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Office of the Provost Graduate Education
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FOR POSTDOCS

Vacation and University Holidays

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Vacation

Effective Date

This policy is effective April 1, 2026, and applies to postdoctoral appointments beginning on or after that date, including reappointments. Current postdoctoral appointees will become eligible for the updated vacation policy at their next reappointment.

Policy

Full-time Postdoctoral Appointees are entitled to 4 weeks (20 business days) of paid vacation per year, calculated from the beginning to the end of the one-year appointment.

Part-time Postdoctoral Appointees are entitled to prorated vacation adjusted to reflect part-time status (e.g., for a 20 hour/week postdoc, one vacation “day” is equivalent to 4 hours, one-fifth of the appointee’s standard weekly work hours).

Vacation is awarded for the Postdoctoral Appointee’s one-year appointment term and not on a calendar year basis. All vacation must be approved in advance by the advisor/primary supervisor and vacation scheduling is subject to the needs of each department. At the end of the appointment year, a maximum of one year’s vacation accrual may be carried forward to the following appointment year. Upon separation of employment or termination of a Postdoctoral appointment for any reason, including resignation, accrued vacation will not be paid out to the Postdoctoral Appointee. During a leave of absence, vacation may be paid on the regular pay cycle until it is exhausted. Vacation must be tracked at the department level.

For Postdoctoral Fellows and Visiting Postdoctoral Fellows, the amount of and accrual of vacation may be subject to change to comply with the terms of the sponsoring agency.

Holidays

Full-time and part-time Postdoctoral Appointees are entitled to time off without loss of pay for standard University holidays in accordance with the holiday schedule issued by the University (currently New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day). Each holiday equals one-fifth of the individual’s standard weekly work hours.