Paid leave is an important feature of CU’s employee benefits. To ensure that vacation and sick leave balances are accurate, the University of Colorado requires employees to verify the accuracy of their sick and vacation leave after the close of the fiscal year, as outlined in Board of Regents Policy 11-E.

This year’s Annual Leave Certification process will run from Aug. 1 – 31. This annual process helps to ensure all employees’ leave balances are accurate each year.

Who must certify?

• Only benefits-eligible employees must certify their regular vacation and sick leave balances.
• Employees who only earn state sick leave (primarily part-time and student employees) will not need to certify. The university has discontinued the requirement for employees to certify state sick leave, which is provided as part of the state’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA).
• Employees who hold multiple positions, where one provides regular leave and the other only offers state sick leave should only certify their regular vacation and sick leave balances.

What is the certification process?

Leave certification can be completed through the Annual Leave Certification tile in the employee portal. This tile will be available throughout the duration of this year’s process, Aug. 1 – 31.

Employees can follow these instructions to certify. The most accurate location for current leave balances is in the Leave Balances tile in the employee portal. 

Note: The method an employee uses to verify their leave balances before certifying depends on whether they track their time through My Leave or a different system. Instructions are available on the Employee Services’ website for each time tracking circumstance.

Eligible employees will receive emails notifying them of the leave certification process and deadlines, and they will stop receiving emails reminders once they certify.

If an employee notices a discrepancy in their leave balances, they should reach out to their supervisor.