SAFA Membership Update: October 24th
How Your Vacation Works at SAIT
There has been an ongoing misunderstanding as to whether or not a 0.5 permanent or temporary-salaried faculty member’s vacation should be pro-rated to 21.5 days. The short answer is no – read below for more information.
Vacation Benefits for Full-Time and Part-Time Employees
All eligible returning employees (full-time permanent, full-time temporary salaried, part-time permanent, or part-time temporary salaried positions) are allotted 43-days of vacation at the beginning of each academic year (July 1st), which can be viewed in MySAIT. Regardless of your full-time equivalent (FTE) status, i.e., 1.0 FTE or 0.5 FTE or anything in between, you are still entitled to 43 days of vacation on July 1st of each academic year. (If you are a new SAFA member and start mid-academic year, your vacation entitlement for that first year will be calculated at a rate of 3.5 days per month.) However, 0.5 FTE employees will be paid 0.5 of their salary while on vacation. Your pay never changes.
While you are provided with 43 days at the beginning of each academic year and can use them at any time, should you leave SAIT prior to having earned all your vacation allotment, you will be asked to repay unearned vacation days that you have already taken. (“Earned” vacation is calculated at 3.5 days per month.) On the other hand, should you leave SAIT with unused, earned vacation days, you are entitled to have these days paid out in lieu of vacation.
Vacation Procedures
- Scheduling your vacation must be discussed with and approved by your Academic Chair or Leader on a yearly basis. This includes the date and the length of the block of vacation. Where possible, the employer prefers at least one block of 20 consecutive workdays.
- Don’t forget to record your used vacation days.
- You may also carry forward five vacation days into the next vacation year.
These changes have posed a few Collective Agreement (CA) interpretation issues, but overall, this is a better system for faculty and for the employer. Section 32 Annual Vacation Leave of the CA is where you will find information regarding your vacation entitlements.
Never hesitate to contact your SAFA representative, myself, or the SAFA President with any questions or concerns regarding vacation or any other topic.
Craig Coolahan
Labour Relations Officer, SAFA
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Wondering about Christmas Leave?
Each year, the SAFA Office answers many questions about leave time over the upcoming winter holidays, so we thought we would share the information a little early. SAFA members’ Christmas Leave is mandated under Sections 33 & 38 of our Collective Agreement.
Here are the days off for the upcoming break:
Friday, Dec 22: Christmas Float Day
Monday, Dec 25: Christmas Day
Tuesday, Dec 26: Boxing Day
Wednesday, Dec 27 – Friday, Dec 29: Christmas Leave
Monday, January 1: New Year’s Day
Also, don’t forget that your 2 personal days will expire on Dec 31st, 2023. The request to use personal days does not require a detailed explanation and cannot be refused by your manager if you provide at least 2 weeks’ notice.