Prorating Vacation and Sick Leave Usage

Revised June 2, 2005

The implementation of Financial Leave Accrual at UC Berkeley on July 1, 2004 requires that vacation and sick leave usage be prorated across all distribution chartstrings from which an employee receives regular pay. To support this process, a new feature has been implemented in the OPTRS (Online Payroll Time Reporting System) and is available for use effective Tuesday, July 13, 2004 for reporting June usage.

In addition, enhancements have been made to the OPTRS Time Collection Selection Criteria Screen used for accessing the Time and Leave Rosters. The new screen requires the user to select from a list of available Pay Cycles by placing an "S" next to the desired cycle to select it. See New Screen Layout at the end of this page for an annotated picture of the new screen.

Automated Proration of June Leave Usage

To reduce departmental effort required, effective with the SM reporting cycle 07/13/04 – 07/19/04 (recording leave usage for June 2004), leave usage recorded on the OPTRS online Leave Input Roster will be automatically prorated.

New DOS Codes

To facilitate automated proration, two new DOS (Description of Service) codes, VAX & SKX, will appear on the OPTRS Leave Input Roster.

  • VAX indicates that the associated Vacation Usage hours will be prorated.
  • SKX indicates that the associated Sick Leave Taken hours will be prorated.

Employees with Multiple Distributions

For employees with multiple distributions, enter total usage on the employee's first regular distribution (leave the others blank) and it will be automatically prorated.

For more information and step-by-step instructions, refer to the following OPTRS Job Aids:

New Prorate Flag

A Prorate Flag indicator now appears on OPTRS ELDR (LX/RX) transaction screens. This field is for future use – leave blank at this time.

Prior Period Adjustments to Leave Usage

Use of the automated proration capability for prior period adjustments is limited to two months prior activity. Adjustment activity beyond two months requires manual proration using OPTRS EDLR (LX/RX). Continue to use DOS codes of VAC and SKL when manually prorating these adjustments.

Note: for the July 2004 reporting cycle (recording June usage) manual proration would be required for any activity for the month of April 2004 or prior.

Refer to the Departmental Leave Usage Recording Options chart below for more information.

Adjustments to Vacation, Sick Leave, and Compensatory Time Accrual

All adjustments to leave accrual balances must be manually prorated across the appropriate distribution chartstrings with DOS codes of VLA, SLA and CTA.

Departmental Leave Usage Recording Options

Leave Usage Period
3+ Months Prior2 Months PriorPrior Month
OPTRS
EDLR (LX/RX)
OPTRS
EDLR (LX/RX)
OPTRS
Leave Input Roster
Manually prorate usage across distribution chartstrings Automatically prorate Automatically prorate
DOS = VAC/SKL DOS = VAX/SKX Record prior month vacation and sick leave usage on SM Cycle using OPTRS Leave Roster.

Note: proration is automatic.

Note: adjustments to leave usage older than 2 months require manual proration Best Practice: use EDLR (LX/RX) to record prior period adjustments and automatically prorate Best Practice: use OPTRS Leave Input Roster to record prior month usage and automatically prorate

For more information and step-by-step instructions, refer to the following OPTRS Job Aids:

Leave Roster Help

510-642-1336, Option 4 or payhelp@berkeley.edu

New Screen Layout

Minor modifications have been made to the Time Collection Selection Criteria Screen used for accessing Time and Leave Rosters.