The UNC System recently established a new Personal Leave Program for vacation leave accrual for EHRA leave-earning employees. All EHRA employees hired on or after January 1, 2025, will fall under the new Personal Leave Program.
As of January 1, the vacation leave an EHRA employee earns is determined by the employee’s date of hire and/or whether the employee chose to opt in to the Personal Leave Program:
- Annual leave is the vacation leave for EHRA employees who were hired before Jan. 1, 2025, and who do NOT opt in to the Personal Leave Program. There are no changes to this leave.
- Personal leave is the vacation leave for all EHRA employees hired on or after January 1, 2025, as well as those hired before January 1, 2025, who chose to opt in to the Personal Leave Program.
EHRA employees hired before Jan. 1, 2025, will have an opportunity to opt in to the new personal leave program later this month; the election to move to personal leave cannot be reversed. Current EHRA employees who do not opt in will continue to accrue Annual Leave as vacation leave as they currently do. EHRA staff will be contacted individually when the opt-in period opens.
For more information, compare the two programs and review a set of Frequently Asked Questions.
The new personal leave program only affects vacation leave. Employees under the Personal Leave program continue to accrue and are entitled to other leave allotments (sick leave, civil leave, personal observance leave, etc.) according to the policies already established for those leaves and in the same way as employees in the Annual Leave program.