Larry,

We charge grants at the time the vacation liability is accrued/earned (each pay period), not down the road when the vacation is actually taken (it is baked into our fringe benefits rate).  As such, it doesn't matter when the vacation time is actually taken (or paid out) because the grant pays for it when accrued/earned.

Pat Kaufman
Director of Accounting & Grants Admin.
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Kansas City, MO
816-926-4027    xxxxxx@stowers-institute.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Waxler - Office of Sponsored Research
[mailto:xxxxxx@USM.MAINE.EDU]
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 10:53 AM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] Accrued vacation charges

Greetings.

I am investigating potential solutions to an
issue that has been a long-standing problem -
accrued salary costs against terminating
grants or contracts.

By union/University agreement, most
employees are allowed to accrue and carry-
over up to 40 days of vacation from one fiscal
year to the next. (Most employees earn 20
days/year.) We often have grants that
terminate under which employees have
earned vacation time, but have not taken it. By
union/University agreement, employees
cannot be forced to take vacation time prior to
the termination of a grant.  With the grant
terminated, and the ability to fund the vacation
time from the grant gone, the liability becomes
a cost to the University when the employee
uses the time.

We have similar issues with sick time and with
retroactive pay raises. (We have had
union/University negotiations extend beyond a
year, during which time we have had to close-
out grants and lost the ability to charge pay
raises there.)

So, how do you handle these situations? How
do you minimize the cost to University funds
and maximize the charge against grant and
contracts?

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Larry Waxler, Director                 |
 Office of Sponsored Programs           | TELEPHONE: 207-780-4413
 University of Southern Maine           | TELEFAX:   207-780-4417
 P.O. Box 9300                          | E-MAIL:    xxxxxx@usm.maine.edu
 96 Falmouth Street                     | WEB:       www.usm.maine.edu/osp
 Portland, Maine  04104-9300            |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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