargaining agreement that pertains to the employee. (For further information on leave accrual code assignment, refer to the EDB Manual, Staff Section D13 or Academic Section C11.)

The amount of accrual is based on the hours on pay status, the leave code, and the accrual key. The accrual key for employees who have a leave code on the EDB can be found on the ILAH screen in EDB Inquiry. The key consists of a one character code which represents the employee’s personnel program, the TUC (Title Unit Code), and the Representation code (indicating whether the employee is covered by the TUC).

Accrual occurs at the time of the pay compute, which is when the checks and direct deposit transmissions are created. The system is designed to subtract the usage first and then add the accrual during the pay compute. There are two methods to record leave usage. One way is to record the usage on the Time Input Roster. This can be done for employees paid either on a Positive or Exception time basis. If leave usage is reported using the Roster, the system subtracts the usage first and then adds the accrual.

The second way to record leave usage is by processing a Late/Reduce Pay (EDLR) transaction. Leave usage reported in this manner may or may not be subtracted before the accrual is added depending upon when the Late/Reduce Pay transaction is processed in relation the end of the employee’s accrual cycle.

Steps for Accurate Leave Accruals

In order for the leave accrual system to accurately accrue leave and reflect the proper balance for each employee, the following steps must be taken:

  1. Assign the proper leave code to each appointment based on the appropriate personnel policy.
  2. Report leave usage in a timely manner.
  3. Schedule employees to use vacation prior to reaching their maximum accrual balance.
  4. Maintain active appointments on the EDB because the system cannot accrue leave for employees who are paid without a corresponding appointment containing the leave accrual code.
  5. Ensure that the employee’s appointments are on the EDB and/or time is submitted according to the employee’s regular pay schedule. Alternate methods of generating pay for employees, such as rush checks, do not always result in correct accruals. Pay/leave transactions submitted without a distribution number or scheduled for a pay cycle AFTER the corresponding distribution has been purged from the EDB may result in incorrect leave balances for employees.
  6. Review reports related to leave accrual and process any adjustments that need to be made to an employee’s leave balance right away.

Leave balances display on paycheck stubs and direct deposit advices. For most employees paid bi-weekly, the ending balance displayed on the paycheck stubs and direct deposit advices reflect information for the current pay period. For most employees paid monthly, the leave usage is reported in arrears so the accrual shown on the paycheck stubs and direct deposit advices is for the current month and the usage is for the prior period.

Employees should be encouraged to review the balances and check with the department to determine how the usage is being reported. Examples of check stubs and direct deposit advices can be found in the PPS Manual, Section C3.

This section of the manual explains how the leave accrual component of the Personnel/Payroll system works. The first step is assigning the leave accrual code and then having the EDB preparer enter the appropriate code on the EDB appointment. The next step is for the system to determine the number of leave hours an employee should accrue for a leave cycle. The chart below shows how many hours an employee would earn during different months by leave accrual code. Employees paid bi-weekly earn the number of hours listed for a 160 day month.

