Starting July 1, 2025, CES staff will see only accrued paid time off (PTO) in ADP (or Paycom), based on the most recent pay period. You may still use PTO in advance (up to your full annual allotment), but if you leave CES before the end of the fiscal year, any unaccrued time used will be deducted from your final paycheck.
Background
During the pandemic, CES temporarily adopted a policy of advancing sick and vacation time that would be earned over the course of the year. This was intended to keep staff whole during frequent and sometimes extended absences due to COVID-19. Employees were allowed to use up to their full annual accrual in advance—essentially “borrowing” time they had not yet earned. By the end of the fiscal year, that time would have been accrued, and the balance would even out.
After the introduction of vaccines and the easing of pandemic-related absences, CES continued to display employees’ full annual time-off allotment “up front” in ADP. However, this created a false impression that all time was available at the start of the fiscal year, rather than our actual accrual-based model. This approach also required the payroll department to track and reconcile time used versus time earned “behind the scenes” throughout the year.
Beginning July 1, 2025, to increase transparency for staff and reduce the administrative burden of this manual reconciliation, the paid time off totals shown in ADP and Paycom will reflect only the amount of time that has actually been accrued as of the end of the most recent pay period. This is a change in how the information is displayed, not a change in CES policy. An example is provided below to illustrate this.
CES will continue to allow staff to “borrow” against the time they will accrue during the fiscal year. Once time off is approved by a supervisor, it will appear in the system as a pending deduction from the balance.
In summary
Any CES staff person is allowed to take up to the full allocation of PTO they would earn in the current year, even if the time has not yet been accrued. However, if they leave CES before the end of the current fiscal year, their final paycheck will include a reconciliation of any negative PTO balances. If a staff member has used more time off than they have accrued as of their last day of work, it will be accounted for in their final paycheck.
Example:
Juan is a full-time, year-round employee who earns four weeks (20 days) of vacation each year. This year, he didn’t carry over any unused vacation from the previous year.
In prior years:
Juan would have seen his full annual vacation allotment reflected in ADP as of July 1. Throughout the year, any vacation he scheduled or used would be subtracted from those 20 days. As long as he remained employed through the end of the year and didn’t exceed his allotted vacation, everything balanced out, and he would start the next year with a fresh 20-day allotment.
If Juan took his husband and kids to Glacier National Park for a two-week vacation in August, then received an irresistible job offer in September and resigned effective October 1, the Business Office would review his vacation balance. Juan used 10 of his 20 annual vacation days but only worked three months of the year— one quarter of the full calendar year. This means he accrued only 5 vacation days (¼ of 20) but used 10. As a result, he used 5 more days than he had earned, and CES would deduct the value of those 5 unaccrued days from his final paycheck.
If the same scenario occurred after July 1 of this year:
The process itself wouldn’t change– the only difference is that Juan would be able to see his vacation balance in real time throughout the year. So, when he took five vacation days in the summer that he hadn’t yet accrued, those days would show up as a negative balance. The value of those unaccrued days would still be deducted from his final paycheck. The practical benefit is that the deduction would be more transparent for Juan, and the Business Office wouldn’t need to perform a separate reconciliation.
If Juan hadn’t taken any more vacation after his two-week trip in August and instead resigned on April 1— three-quarters of the way through the year— he would have accrued 15 of his 20 annual vacation days. Since he only used 10 days, he would have had 5 unused, accrued days. As in previous years, the value of those 5 days would be added to his final paycheck.