Benefits eligible employees earn Paid Time Off (PTO) through a leave accrual program as part of the comprehensive benefits package provided at OU. PTO is a combined leave bank of time for all approved time off, including vacation, personal time, bereavement, personal illness, and illness of a family member.
Paid leave benefits are available to staff and 12-month faculty who hold benefits eligible appointments. More information on leave for medical residents and post-doctoral fellows at HSC and 9-month faculty is described below. Students and temporary employees are not eligible for paid time off.
Leave accrual is pro-rated based on the employee's FTE. For more information, please contact your campus Human Resources office. Accrued hours over the maximum accrual (336 hours) will be moved to an employee's Extended Sick Leave balance.
Paid leave time can be accrued up to the maximum allowance described on the links under Leave Accrual Rates below. Time accrued beyond the maximum allowance will be deposited in an Extended Sick Leave (ESL) account.
Accrual rates for salaried employees are prorated based on FTE as described below. Paid leave does not accrue during leave without pay or Extended Sick Leave.
FTE and Multiplier for Leave
.50 - .59 FTE multiply the rate by .5
.60 - .74 FTE multiply the rate by .75
.75 - 1.0 FTE multiply the rate by 1.0
Example: A 12-month salaried employee in their third year of employment with .60 FTE would accrue 13.5 hours of paid leave for each full month worked.
Calculation: 18 hours (accrual for 3 year employee with .60 FTE) x .75 = 13.5 hours accrued
Hourly employees accrue paid leave per hour paid. This includes regular hours worked, paid leave, and holidays, but excludes Extended Sick Leave and overtime hours.
Employees are paid their leave balances up to their annual accrual amount. Employees appointed to grants and contracts accounts will not be paid for accrued leave upon termination unless the grant or contract contains sufficient funds to pay for accrued leave.
Salaried employees terminating on the 15th of the month or before will not accumulate any leave for that month. Those terminating after the 15th of the month will accumulate a full month’s worth of leave.
Hourly employees receive paid leave accrual on the hours they are paid for.
Extended Sick Leave balances are not paid out upon termination.
Employees are paid their full leave balances up to the maximum accrual amount; except that employees appointed to grants and contracts accounts will not be paid for accrued leave upon termination unless the grant or contract contains sufficient funds to pay for accrued leave. Extended Sick Leave balances are not paid out upon retirement.
New salaried employees hired on the 15th of the month or before will accumulate a full month’s leave. Monthly-paid employees hired after the 15th of the month will not accumulate any leave for that initial month. New hourly employees receive paid leave accrual per hour they are paid for.
When an employee’s years of service move them to the next accrual level, the employee will receive the higher accrual rate beginning the next pay period.
Example: A monthly paid employee beginning their sixth year (61st month) of employment with an anniversary date of March 10 would receive an accrual rate of 20 (instead of 18) for the month of April.
Nine- and ten-month faculty accrue 96 hours (12 days) of extended sick leave per year. There is no maximum accrual amount for full-time faculty members with the rank of instructor or above who hold continuous appointments.
Nine- and ten-month faculty do not accrue other paid leave. Absences of nine- and ten-month faculty for reasons other than personal illness will be charged as leave without pay.
HSC Faculty Handbook: Extended Sick Leave Policy for Nine- and Ten-month Faculty, Section 6.5.4
Medical residents are granted paid time off separately for vacation leave and sick leave.
Vacation leave is paid time off that may be used by Medical Residents for vacation, personal reasons, funeral attendance, and illness or death of a family member. Requires the approval of the Chief Resident and other individuals as designated by each department.
Residents are granted 120 hours (15 days) per year. Time may be used immediately with approval. Balances are not cumulative and do not carry over from year to year. Residents should plan to use vacation time in the year that it is earned. Residents cannot take more time off than they will earn in an academic year.
Sick leave is paid time off that may be used by Medical Residents for personal illness with approval of the Program Director or other individuals as designated by each department.
Residents are granted 120 hours (15 days) per year. If no hours have been accrued, time off for personal illness will be charged to leave without pay. If Residents request time off for reasons other than personal illness, time is to be charged to vacation leave.
Residents may request up to 5 days of educational leave each year. Educational leave will be granted solely at the discretion of the Program Director, who also determines the travel reimbursement policy for the individual program.
Post-doctoral fellows in Health Sciences Center programs receive 15 days vacation and 15 days sick leave at the beginning of each fiscal year (July 1). Leave balances do not carry-over from year to year.
Vacation and sick leave are not prorated. Postdocs hired between the 1st and 15th of the month will receive the full month’s accrual; those hired after the 15th will not receive vacation or sick leave for the month in which they are hired.
