With vacation season upon us, please make sure you are reporting your vacation time accurately and on time. Here are some details that you may find helpful as an employee or leave approver.

Vacation is earned each pay period according to eligible employees’ years of service and job appointment (e.g., classified or unclassified). Eligible employees are expected to use vacation time for rest, relaxation and other personal reasons during the year in which it is earned. A detailed explanation of vacation accrual rates, eligibility and usage is in administrative policy 6-11.7. You also can view the accrual schedule online. According to the policy, both supervisors and employees eligible to earn vacation have certain responsibilities.

Supervisor’s Responsibilities

Supervisors are responsible for making sure that employees submit all vacation time that is taken. Supervisors do not have the authority to “give someone the day off” without reporting it as leave.

Supervisors who allow employees to take leave without reporting it may be subject to disciplinary measures. Situations where the employee does not report to work and there is no leave request to document the absence can create legal implications for the university.

Eligible Employee’s Responsibilities

Eligible employees are responsible for scheduling vacation time off in advance with their supervisor, so that the workflow in the department is not interrupted. Employees are encouraged to use their vacation time, and supervisors are expected to approve reasonable requests that are made in advance.

Eligible employees are responsible for accurately reporting the number of vacation hours taken and submitting the time for approval. If an employee has taken previous vacation time and not reported it, time should be submitted for approval immediately. Kent State University employees should report vacation leave through the proper channels (classified employees submit leave through the Empower timekeeping system; unclassified employees and faculty use the Time Reporting channel in FlashLine). The leave should be submitted at the end of the pay period in which the leave was taken.

If you use FlashLine to record and submit leave and need assistance with the process, video tutorials are available in the My HR and My Action Items tabs. Employees have two pay periods (30 days) to enter any vacation, sick or personal leave already taken.

A printable version of the Proper Procedures for Using & Reporting Vacation Leave can be found on the Employee Resources & Records page of the Human Resources website. If you have additional questions, contact Human Resources Records at 330-672-8316 or hr-records@kent.edu.