Paid Personal Holiday Policy – Policies and Policy Governance

Applies to: This policy applies to all regular full- and part-time staff employees. Excluded are resource employees, per diem employees, faculty, and those claiming student status including teaching and research assistants.

1. Policy

Issued: 06/14/2022
Last Revised: 07/11/2022
Last Reviewed: 07/11/2022

2. Policy Purpose

USC values providing staff with time away from work to observe personal, religious, cultural, or related holidays and special events without the need to use their vacation time. The intention of this policy is to provide staff employees with a paid personal holiday for this purpose that may be used during times in which USC remains open.

Eligible employees may use personal holiday time on the following dates:

Federal and State Holidays not covered under USC’s Paid Holiday Policy (e.g., Veterans Day, Juneteenth, Cesar Chavez Day)
Religious Holidays not covered under USC’s Paid Holiday Policy
Employee’s Work Anniversary
Employee’s Birthday
USC’s Founders Day (Oct. 6th)

3. Scope and Application

Eligibility

Full-time staff employees will be credited with one day of personal holiday time each calendar year. For staff employees working less than full-time, the amount of time credited as personal holiday time is prorated based on the employee’s regularly scheduled work hours. New hires will be credited with personal holiday time at the time of hire.

4. Definitions

Refer to the grid below for definitions of terms specific to this leave.

TERM	DEFINITION
Federal Holidays	A non-designated holiday recognized by the US Government.
Religious Holidays	A non-designated holiday of the employee’s personal choice, such as Rosh Hashanah, Eid al-Fitr, Lunar New Year, Kwanzaa, Good Friday, and others.

5. Policy Details

Personal holiday time is credited at the beginning of each calendar year (January 1) and must be used within the calendar year (January 1 – December 31). New hires will be credited with personal holiday time at the time of hire.

Employees must specify the event for which they are requesting to use the personal holiday. The request must be scheduled and approved in advance by the employee’s immediate supervisor.

Unlike vacation time, personal holiday time does not carry over to the next calendar year. Similarly, the personal holiday may not be cashed out if not taken and will not be paid out upon termination of employment.

USC also provides Paid University Holidays, Paid Winter Recess, and provides religious accommodations, consistent with state and federal law, to accommodate the religious beliefs (including religious dress and grooming practices) of staff. If a staff employee requires a religious accommodation, the employee should consult the employee’s supervisor and/or the employee’s HR Business Partner. If an employee believes that they are being denied a religious accommodation in violation of the University’s Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation, they may contact the University’s Office of Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX (EEO-TIX). Please see each USC Policy for additional details.

6. Procedures

Reporting Personal Holiday Time

Record all requests for personal holiday time in the HRIS system, and indicate the personal holiday observed within the request. The request must be scheduled and approved in advance by the employee’s immediate supervisor.

Note that personal holiday time may not be used on an incremental basis. Full-time employees must use personal holiday time in full-day increments. Employees working less than full-time must use personal holiday time in the full amount credited.

Personal Holidays (Carryover and Termination)

Personal holiday time does not carry over to the next calendar year. Similarly, the personal holiday may not be cashed out if not taken and will not be paid out upon termination of employment.

Return to Work

Employees are required to return to work the next business day following the personal holiday observed.

7. Forms

The following Supporting Documents and Forms are applicable to USC’s Paid Personal Holiday policy:

Form	Description
N/A	N/A

8. Responsibilities

Refer to the grid below for a list of the units or individuals who are responsible for aspects of this policy and their associated major responsibilities.

POSITION or OFFICE	RESPONSIBILITIES
Employee	Employees requesting time off under this Policy must provide as much advance notice as possible of the intended date of the leave. Typically, a minimum of two-weeks’ notice is required to request the observation of a personal holiday. Personal holiday requests may be submitted up to one year in advance of the requested time off, but departments may establish a maximum advance request for personal holiday time that is less than one year to meet business requirements.
Supervisor	Supervisors should review requests and notify employees of outcomes according to the following University guidelines: Requests of personal holidays should be reviewed, and the employee should be notified within two days of the date of request. If a request for a personal holiday is made too far in advance for the manager to ascertain whether business requirements will allow the request to be approved, the request must be denied, and the employee should be asked to make the request again closer to the personal holiday date. There are other times when it is valid to deny or rescind a previously approved request for a personal holiday. Such reasons would include, but are not limited to, staffing shortages, peak work periods, project deadlines, deliverables, insufficient time to assess staffing needs at the time of the request, or a University emergency.