Payout on termination or conversion to benefits eligible faculty or staff is not permitted. OUHSC administers separate vacation and sick leaves for post-doctoral fellows. If a post-doc is appointed to a benefits eligible faculty or staff position, vacation and sick balances are reduced to zero and accrual begins using the appropriate PTO schedule.
Employees appointed to grants and contracts accounts are expected to use all earned paid leave time during the specified period of their appointment unless:
Mobile viewers: For more details on accrual rates, please tap on each row.
| Employment Category | Years of Service | Biweekly Paid Accrual Per Hour* | Biweekly Accrual ** | Annual Accrual | Maximum Accrual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Officers, Administrative Officers, and 12-Month Faculty | Each year | 10.15 hours | 33 days (264 hours) | 42 days (336 hours) | |
| All Other Staff | 0-60 months (0-5th year) | 0.1038 | 8.31 hours | 27 days (216 hours) | 42 days (336 hours) |
| 61-120 months (Beginning of 6th year thru end of 10th year) | 0.1154 | 9.23 hours | 30 days (240 hours) | 42 days (336 hours) | |
| 121+ months (More than 10 years) | 0.1269 | 10.15 hours | 33 days (264 hours) | 42 days (336 hours) |
* Hourly employees accrue paid leave per hour paid.
** Salaried employees accrue paid leave biweekly. Leave accrual for salaried employees is pro-rated based on the employee's FTE.
For more information, view the official PTO Policy of the University of Oklahoma. For additional leave information, please contact Human Resources.
For more information, view the official Holiday Policy of the University of Oklahoma.
Independence Day – July 4, 2025
Labor Day – September 1, 2025
Thanksgiving – November 27, 28, 2025
Winter Break – December 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 2025 and January 1, 2026
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – January 19, 2026
Memorial Day – May 25, 2026
Juneteenth - June 19, 2026
Independence Day – July 3, 2026
Labor Day – September 7, 2026
Thanksgiving – November 26, 27, 2026
Winter Break – December *23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2026 and January 1, 2027
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – January 18, 2027
Memorial Day – May 31, 2027
Juneteenth - June 18, 2027
University offices will be officially closed on these holidays except where continuous operations must be sustained to avoid conflicts with patient care, teaching schedules, and service-related functions. This schedule may be altered for 24/7 service and some clinics. Please check with your department. The Tulsa campus may publish its own holiday calendar. Employees who are required to work on published holidays will be provided alternative time to be taken on a date to be scheduled between supervisors and affected employees.
Employees are eligible for holiday pay if they at least .50 FTE and are in Pay Status on either the day before or the day after a holiday specified in the current year’s holiday schedule in the above section(s). Students and other temporary employees are not eligible for paid holidays. To receive holiday pay, an employee must be at work or on approved leave with pay on the day preceding or day following the holiday.
Health Sciences Center offices will be officially closed on the published holidays, except where continuous operations must be sustained to avoid conflicts with patient care, teaching schedules, and service-related functions. Employees on all campuses who are required to work on the published holiday will be provided alternative time to be taken on dates to be scheduled between the supervisor and affected employee.
HR is now providing clarification about the meaning of the term “Pay Status”. Starting January 3, 2020, employees must be in Pay Status for a full shift to be eligible for the paid holiday. Pay Status can be a combination of the employee’s worked time and PTO. As shown in the example below, the Pay Status requirement is prorated based on an employee’s Full Time Equivalency (FTE). If an employee does not have PTO, the employee can be in Pay Status by working their full shift.
For example, if the employee is full-time (1.0 FTE), they must have a full 8 hours in Pay Status on the day before OR the day after the holiday. This requirement can be met with a combination of worked time and PTO. If an employee is part-time (.50 FTE), they must have a full 4 hours in Pay Status.
Ineligible for Holiday Pay: If this Pay Status requirement is not met for paid holidays after January 3, 2020, then the employee is not eligible for holiday pay and it must be removed from their timesheet.
To remove holiday pay in Workforce, Supervisors or Department Time Approvers must change the Holiday hours to 0.00 hours and add a row for 8.00 hours of Leave Without Pay for each day. Contact Payroll if you have questions at (405)325-2961.
To remove holiday pay, Payroll Coordinators should complete the required form and submit it to Payroll. Contact Payroll with questions at Payroll-Services@ouhsc.edu or (405)271-2055.
Effective 9/1/2022
New and Expanded Paid Parental Leave Benefit
As of September 1, 2022, Human Resources, in collaboration with the Staff Senate, introduced a paid parental leave benefit for new and existing benefits-eligible employees, providing two weeks of paid leave following the birth or adoption of a child.
