Based on the results of consultation regarding plans for this year's Winter Holiday Closure, UCLA will close between Thursday, December 22, 2011, and Monday, January 2, 2012, with plans to reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2012. The annual closure has allowed UCLA to achieve significant energy savings and continues to be a highly effective approach to power conservation for a specific period of time.
During the planned break, the UCLA Health System and essential-service facilities will continue to operate and remain open. Deans, Vice Chancellors or Organization Heads to whom this responsibility has been delegated will need to determine if any facilities under their management will need to remain fully or partially open, arrange for appropriate staffing, and inform General Services and Campus Human Resources of their plan. It is critical to ensure that safety standards continue to be observed during the closure period for any use of University facilities.
Four paid University holidays will be observed while the campus is closed, including December 26, 27, 30, 2011 and January 2, 2012. However, four days (December 22, 23, 28, and 29, 2011) are not paid holidays. Staff employees and those academic employees who accrue vacation leave will need to use either vacation, compensatory time (if available) or leave without pay to compensate for these four work days.
Consistent with last year's approach, and in accordance with University personnel policies and applicable labor agreements, employees have the choice of the following options:
- Employees may utilize vacation days in advance of their actual accrual. For this year's closure, the Office of the President has approved an exception to the UC Vacation Leave and Curtailment Leave Policies to allow eligible employees to use up to four vacation days in advance of actual accrual during the UCLA campus closure. For exclusively represented employees, this exception is subject to collective bargaining.
- Newly hired employees, represented and policy-covered, may utilize their vacation accruals without having six continuous months on pay status.
- Employees with accrued compensatory time may elect to use it to cover the four days off or to offset the use of vacation time.
- Employees who do not wish to use vacation leave or accrued compensatory time off may request leave without pay for any or all of the four days.
These options may be used in combination. In accordance with regular procedures for scheduling vacation, employees should notify their respective supervisors in advance as to which option or combination of options they propose to use.
In late November, UCLA Administration will provide details of services available during the Winter Holiday Closure, including emergency contact numbers.
The University's Payroll Schedule is dependent upon the timing of bank holidays at the end of the calendar year. For monthly paid employees, December earnings will be paid on the first banking day of 2012 on which the Federal Reserve is open for business, which this year is January 3, 2012. Individual advance planning may be necessary since neither direct deposits nor checks will be available until that date. For assistance with payroll transactions, please contact the Payroll Services Hotline at (310) 794-8752.
Any questions regarding human resource issues related to the 2011-2012 Winter Holiday campus closure may be forwarded to Campus Human Resources at chr@chr.ucla.edu or Health System Human Resources at hrreception@mednet.ucla.edu.
Campus Human Resources, Policy Services
Phone: (310) 794-3147 | Fax: (310) 794-0865
UCLA Healthcare Human Resources
Phone: (310) 794-0500 | Fax: (310) 794-0620
