Sec. 1 Purpose
The purpose of this Policy is to provide guidelines for determining the beginning and ending dates of appointments for regular employees of The University of Texas System Administration.
Sec. 2 Principles
U. T. System Administration recognizes the importance of crediting employees who have made significant career commitments to the State with accurate beginning and ending dates of employment. This policy ensures U. T. System Administration complies with regulations to appropriately designate employees beginning and ending dates of employment.
Sec. 3 Beginning Dates for Appointments
The beginning date of an appointment for a new regular employee should be the first day of work. However, employees should be appointed on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday under the following conditions:
a) appointments that are to provide continuous employment within the U. T. System or as a direct transfer from another State agency;
b) appointments to positions that require the new employee actually to begin work on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday; or,
c) appointments to monthly salaried positions that are effective on the first day of the fiscal year or on the first day of a calendar month, either of which falls on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, provided that the appointment requires performance by the employee of all customary duties of the job for all of the official working days of the month in which the employment is to begin.
Sec. 4 Ending Dates of Appointments
The ending date of an appointment or the date on which an appointment is terminated will be the employee’s last day of work. The following special provisions apply:
4.1 With approval by The Office of Talent and Innovation, the ending date of an employee’s appointment may be adjusted to include any accrued vacation leave. If this occurs, the employee may continue to receive all compensation and benefits that they were receiving, including paid holidays, longevity pay, and hazardous duty pay.
a) During the last month of employment, the employee is not eligible to use sick leave or to accrue sick leave or vacation time, unless they return to work for at least one day.
b) If a general salary increase for employees takes effect before the employee’s accrued vacation time is exhausted, the employee is entitled to the increase.
c) Holidays, days on sick leave, weekend emergency leave, and other approved leave (e.g., military leave) with or without pay, do not break the continuity of service.
4.2 If an employee is transferring to a State agency or another institution, please refer to Section 7 for special provisions.
Sec. 5 Military Service
5.1 An employee who is restored to State employment following military service is generally to be considered as having been on furlough or leave of absence, and as such is entitled to all benefits to which an employee returning from a nonmilitary leave of absence would be entitled, including the crediting of sick leave accrued prior to such military leave.
5.2 An employee who leaves a State position to enter active military service is entitled to be reemployed:
a) by the State or local government entity;
b) in the same department, office, commission, or board of this State, a State institution, or local governmental entity in which the employee was employed at the time of induction or enlistment in, or order to, active military service; and
c) in the same position held or a position of similar seniority, status, and pay.
5.3 An employee is still considered to be a State employee while on leave without pay due to active military duty unless the employee has submitted their resignation.
5.4 If an employee left a position that accrued lifetime service credit to serve in the military and was then reemployed with the State after completing that service in accordance with any applicable federal or State veterans' reemployment law, the individual accrued lifetime service credit during that service. This applies to both vacation accruals and longevity pay.
5.5 In any given month in which an employee is on leave without pay due to military service, for either less than the full calendar month or a full calendar month, that month shall be counted in the calculation of total State service and shall be applied toward satisfying the six continuous months of service requirement for taking vacation leave.
Sec. 6 Breaks in Service
The following employment conditions do not constitute a break in service:
a) termination and immediate reappointment without a break in service of one workday;
b) transfer without a break in service of one workday within the U. T. System, to or from another State agency or institution of higher education; or
c) leave without pay.
Sec. 7 Transfers
If an employee intends to transfer from a State agency or institution of higher education without a break in service, the employing department should ensure that the appointments are continuous from one State agency to the next, unless the employee does indeed have a break in service.
7.1 If an employee transfers to the U. T. System Administration without a break in service and a holiday falls between the ending date of the previous employment and the first day of work in the new appointment, the new appointment must begin on the holiday, and the receiving State agency or institution of higher education pays for the holiday. Examples follow.
a) If an employee transfers without a break in service from an institution to the U. T. System Administration on the Tuesday after Labor Day, then the U. T. System appointment will include Labor Day (Monday).
b) If an employee transfers without a break in service to the U. T. System Administration on the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday, the new appointment must begin on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.
Sec. 8 Appointment and Separation Actions
Beginning and ending dates are initiated by the hiring department via submission of an electronic form request in the U. T. System Administration’s HR Information System. These electronic forms should be submitted in a timely manner to ensure payroll deadlines are met. For questions on completing these electronic forms contact OTI.
Definitions
Break in Service - when an employee is removed from the payroll and is off the payroll for at least one workday.
Regular Employee - an employee appointed to work 20 hours or more per week for a period of four and one-half consecutive months or longer (135 calendar day).
Workday - a day on which an employee is normally scheduled to work.