Expanded Benefit Starting October 1, 2024
Effective October 1, 2024, the university is pleased to announce the expansion of this benefit to six weeks of paid leave.
Eligibility
To qualify for paid parental leave, employees must have completed at least one year of continuous, benefits-eligible employment immediately before the start of their leave.
We extend our gratitude to the Staff Senate for their long-standing advocacy, partnership, and dedication in making this important enhancement possible for OU employees.
For details and more information about our parental leave policy, please use our human relations handbook.
For answers to some of our most commonly asked questions, please refer to our FAQ document.
Administrative Leave is used on timesheets when a benefits-eligible employee misses scheduled work due to delayed openings, early closures, or full-day closures on their campus. These types of closures are authorized through central communications from university leadership and are paid time for benefits-eligible employees. Below are important guidelines when using Administrative Leave.
Benefits‐eligible employees in Oklahoma City who missed scheduled work time due to campus closing or delayed opening should report their absence as “Administrative Leave” with pay when reporting attendance.
Employees who are not benefits eligible – student employees, temporary employees, and part‐time employees appointed at less than .50FTE – are paid only for time worked and are not eligible for administrative leave.
An employee scheduled to be on paid leave should continue to report their absence as “Paid Leave,” and should not have any part of their absence charged to “Administrative Leave.”
An employee on continuous FMLA leave shall not be given Administrative Leave if their campus is closed during the period of approved continuous FMLA.
Visit the Family and Medical Leave Act webpage for more information.
An employee with unscheduled paid leave for the day should not have any part of their absence charged to “Administrative Leave.”
Employees working in satellite locations around the state should follow nearby University closures NOT public schools.
Employees who take additional time before or after authorized “Administrative Leave” (on the day of/for safety related to reason for closure) should use PTO (scheduled or unscheduled) for the additional time off. These employees remain eligible for the authorized “Administrative Leave.”
When an entire campus is closed for a full workday, administrative leave will be automatically loaded on timesheets. Administrative leave for partial-day closures must be manually updated on timesheets and will not be automatically loaded.
Often the university will communicate that remote work is expected while the physical campus is closed. If an employee’s job is able to be performed remotely, then they should work their normal schedule as directed by their supervisor. If a supervisor determines that an employee’s job cannot be performed remotely, then Administrative Leave should be manually entered on the employee’s timesheet instead of worked hours.
Certain employees who were called in to work during the university closure may be eligible for special pay or compensatory time off for hours actually worked. Department heads should establish consistent guidelines for granting additional compensation or compensatory time off in lieu of additional pay for employees within their department who worked during the closure. Any special pay or time off proposals should be approved by the appropriate vice president. Administrative Leave is not bankable.
Employees working from their residence should follow campus closures to the nearest campus listed below:
It would be recorded as 3 hours worked, 5 hours Administrative Leave.
No Administrative Leave is recorded. There are no Administrative Leave “make-up days;” Administrative Leave cannot be “banked.”
Employees should report Administrative Leave based on the campus on which they work.
No. If the employee was scheduled to work but did not because of the closure, they are to receive the full amount of Administrative Leave. The additional hours the employee worked that week will be paid as “additional straight time,” but not overtime.
Administrative Leave is only awarded for days/hours of actual campus closure. If/When an employee chooses to stay home (due to weather conditions in their area), but the campus has not issued a closure notice, they must use Paid Time Off.
The Office of Human Resources recommends a “liberal leave policy” when there is a weather event without an actual campus closure (within reason).
If an employee is on continuous FMLA and a weather-related closure happens during the approved leave, this employee is NOT eligible for Administrative Leave.
If an employee has requested intermittent leave on the day of a weather related closure, their FMLA entitlement shall NOT be charged and this employee should receive the full amount of the Administrative Leave for the specified time frame.
Extended Sick Leave (ESL) is paid time off (PTO) accrued beyond the maximum allowance of PTO for staff and faculty with 12-month appointments. Extended Sick Leave can be used for absence due to personal illness after you have used five consecutive working days of paid leave for missed work time. If you do not have paid leave to cover the first five consecutive days, then you must take unpaid leave before you can use ESL.
Faculty with 9-month appointments* accrue 96 hours (12 days) of ESL per year instead of PTO. There is no maximum accrual amount for full-time 9-month faculty members with the rank of instructor or above who hold continuous appointments. Nine-month faculty do not accrue other paid leave.
For additional information on usage of Extended Sick Leave, please refer to the Faculty and Staff Handbooks.
NOTE: Employees on Extended Sick Leave do not accrue Paid Time Off.
Changes to the Extended Sick Leave policy were approved by the University's Board of Regents at their November 2023 meeting.
