Classified staff leave rules are governed by the Colorado State Personnel Board rules.

Classified staff members in regular appointments accrue vacation leave in the following way:

If you take unpaid time off work, CU will reduce your leave accruals for the time frame in question. You cannot use leave until the beginning of the month following the one in which you earned it.

Vacation payouts

You cannot receive pay in exchange for vacation time while employed at CU. When you leave or retire from CU, you will receive a vacation payout of your earned, unused vacation time up to a maximum of 42 days.

Vacation leave should be used for personal needs; your supervisor or other appointing authority must approve your leave before you can take it.

Your supervisor may establish periods when annual leave will not be allowed or must be taken, based on business needs. These periods cannot place you in a situation where you must forfeit leave because you did not have a reasonable opportunity to use it. If your department cancels approved leave that results in forfeiture, it must pay you for the forfeited hours before the end of the fiscal year.

CU holidays and vacation days

If a CU recognized holiday lands within the span of your vacation, you will not be charged vacation time for that day.

Leave Without Pay

Employees must be at work or on paid leave to earn monthly leave with the exception of military leave or furloughs.

Eligible CU university staff and 12-month faculty members receive 22 days of paid vacation each year, or 14.7 hours each month. Your supervisor may approve requests to take vacation as it is earned. You may not accrue more than 44 days of vacation.

Vacation payouts

You cannot receive pay in exchange for vacation time while employed at CU. When you leave or retire from CU, you will receive a vacation payout of your earned, unused vacation time up to a maximum of 44 days.

Switching from 12-month faculty to 9-month faculty

When you switch from a 12-month to 9-month faculty contract, you may be paid for any earned, unused vacation that you accrued during your 12-month contract.

CU holidays and vacation days

If a CU-recognized holiday lands within the span of your vacation, you will not be charged vacation time for that day.

Leave Without Pay

While on leave without pay, you may not accrue vacation unless your absence is classified as military leave without pay or a furlough.

UCCS has established a Leave Bank Program for the purpose of enabling employees to transfer annual leave to the Leave Bank for a qualifying employee who is experiencing a catastrophic medical hardship, either personally or by an immediate family member, or other life-altering event. This benefit provides some income protection for the affected employee when that employee would be absent from work for a prolonged period of time and has exhausted all of their annual and sick leave.

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