Retired Faculty and Staff Association

When a staff employee applies for retirement, university policy requires that the employee takes all unused and accrued vacation days, administrative leave days (AL), and personal holidays (PH) prior to the effective date of retirement. The effective date of retirement must always be the first of a month. However, it is important to calculate the staff employee’s last working day, as it may be well in advance of the retirement date.

This webpage provides guidance for departments and staff employees on how to calculate a staff employee’s last working day.

• Retirement Paid-Time Off Projection
• Instructions for Calculating a Staff Retiree’s Last Working Day
• Sample Calculation

Retirement Paid-Time Off Projection

Employees or ARS administrators may request a projection of available paid time off to be earned and used prior to retirement to help determine the last day of work prior to retirement. Please provide the following information in an email request to ARS:

• Prospective Retirees’ Full Employee Name and email address
• Department or Unit (also OrgID, if known)
• Projected Date of Retirement/Separation
• Any planned scheduled time off prior to retirement

All requests should be made prior to the employee’s last day of attendance, and at least 1 calendar month prior to the retirement date. A summary report will be provided to the requestor within 7 days.

Note: Determination of a staff employee’s last working day prior to retirement must be at the agreement of the staff employee and his or her department. University Human Resources cannot calculate this date for the employee. This worksheet is intended to serve only as a resource to assist the employee and department in jointly calculating how to determine the last working day prior to the effective date of retirement.

Instructions for Calculating a Staff Retiree’s Last Working Day

1. Determine retirement date. The effective date of retirement must always be the first day of a month.
2. Use the staff employee’s absence record to calculate the total amount of paid time off that the staff employee must use prior to his or her effective date of retirement:
• Unused vacation days are earned vacation days that the staff employee currently has available to him or her
• Accrued vacation days are the vacation days that have been earned during the course of the current fiscal year, including time in paid status, and will be available to the staff employee at the beginning of the next fiscal year
• Available AL days are administrative leave days for the current fiscal year that the staff employee has not yet used
• Available PH days are personal holidays for the current fiscal year that the staff employee has not yet used
• If the staff employee’s retirement date is after July 1, he or she may earn additional AL and PH days, even if he or she is using paid time off prior to the effective retirement date. These days need to be counted in the total. For example, a full-time 12-month staff member is retiring August 1. He is in paid status as of July 1 (even if he is using vacation time), so he will earn 3 AL and 2 PH days. These days must be accounted for when calculating the last working day.
3. Using this total, count back from the retirement date the working days that the staff employee will be using paid time off prior to the effective date of retirement. Make sure not to count any approved paid University Holidays for which the staff employee is eligible.
4. Once all paid time off has been accounted for, determine the employee’s last day in the office. The department and the staff employee should come to an agreement on this date. The termination date may be a vacation day, but not an AL or PH day. AL and PH days should be used prior to vacation days.

Sample Calculation

Jane is a full-time staff employee and has decided to retire on June 1. She needs to calculate her last working day in the office. Jane earns 20 vacation days per year and has 10 vacation days remaining. In addition, Jane will earn 18 vacation days from July to May. She also has 1 AL day and 2 PH days that she also must use. There is also 1 university holiday remaining, Memorial Day. Jane has a total of 32 days that she must use prior to June 1. Jane has to count backwards 32 days from June 1 to figure out her last working day in the office. Jane’s last working day will be April 15.

Therefore, she has the following days to use:

With the June 1 retirement date, she needs to begin counting back days starting with May 31. Using all her time off prior to June 1, Jane’s last day in the office will be Friday, April 15.

• V = Vacation
• AL = Administrative Leave
• PH = Personal Holiday
• H = University Paid Holiday