Employees who are members of the Oklahoma National Guard or any branch of the United States military or its reserve components are entitled to a leave of absence with pay for the first 30 regularly scheduled work days of active military duty during any federal fiscal year (October 1 through September 30) when ordered by proper authority to active or inactive duty. The leave with pay will not be charged against paid leave or other accrued benefits.
Employees who are employed by the university for brief, nonrecurring employment that is not expected to last indefinitely or for a significant period of time are not entitled to military leave except under limited conditions. Contact Human Resources for assistance regarding such determinations.
The employee must provide their department a copy of written military orders before time off can be granted. The employee must also submit the Military Leave Acknowledgement form to their campus HR office.
The following guidelines are applicable for military leaves on or after September 11, 2001, and during the period that “Operation Enduring Freedom” is in effect:
Benefits-eligible staff and faculty employees are entitled to use Paid Time Off (PTO) for bereavement upon the death of an immediate family member: spouse, children, parents, brothers, and sisters, including step, grand, half, foster, or in-law relationships. Employees may also request PTO to attend the service for the loss of a friend, co-worker, member of their extended family, or other loved one. Supervisors may request reasonable documentation supporting the need for the leave, such as a published obituary or written verification of death/burial/memorial services.
Employees who have experienced the death of a loved one often need to process their own grief and adjust to the loss while helping other family members do the same. They may also need to travel to a different city, state, or country. At the same time, they may need to help with final arrangements such as legal and financial documents; manage the estate of the deceased; and contact extended family, friends, and life insurance providers.
Often there are extenuating circumstances that supervisors should consider when accommodating bereavement time for employees, especially those who may have exhausted their PTO and those who do not accrue PTO. Of most importance, supervisors are encouraged to act with compassion and work with employees to allow the time needed to attend to the passing of their loved one.
Typically, employees should be approved for three to five days’ time off from work for bereavement leave. Depending on the circumstances, additional time may be approved.
Leaves of absence without pay for personal reasons may be recommended by the budget unit head when it appears to be in the best interest of the university and the employee. Such leaves may not exceed one year in length. Leave without pay does not count as service time for computation of benefits other than for retirement as specified. Leave without pay for monthly-paid employees may not be for absences of less than one day's duration.
For further details, please refer to Staff Handbook.
The university allows employees to donate paid leave to eligible employees through the shared leave program. The employee receiving leave must meet the following eligibility requirements:
Requests to receive or to donate leave must be submitted on the required forms below to the campus Shared Leave Committee. The Committee approves the distribution of shared leave.
The employee must be a twelve (12) month faculty or staff employee in a benefits-eligible appointment that accrues paid leave and who has held continuous employment for at least twelve (12) months.
Serious Health Condition is defined as a serious, extreme, catastrophic, or life-threatening medical condition with a period of incapacity requiring the employee to be medically unable to work for a period of five (5) days or more. The medical condition includes continuing treatment or supervision by a health care provider; or continuing treatment of a chronic or long-term health condition. The employee must be suffering from an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which has caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to take leave without pay.
The employee must complete a shared leave application, provide medical documentation for the serious illness and send the application with documentation to the Shared Leave Committee for review.
The Shared Leave Committee will determine the amount of donated leave an employee may receive and may only authorize an employee to use up to a maximum of four hundred and eighty (480) hours in a twelve (12) month period. An employee can not exceed two hundred sixty (260) days or two thousand eighty (2,080) hours of donated leave during total university employment.
The donating employee must complete a Shared Leave Donation Form and submit the form to the Shared Leave Committee.
The donating employee may donate any amount of paid leave provided the donation does not cause the paid leave balance of the employee to fall below 50% of their maximum annual accrual amount (see table below). An employee may not donate leave from their extended sick leave account. Donations must be made in full-hour increments.
| Employment Category | Years of Service | Maximum Accrual | Donation Will Not Reduce Balance Below This Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Officers, Administrative Officers, and 12 Month Faculty | Each Year | 33 days (264 hours) | 132 Hours |
| All Other Staff | 1st - 5th year (0 - 60 months) | 27 days (216 hours) | 108 Hours |
| 6th - 10th year (61 - 120 months) | 30 days (240 hours) | 120 Hours | |
| 11 or more years (121+ months) | 33 days (264 hours) | 132 Hours |
No, any unused donated leave will be placed in the Shared Leave Pool for distribution to qualified applicants.
If you donated leave to an employee and they are not approved to receive shared leave, the hours donated will be maintained in the shared leave pool to be distributed to other qualified employees. One way to avoid this situation is to have the recipient notify you when they are approved to receive shared leave and donate your leave at that time.
No, the donating employee may donate leave to the Shared Leave Pool to be distributed to qualified applicants by the Shared Leave Committee.
