2025-2026UK HealthCare holiday and bonus day guidelines
New employees and staff moving from temporary or on-call to regular positions may qualify for holiday time, excluding the bonus days and floating day after Thanksgiving holiday. Staff going to a regular status of at least 0.5 FTE must work in a paid status in the regular position the day before, on and after the holiday.
Employees whose separation day is prior to Jan. 2 are not eligible for bonus days. Employees must be in an active, paid status on Jan. 1 to receive these days. If bonus days have been taken prior to the separation date and the employee is not in an active, paid status on Jan. 1, the bonus days will be taken out of the last paycheck.
Regular employees working less than full time, but more than half time, will receive holidays on a prorated basis. If there is a status change, holiday time used in advance will be adjusted based on the FTE change. Employees must continue to work in an earning status in a regular position of half time or more through Jan. 1 in order to be considered for the bonus days. If an employee goes to a non-earning position/status on Dec. 31, that employee becomes ineligible for the bonus days and the New Year’s Day holiday. This also applies to RNs going from regular to WEPP status during this period.
Any employees going from regular status (0.5 FTE or greater) to on-officicall (0.2 FTE) must do so on the pay period beginning Jan. 11, 2026, or after to avoid losing the bonus days and New Year’s Day. For example, if an employee transfers from regular status to on-call on the pay period beginning Dec. 28, 2025, they will lose the bonus days and New Year’s Day.
Employees who are in a “no pay” status on a scheduled workday immediately before, on and/or after a university holiday or bonus day will be ineligible for the holiday or bonus day, unless the no pay status is due to decreased workload within the employee’s home department. If a no pay status is workload or patient census-related, the no pay status must be listed as Administrative No Pay. Any Administrative No Pay must be approved by the department director.
Employees in any type of leave without pay status (except for Administrative No Pay) during the holiday period, Dec. 23 through Jan. 3, will be ineligible for the holidays and bonus days. Bonus days and holidays may not be taken in advance of the university holidays if the employee will be in a leave without pay status during the holiday period.
For staff who are on family medical leave, either continuous or intermittent, and who are in a paid status to officially accrue a holiday, if the absence falls on a day considered as the observed holiday, holiday hours should be used.
For any holiday worked, these days must be taken and recorded before any vacation leave is used, regardless of vacation subject to loss.
All employee unused holiday balances expire each fiscal year on June 30.
Holiday leave accruals are available for use once they have been loaded to an employee’s leave balance. For employees who request leave but are unable to use holiday leave due to a department business necessity, UK HealthCare supports an option to pay out the holiday balance for hourly staff only. The definition of a business necessity would pertain to high patient volumes, unexpected staff turnover or family medical leave coverage, preventing staff from scheduling holiday hours. For an employee to be eligible, a department must be able to support a business necessity situation.
