Paid Time Off Benefits

SMU provides competitive paid time off programs, which include official holidays and Vacation and Sick Leave.

Official Holidays

SMU generally observes the following holidays each year:

  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Friday After Thanksgiving
  • Christmas/Winter Break (actual number of days varies each year)
  • New Year's Day
  • Martin Luther King's Birthday
  • Good Friday
  • Memorial Day

Note: If a holiday falls on a day when a part-time employee is regularly scheduled to work they will be paid for the holiday.

SMU Holiday Schedule

 

Vacation

As a regular employee, you accrue vacation time according to your scheduled hours and job classification, beginning on your first day of employment.  After six months of continuous service, you can begin using your accrued vacation time with the approval of your supervisor.

IMPORTANT: If you plan to leave SMU, accrued vacation leave paid at termination of employment may not exceed the allowance for one year for employees hired before June 1, 1995, and 10 days for those hired on or after June 1, 1995.  If you have unused vacation days in excess of the applicable days, be sure to take those days prior to your last day on payroll to avoid losing them.

See Policy 9.20 Staff Vacation Leave for plan details, the number of vacation days you will accrue, and other important information.

 

Sick Leave

SMU provides paid Sick Leave to staff employees in the case of:

  • medical, dental and other health care appointments
  • illness or injury to the employee
  • illness of a member of the employee's immediate family
  • death of a member of the employee's immediate family

Full-time Benefits-eligible employees will accrue one day of Sick Leave for each month of service completed.  Benefits-eligible employees in the categories of  partial year full-time, partial year part-time, and part-time employees will receive Sick Leave with pay prorated to scheduled work time.

New employees must complete six months of service to be eligible for use of paid Sick Leave, except in the case of an occupational injury.  On the sixth month of employment, the days earned will become available for use.

See Policy 9.21 Paid Medical Absence for Staff for further details.