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To: Executive Department Employees
From: John Langan, Office of Employee Relations Director
Date: November 2, 2022
Subject: Use/Lose Schedule Extension 
 

As a reminder this is the extended use/lose schedule moving forward. Any employee who was at risk of losing any time this year was sent a use/lose letter on Oct 25 at 7:01 a.m.

 

During 2020 and 2021, many employees were unable to use their vacation or personal time due to limited travel options and staffing gaps caused by the pandemic.  HRD has extended the regular end-of-year vacation and personal time use/lose deadline several times to provide employees more opportunities to use vacation and personal days.  However, accumulated vacation and personal time balances and ongoing staffing difficulties pose a challenge to returning to a normal use/lose situation.  Accordingly, HRD wants to make one final set of changes to VAC and PER carryover caps and schedules to address accumulated balances over time.  This new use/lose plan would supersede any previous communicated plan.
 
As we have done in the past, if you want these new schedules to apply to your members, please simply response with a “Yes” to me by COB Thursday, September 29^th.   With this extension, notices of use/lose would go out slightly after the normal October 1^st schedule.
 
Vacation - HRD proposes to implement the following streamlined vacation time use/lose schedule to extend the CY21 window and to simplify subsequent use/lose cuts:
 

Use/Lose Cut	Typical carryover cap	Revised carryover cap
Pay Period (PP) Inclusive of 12/31/22	Up to 2x annual VAC earnings	Up to 4x annual VAC earnings
PP Inclusive of 12/31/23	Up to 2x annual VAC earnings	Up to 3.5x annual VAC earnings
PP Inclusive of 12/31/24	Up to 2x annual VAC earnings	Up to 3x annual VAC earnings
PP Inclusive of 12/31/25	Up to 2x annual VAC earnings	Up to 2.5x annual VAC earnings
PP Inclusive of 12/31/26	Up to 2x annual VAC earnings	Up to 2x annual VAC earnings (back to regular carryover)

 
 
Personal Leave - HRD proposes a phased drawdown schedule for personal time:
 

Use/Lose Cut	Typical PER carryover	Revised PER carryover
Pay Period (PP) Inclusive of 12/31/22	0 hours	Up to 2x hours earned per year
PP Inclusive of 12/31/23	0 hours	Up to 1x hours earned per year
PP Inclusive of 12/31/24	0 hours	0 hours (back to regular approach)

 

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To: Executive Department Employees
From: Jeff McCue, Chief Human Resources Officer
Date: May 11, 2022
Subject: Updates to Use or Lose Deadlines

 

I am sharing updated use or lose deadlines for vacation and personal time for managers and bargaining unit employees. These use or lose deadlines have been adjusted periodically throughout the pandemic to strike a fair balance for our employees who may have been unable to utilize time-off due to agency operational needs or travel restrictions.
 
These updated deadlines are detailed in the attached PDF through 2026. The deadlines have been shared with Executive Department leadership and Secretariat Human Resources officers and provide a gradual return to normal over the next few years.
 
Of particular note are use or lose deadlines for accruals during calendar years 2020 and 2021 which have deadlines most quickly approaching.  Please note: personal time does NOT roll over from year to year as a part of this plan. 

 

 

  The use or lose deadlines for calendar years 2022 thru 2026 have been updated to allow for gradual return to normal in 2026. See specific dates in attached PDF. No action is necessary – employees will be notified of any at-risk balances in advance of each use or lose deadline.

 

Sincerely,
 
Jeff McCue
Assistant Secretary and Chief Human Resources Officer
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Human Resources Division