• Eligible EPS employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2025.
• Eligible EPS employees who choose to opt into this program.
• Annual Accrual: 26 days/208 hours (prorated for part-time).
• Carryforward of unused leave: Employees may carry forward up to 20 days/160 hours of unused leave into the following year. Any remaining unused leave is forfeited.
• Payout upon separation: Unused Personal Leave is never paid out. Any remaining unused leave is forfeited. Personal leave can be contributed as Voluntary Shared Leave (VSL), similar to Vacation and Annual Leave and subject to the requirements of the VSL policy.

• All permanent Senior Academic and Administrative Officers (SAAO), Exempt Professional Staff (EPS), and 12-month Faculty employees hired on or after January 1, 2025, are subject to the Personal Leave Policy.
• SHRA (Staff Subject to the Human Resources Act) employees hired on or after January 1, 2025, who subsequently move to an EPS position must convert to Personal Leave at the time of transition to EPS.

Note: SAAO, EPS, and 12-Month Faculty employees hired prior to January 1, 2025, can make a voluntary, irrevocable decision to opt-in to personal leave.

• SHRA employees hired prior to January 1, 2025, who convert to an EPS position on or after Jan. 1, 2025, can make a voluntary, irrevocable decision to opt-in to personal leave.

Note: SHRA employees are not eligible for Personal Leave.

Personal leave may be used for a variety of circumstances:

• Vacation
• Other periods of absence for personal reasons
• Absences due to adverse weather conditions
• Personal illness (in lieu of sick leave)
• Illness in the immediate family
• Time lost for late reporting; however, deductions should be made from the employee’s pay where excessive tardiness or absenteeism occurs
• Donations to an employee who is an approved voluntary shared leave recipient

Note: Although approval of the use of vacation leave is discretionary, requests by an employee to use vacation leave for cultural and/or ethnic-related events should be granted if the employee has accrued vacation leave and the granting of the leave will not result in undue hardship on the department or its employees.

To accrue leave under the personal leave program, EPS, SAAO, and 12-month faculty employees must be permanent part-time or full-time employees who are at least .50 FTE on a recurring contract basis. Leave accruals are pro-rated based on FTE and appointment length.

EPS and SAAO employees accrue 26 personal leave days annually or 17.33 hours monthly.

Personal Leave is adjusted proportionally for part-time employees who work half-time or more (20-40 hours/week). Accruals are also prorated for those on a contract that is less than 12 months long. (9-month faculty to do not earn personal leave).

Employees should submit a request for personal leave to their supervisor; employee preference should be considered, and schedules worked out, bearing in mind individual departmental needs.

Employees must enter leave into Aggie Access Employee Dashboard Leave and Timekeeping system upon use for supervisor approval.

The transfer of Personal Leave generally depends on the receiving agency's policies.

Several factors are considered when determining eligibility for leave transfer, such as when the employee was originally hired into a leave-earning position. What employee class are they currently in? What employee class are they transferring to? What leave program are they currently in? Is the employee transferring to another UNC System Institution or a State of NC Agency? The details can be found in the UNC System Policy for Personal Leave.

• Personal Leave Policy
• Opt-In to join the EPS Personal Leave Program Form
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Prior State Service Verification Form