Vacation, Sick, and Personal Time Off

Vacation Time is accrued on a monthly basis; Sick and Personal Time is granted on January 1 of each year.

Effective January 1, 2025 sick leave accruals for regular full-time and part-time employees working at least 50% of a full-time schedule are limited to 30 days per year.

You will receive a bank of 30 days of Sick Leave on January 1 of every year.

Note: If you had more than 30 days of accrued Sick Leave prior to January 1st, 2025, you will not lose any accrued days. However, you will not accrue additional days in 2025 or later until your Sick Leave balance drops below the 30-day maximum.

Non-represented non-exempt staff (Career Level: S)

Years of Service	Vacation	Sick*	Personal
From hire, but less than 2 years	10 days	30 days	2 days
2 or more, but less than 10 years	15 days	30 days	2 days
Over 10 years	20 days	30 days	2 days

*If you are represented by Boston University’s Police Patrolmen’s Association (BUPPA) or Boston University Police Sergeant’s Association (BUPSA) please refer to your collective bargaining agreement for your sick leave entitlement

Non-represented exempt staff (Career Levels: P and M)

Years of Service	Vacation	Sick*
From hire, but less than 15 years	20 days	30 days
Over 15 years	25 days	30 days

Please note, employees are eligible to use their accrued Sick Leave after completing three (3) months of continuous service. During an employee’s first three (3) months of service, time off that would normally be taken as Sick Leave will be taken as Unpaid Time Off.

Additionally, if you are working less than 100% time, your sick leave entitlement will be prorated based on the percent time you work.

This information is provided for quick reference, and is not intended to be a comprehensive summary of the benefits described. For a full description of these benefits and related policies, please refer to the BU Employee Handbook (non-represented staff) and/or to your Collective Bargaining Agreement (represented staff).

Boston University will offer a total of 19 holidays and intersession days for the 2024-2025 academic year. This continues to exceed the number of days offered by most Boston-area employers.

Requesting Time Off

There is a formal process for requesting paid time off in addition to receiving supervisor approval verbally or via email. All paid staff employees (both salaried and hourly) must submit requests for vacation, personal, and sick time through “Employee Self-Service” in BUworks Central. Please note that time off requests for hourly paid staff must be entered into both the employee’s timesheet and in BUworks Central.

A quick reference guide is available for employees who want to review step-by-step instructions.