We are making an update in Workday to better assist employees in managing their annual time off carryover hours. Beginning January 11, 2026, there will be two (2) separate annual time off banks for regular staff, 12-month faculty, and C2 employees:
- Annual Time Off - annual time off that is accrued each pay period
- Annual Time Off Carryover (Not Eligible for Payout) - Carry-over Annual Time Off is defined as the portion of annual leave that exceeds 400 hours at the beginning of the calendar year, up to a maximum allowable carryover of 480 hours.
The addition of the Annual Time Off Carryover - Not Eligible for Payout bank is meant to help you:
- Identify the number of available annual time off hours carried over after the year-end use or lose rules are applied
- Ensure you use the annual time off that is not eligible to be paid out first
- Discern the number of annual time off hours that will not be included in a final leave payout should you separate from service
Per current policy, employees are eligible to carry over up to, but no more than, 60 days/480 hours (pro-rated by FTE). However, any unused carryover hours remaining in the “Annual Time off Carryover - Not Eligible for Payout” bank are not eligible to be paid out should you separate from service.
Employees who have over 400 hours of Annual Time Off:
On January 11, 2026, the ERP Services team will transfer up to 80 hours of annual leave for any employee whose balance exceeds 400 hours (prorated by FTE) into the “Annual Time Off Carryover – Not Eligible for Payout” bank.
Example: A full-time employee on January 10, 2026, has an Annual Time Off balance of 456 hours. On January 11, 2026, the employee will see the following balances:
Annual Time Off: 400 hours
Annual Time Off Carryover - Not Eligible for Payout: 56 hours
What Does This Mean For Me?
You will see a new paid time off type, Annual Time Off Carryover - Not Eligible for Payout, when requesting an absence.
If you have any questions, please visit AskHR and submit a case under the Time Tracking category.
How This Will Work in Workday:
Employees will see both banks when viewing absence balances. If you did not carry over more than 400 hours, the Annual Time Off Carryover bank will have a balance of 0 hours.
Employees who do not have an annual time off carryover bank balance will receive an error if they submit an absence request using the Annual Time Off Carryover - Not Eligible for Payout Paid Time Off option.
Employees who have an annual time off carryover bank balance will not see the Annual Time Off option under Paid Time Offs when requesting leave. Instead, when requesting annual time off, they will select the Annual Time Off Carryover - Not Eligible for Payout option. Hiding the “Annual Time Off” option ensures you exhaust the annual time off hours that are not eligible to be paid out when you separate from service first. You must exhaust all available hours in your Annual Time Off Carryover bank in order to access your regular annual time off bank.
Additional Guidance for Requesting Absences
Before submitting a request for annual time off, employees should review their annual time off carryover bank balance. This is viewable through the Manage Absence task. Users also have the ability to do this within the request by selecting “View Balances.”
If the requested number of hours exceeds the employee’s annual time off carryover bank balance, the employee should:
- Submit a partial day request for the remaining hours in the annual time off carryover bank.
- Submit a partial day request for the applicable number of annual time off hours after their manager approves the partial day annual time off carryover request.
Employees will not have access to the annual time off type under the Paid Time Off section until their manager approves the initial annual time off carryover request.
If an employee’s request exceeds the number of available hours in their annual time off carryover bank, they will receive an error stating they don’t have enough hours in the bank, and they won’t be able to submit the request.
The Request Absence and Request Absence (Time Off) on Behalf of a Worker job aids address adding an additional time off type on a given day; however, it does not cover partial day requests when a specific time off type needs to be exhausted before requesting a different time off type for the same date. Please note that these job aids do not yet reflect the new process and are in the process of being updated.