University Faculty Vacation

Provisions in section 661.152 of the Texas Government Code, Texas A&M University System Regulation 31.03.01 and Texas A&M University Rule 31.03.01.M1 determine the eligibility, and flexibility in utilization of vacation leave for faculty members. Nothing in this document reflects changes in these governing code, regulation, and rule. This document serves to explain the implementation of these governing requirements for Texas A&M University. Note that vacation leave in this document is often referred to as annual leave elsewhere.

Why faculty members are treated differently than other State employees
All faculty members are eligible for vacation; however not all faculty members accrue vacation leave as it is defined by the Texas Government Code. The nature of a faculty member’s job is substantively different than other State employee’s jobs. It would not be prudent to say that the working hours for faculty members are normally 8AM through 5 PM Monday through Friday. Faculty members are required to meet classes at scheduled times for the sake of the students even if those times are outside of the normal business hours. Evaluating student performance, planning student activities, and working to assure high quality learning environments are established often require work outside the normal business hours. Creative scholarship cannot be mandated to occur during normal business hours only, and multiple reasons drive why it may often need to occur outside of these hours and in locations other than a faculty member’s office. Service to campus and to the profession is required of most faculty members, and while much can be relegated to normal business hours, all of it cannot. Therefore, based on the understanding that what controls faculty members work time is not simply the normal business hours of the University, it appeared reasonable to say that in the area of time spent in their offices, faculty are afforded more flexibility than other employees. Because faculty members in the past have been willing to say that the flexibility they need in working schedules is important, and that they should be held accountable for the quality and quantity of their performance in teaching, scholarship, and service, the faculties in the State have been afforded more flexibility with respect to work time and vacation.

With so much flexibility do faculty members need leave
Even though it is understood that faculty need and choose to work in many locations other than their office, and often at times outside the normal business hours, the University has an obligation to approve where all employees are during normal business hours. Thus, it is important that faculty members work with their department head in the use of the flexibility they are afforded to assure no perception of abuse of the flexibility given faculty occurs. Thus, routine patterns should be discussed so that faculty members can be found during normal business hours if needed. Such discussions may be formalized with written approval from the department head, such as stating that on certain days or hours the faculty member can be expected to be working at home; or it can be more informal, such as a general idea that during normal business hours if the faculty member is not working in their office, they are at an on campus meeting, working at home, or in transit between work obligations. When a faculty member is not in a position to be called upon in a reasonable amount of time by administrators of the University, then they must file the appropriate leave or have been granted release time. All faculty members accumulate and may use sick leave (TAMU rule 31.03.02.M1). All faculty members may request, and upon receipt of approval, may have travel leave granted for business purposes. In addition, faculty may request leave time, or release time, for approved consulting or external employment in accordance with TAMUS regulations 31.05.01 and 31.05.02. Other than these leaves, any faculty member with a 12-month appointment must request vacation leave if they desire to be unavailable during a time when TAMU is open for normal business hours. Other faculty members are not eligible to take vacation during normal business hours, except when the campus is holding no classes.

Faculty members cannot take vacation whenever they want
As stated above, faculty members on 12-month appointments must request approval to utilize accrued vacation leave whenever they want such leave and the University is open for business. All faculty members with less than a 12-month appointment may take vacation, with no obligation to request or report the leave, if the University is in a no classes situation or when they are not appointed. In the 2004-2005 academic year, these days would include the following:

• Reading days on December 8 & 9, and May 4 & 5
• Spring Break days when the University is open on March 14-16
• Intersemester days when the University is open on January 3-14, May 12-27, and August 12-26
• Any time period they are not appointed in accordance with the appointment letter from their department head or dean.

Determination of length of appointment
In accordance with University Rule 12.01.99.M2 section 2.2, every faculty member should receive an annual appointment letter that is generated to reflect terms and conditions of their appointment for the next fiscal year. This letter should notify the faculty member of the length of appointment they have, otherwise it is assumed that there is no change since the most recent appointment letter stated the length of their annual appointment. These appointment letters should match the length of time the faculty member is accounted for on the annual gold plate budget. If the gold plate budget does not show a 12-month appointment the system for accruing or being eligible to use accrued vacation will be initialized not to provide accrual or utilization of vacation leave for the faculty member. The only appropriate mechanism to change this system so that vacation leave is accrued and eligible for use is a letter from the faculty member’s department head or dean which states that the faculty member has a 12-month appointment for the forthcoming effect period. Such a letter should be generated only after consultation with the faculty member since it reflects a change in the terms of employment.

Accrued vacation leave for faculty members who are no longer eligible to utilize the leave
Faculty members only accrue vacation when they are on a 12-month appointment. When faculty members are moving from a 12-month appointment to any annual appointment length less than 12 months they are strongly encouraged to utilize their vacation leave prior to the change of the appointment to a non-accruing appointment. Once a faculty member is in a less-than-12-month appointment, all vacation leave is frozen and is not available to the faculty member unless they return to a 12-month appointment. If any faculty member terminates their employment with the State they will receive a lump sum payment for any unused vacation leave, paid at the salary rate in effect when such vacation leave was last accrued.