For this year’s Winter Holiday Curtailment plans, UCLA will close from Wednesday, December 23, 2026, through Friday, January 1, 2027, and reopen on Monday, January 4, 2027. This period includes four University-paid holidays: December 24, 25, and 31, 2026, and January 1, 2027. Four curtailment days, December 23, 28, 29, and 30, are not paid holidays.

This curtailment is intended to benefit the Bruin community by fostering personal well-being, promoting a healthy work-life balance, and contributing to energy-conservation efforts.

In accordance with University personnel policies and applicable collective bargaining agreements, and consistent with campus practice in previous years, employees will have the following options to cover the four non-paid days during the curtailment:

• Eligible employees may use vacation days in advance of accrual.
• Newly hired employees, both represented and policy-covered, may use their accrued vacation during the curtailment before completing six continuous months on pay status.
• Employees with accrued compensatory time may use it to cover the four non-paid days off or offset the use of vacation time.
• Employees who do not wish to use vacation or compensatory time off may request leave without pay for the four non-paid days, subject to departmental approval.
• Employees who choose this option will continue to accrue vacation and sick leave for the days taken as leave without pay.

University policy related to curtailment leave allows eligible employees to use up to three vacation days in advance of actual accrual. The Office of the President has approved an exception to the applicable vacation and curtailment leave provisions to allow eligible employees to use up to four vacation days in advance of accrual during the campus curtailment.

For exclusively represented employees, applicable collective bargaining agreements may include similar provisions, and requirements under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act will be observed.

The above options may be used in combination. Employees should notify their supervisors in advance of the option or combination of options they plan to use.

During the curtailment, the UCLA Health system and certain essential-service facilities will remain open, and corresponding staff will continue to work. Other employees may also be asked to work during this period to support calendar year-end activities. Deans, vice chancellors, and organization heads to whom this responsibility has been delegated should determine whether any facilities under their management need to remain fully or partially open during the curtailment and arrange for appropriate staffing. Please advise the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities Management, of any facilities that need to remain open.

For your convenience, we have developed 2026-27 Winter Holiday Curtailment Frequently Asked Questions to assist with inquiries. Campus employees with additional questions may contact their departmental HR representative or Kathleen Shiroma, Manager, Staff Personnel Policy, in Campus Human Resources at kshiroma@chr.ucla.edu. UCLA Health employees may contact UCLA Health Employee Relations at UCALHealthEmployeeRelations@mednet.ucla.edu.