In preparation for our campus transition to the UC Path payroll and human resources system, several changes will be implemented in January 2013 as part of the UC system-wide standardization effort.

• Factor Leave Accrual:
  • All non-academic employees eligible to earn vacation and sick time will begin accruing leave based on working hours in the pay period. Leave will now be displayed with up to six decimal places. In addition, the timing of leave accrual postings will be different for employees paid on the bi-weekly cycle versus the monthly cycle.
  • It is important to note that the ANNUALIZE accruals of vacation and sick hours are NOT being reduced. However, for bi-weekly paid employees, the leave accruals will be spread over 13 pay cycles instead of 12; and for monthly paid employees, the leave accruals may vary from month to month based on the working hours in the pay period.
  • There is no change for academic employees remaining on the monthly pay cycle.
• Bi-weekly payroll cycles: Non-exempt (those eligible to earn overtime) and hourly employees will transition from a monthly to a bi-weekly payroll cycle beginning January 20, 2013. This change has been broadly communicate to the campus and affected employees. Additional information on this change is available at the bi-weekly support website.
• Monthly Accrual (MA) pay cycle has been eliminated with the January 7th pay checks. This primarily impacts the timing of some summer salary payments; Academic Personnel will be issuing additional information on the subject.

Additional details concerning the factor leave accrual, which is part of a UC system-wide standardization effort associated with UCPath, can be found below. Please direct questions regarding these changes to timesheetfeedback@ucr.edu.

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What is Factor Leave Accrual?

Factor leave accrual means vacation and sick leave accruals are calculated based on a rate instead of a flat monthly amount. The accrual rates are determined based on the employee’s appointment accrual rate and leave type. The factor accrual rates and leave accrual codes can be found on the Factor Leave Table.

• For example:
  A full time employee with a leave accrual rate code of “A” per policy may accrue up to 120 vacation hours annually based on hours on pay status. Historically, the vacation was earned based on the monthly accrual table, e.g. 10 hours per month. To prepare for the transition to the UC Path, the vacation leave earned will be converted to a “factor” or rate. For this example, the vacation accrual factor is .057692 for employees with Leave Accrual Code “A”. The leave accrued in a given leave accrual period is then determined by the number of working hours in that leave accrual period multiplied by the leave accrual factor rate.

• For employees transitioning to the biweekly pay cycle:
  There are 160 hours in each accrual period (i.e. two bi-weekly cycles or four weeks). If a full time employee with an accrual rate code of “A” is on pay status for the full 160 hours, the employee will accrue vacation at a factor accrual rate of .057692 and earn 9.230720 hours of vacation (.057692 times 160 hours on pay status). These hours will be available for use after the end of the quadri-weekly cycle* (i.e. four week accrual period). For information on leave accrual period end dates, refer to the pay date calendar. It is important to note that the ANNUALIZED accrual of vacation and sickly leave hours is remaining the same and is NOT being reduced.

• For staff employees remaining on the monthly pay cycle:
  As the working hours vary from monthly pay period to monthly pay period, the vacation and sick leave accrued each month will vary as well, but the total ANNUALIZED accrual for vacation and sick leave is NOT being reduced. For example, in the month of January 2013 there are 184 working hours; if a full time employee with a leave accrual rate code of “A” is on pay status for the full month, the employee will accrue 10.615328 hours (.057692 times 184 hours times .057692) of vacation for the month instead of 10 hours under the monthly table methodology. Since there are fewer working hours in the month of February 2013, the accrued hours will be slightly less (160 times .057692 = 9.230720) for this month. Please refer to the Factor Leave Table for vacation and sick leave accrual equivalents based on working hours each month.

• For academic employees:
  Academic employees will continue to accrue leave based on the monthly accrual table. There is no change to the accrual process for this group of employees.

* The quadri-weekly cycle is the four week period used to determine leave accruals for biweekly employees. Each quadri-weekly cycle includes two biweekly pay periods. The first quadri-weekly cycle will begin on January 20, 2013 and will conclude on February 16, 2013. Leave accrued during that time will be available for use during the biweekly pay period beginning February 17, 2013.