Tropical Storm Eta closure: Leave guidelines and updates
As you know, due to Tropical Storm Eta, the university campus in Gainesville will be closed Thursday, November 12, and other UF areas throughout the state may have similar closings in keeping with their county government guidelines. Non-essential employees should not report to work, including those working remotely.
Administrative leave will be granted automatically
USPS and hourly (non-exempt) employees: Because Thursday is also the deadline for leave entry, administrative leave will be automatically entered on your behalf if you have not already reported time for Thursday, November 12. Hours entered will reflect the hours you were scheduled to work during your work unit’s closing period.
Exempt TEAMS and faculty employees: You will not need to record this time through the Weekly Elapsed Screen. (However, if you already have entered the “900-Administrative Leave-EMC” time reporting code, it does not need to be removed. In this case, however, be sure you have also entered the “HOL” holiday time reporting code for Wednesday.)
As a reminder, the deadline for TEAMS employees to cash out up to 16 hours of leave during the annual TEAMS Leave Cash-out period is Thursday at midnight. For guidance, please see this instruction guide.
Graduate assistants and postdoctoral associates will be paid as normal without any modifications. Managers are reminded to please work with their non-essential OPS employees to allow them to make up any missed work time.
While administrative leave is available only to eligible employees when a work site is impacted, we ask that supervisors be flexible after the closure, as storm-related circumstances can still be disruptive for our faculty and staff. Personally accrued vacation and sick leave may be used following the storm upon request. If appropriate, with supervisory approval, working from home as needed may also be an option on Nov. 13.
Special considerations for essential personnel
All USPS employees and hourly (non-exempt) TEAMS employees who will need to work during their work unit’s closing period will need to record both the time they work during the closing as well as the administrative leave in order to accrue special compensatory leave appropriately in addition to their normal pay. If the compensatory leave is not used by the employee within six months following its accrual, the employee will be paid for the leave. For further guidance on Essential Personnel, please visit the Essential Personnel policy posted on the UFHR website.
TEAMS exempt employees who are required to work during the emergency closing are also eligible for compensatory leave at the discretion of their supervisor — although this compensatory leave is handled at the department level and not reported via myUFL. Faculty and graduate assistants are not eligible for compensatory leave under the Essential Personnel policy.
Hourly (non-exempt) OPS employees who are required to work during the closing should enter their time as they normally would.
If you have questions or need further assistance, please contact University Benefits at (352) 392-2477 or email central-leave@ufl.edu or timelaborhelp@admin.ufl.edu.