F1.1 Leave Accrual Factors and Monthly Equivalents

Leave Accrual Code* Average Vacation Accruals: Per Month Maximum Vacation Accruals** Average Sick Accruals: Per Month Vacation Accrual Factor: Per Hour Sick Accrual Factor: Per Hour Hours/Days: Per Month Vacation Accrual: Monthly Equivalent Sick Accrual: Monthly Equivalent
A,G 10 240 8 .057692 .046154 160-hour/20-day month 9.230720 7.384640
168-hour/21-day month 9.692256 7.753872
176-hour/22-day month 10.153792 8.123104
184-hour/23-day month 10.615328 8.492336
B,H 12 288 8 .069231 .046154 160-hour/20-day month 11.076960 7.384640
168-hour/21-day month 11.630808 7.753872
176-hour/22-day month 12.184656 8.123104
184-hour/23-day month 12.738504 8.492336
C,J 14 336 8 .080769 .046154 160-hour/20-day month 12.923040 7.384640
168-hour/21-day month 13.569192 7.753872
176-hour/22-day month 14.215344 8.123104
184-hour/23-day month 14.861496 8.492336
D,K 16 384 8 .092308 .046154 160-hour/20-day month 14.769280 7.384640
168-hour/21-day month 15.507744 7.753872
176-hour/22-day month 16.246208 8.123104
184-hour/23-day month 16.984672 8.492336
E 16 384 0 .092308 0 160-hour/20-day month 14.769280  
168-hour/21-day month 15.507744  
176-hour/22-day month 16.246208  
184-hour/23-day month 16.984672  
F 0 0 8 0 .046154 160-hour/20-day month   7.384640
168-hour/21-day month   7.753872
176-hour/22-day month   8.123104
184-hour/23-day month   8.492336
N 0 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A N/A
* Leave codes G,H,J,K apply only to former A&PS and Executive employees hired prior to July 1, 1996.
**Check applicable policies and bargaining units for conditions which permit employees to accrue vacation above the maximum.


F1.2 Calculating Accruals for Employees who Accrue Based on the Leave Factor

The system can calculate leave for an employee only if there is a valid leave accrual code on the EDB at the time a pay check or surepay advice is issued. The conditions under which an employee accrues leave vary depending upon the applicable policy and/or bargaining agreement.

For a bi-weekly employee, the leave accrual period is four weeks. The end of each four week period is marked with a cross on the bi-weekly payroll calendar or identified by a colored circle. (Refer to the current biweekly payroll calendar). For a monthly employee, the leave accrual cycle is one calendar month.

For some employees it is necessary that they be on pay status at least 50% time during the accrual cycle in order to accrue vacation leave. For a bi-weekly paid employee this would be 80 hours (50% x 160 hours) during the four week period. For a monthly paid employee this would be 50% of the total number of working hours in the particular calendar month. For a month that has 168 working hours, a monthly employee would need to be on pay status at least 84 hours that month (50% x 168 hours).

Whether or not an employee needs to be on pay status 50% time or more to accrue vacation leave depends upon the policy and/or bargaining agreement applicable to the employee. For all employees eligible to accrue sick leave, accrual does require being on pay status at least 50% time during the accrual cycle.

It is important to know how to manually calculate accruals in case an adjustment needs to be made to an employee's leave balance. In order to calculate accruals for an employee, the steps are as follows:

  1. Determine the number of hours on Pay Status during the Leave Accrual Cycle
     
  2. Multiply the number of hours on pay status by the employee's Leave Accrual factor from the Leave Accrual Factors Chart.

    3.  

    For example, if an employee paid bi-weekly was paid for 60 hours each bi-weekly pay period of a four week leave accrual period, the total number of hours paid would be 120 (60 x 2). If the employee’s leave accrual code is A, the accruals would be calculated as follows:

    (Accrual Type) (Hours paid) x (Leave factor) = Accrual
    Vacation 120.00 x .057692 = 6.923040
    Sick Leave 120.00 x .046154 = 5.538480


    If an employee paid bi-weekly has a leave code of "B" and is paid for 48 regular hours the first two weeks and 30 regular hours the second two weeks, the total hours paid for the accrual period is 78 hours. Since the employee was on pay status less than 50% time (78/160 = 48.75%) during the accrual period, the employee does not qualify to accrue sick leave. The employee may or may not qualify to accrue vacation depending upon the applicable policy and/or bargaining agreement.

    If the employee does qualify to accrue vacation, it would be calculated as follows:

    Vacation 78.00 x .069231 = 5.400018


    For an employee paid monthly, the leave is calculated in the same manner. For example, if an employee paid monthly has a leave code of "B" and was paid 50% time during a 176 hour month (.5000 x 176 = 88 hours), the accruals would be calculated as follows:

    Vacation 88.00 x .069231 = 6.092328
    Sick Leave 88.00 x .046154 = 4.061552

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