Vacation [1]
As a CU employee, you'll accrue vacation leave based on what type of employee you are (university staff member, classified staff member or faculty member.)
Regardless of your employment type, you must request and record leave using the My Leave system, accessible through the employee portal [2]. (Exception: Some departments use physical timecards/timesheets.)
Use these resources for help recording leave:
Employee types listed are able to accrue vacation leave.
CU allows you to accrue a maximum of 44 days (or 352 hours) of vacation within a fiscal year (July 1 - June 30). If you meet this maximum, you must schedule and take vacation before June 30, or you will lose it.
| Leave type | University staff (full time) and 12-month Faculty | University staff and 12-month Faculty(less than full time) |
|---|---|---|
| Vacation | 22 days a year (14.67 hours a month) | Prorated based on the total number of hours worked each month. |
How to calculate prorated leave for employees who work less than full time
If you work each day within a given month (this includes if you take paid leave during the month), you'll accrue the full amount of leave for which you're eligible. However, if your monthly work hours total less than 100 percent time for the month, you will not receive your full vacation accrual. Instead, CU will use the following formula to calculate how much leave you'll accrue.
Formula: Number of hours worked (including those taken as paid leave) / total number of work hours in the month.
Example: In August 2025, there are 21 working days, or 168 working hours (21 x 8). If John, a university staff member, works 140 hours that month, you would divide 140 by 168 to get his proration factor of 0.833333. Multiply that number by 14.67 — the amount of vacation leave John normally accrues each month — and you'll find that John will accrue 12.23 hours of vacation for August.
| Leave type | Years of service | Length of entire State of Colorado service | Monthly accrual | Maximum accrual within a fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vacation | 1 - 3 | 0 - 36 months | 8 hours | 192 hours (24 days) |
| 4 - 5 | 37 - 60 months | 9 hours | 216 hours (27 days) | |
| 6 - 10 | 61 - 120 months | 11 hours | 264 hours (33 days) | |
| 11 - 15 | 121 - 180 months | 13 hours | 312 hours (39 days) | |
| 16 or more | 181 months or more | 16 hours | 384 hours (48 days) |
If you work each day within a given month (this includes if you take paid leave during the month), you'll accrue the full amount of leave for which you're eligible (see table above). However, if your monthly work hours total less than 100 percent time for that month, you will not receive your full vacation and sick time accrual. Instead, CU will use he following formula to calculate how much leave you'll accrue:
Formula: Number of hours worked (including those taken as paid leave) / total number of work hours in the month
Example: In August 2025, these are 21 working days, or 168 working hours (21 x 8). If Kelley, a classified staff member who has worked for CU for three years, works 140 hours that month, you would divide 140 by 168 to get her proration factor of 0.833333. Multiply that number by 8 — the amount of vacation leave Kelley normally accrues each month — and you'll find that Kelley will accrue 6.67 hours of vacation for August.
Other resources
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For more information about classified staff leave policies, visit the Division of Human Resources website through the Colorado Department of Personnel & Administration [5]
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State of Colorado Personnel Board Rules and Personnel Director's Administrative Procedures [6]
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Technical Assistance: Time Off (from the Division of Human Resources) [7]