Holiday Deferred Time

[Kimba]

Jurisdiction

Georgia

I work for a state agency in Georgia that awards 8 hours of deferred holiday time for each of the 12 observable state holidays during the year. This state agency has a written policy that states that any holiday deferred time on the books -must- be used within 120 days of the observance of any particular holiday. Seeing as how our agency has been short staffed for a few years now, they have been paying out the holiday deferred hours on a quarterly basis in lieu of giving the time off. However, almost 18 months ago they stopped paying out the deferred holiday hours with the explanation that the budget no longer allows these payouts, and they are not giving the requisite time off either.

My agency falls under the jurisdiction of the State Accounting Office(SAO), which has a specific policy about holiday deferred time. The policy specifically states that any holiday deferred time that is on the books beyond 365 days, -must- be paid out. I now have almost 144 hours of holiday deferred time on the books, and a recent e-mail inquiry to my personnel technician as to why we are not getting paid-out for this time went ignored/unanswered.

Seeing as the SAO has specific policy in regards to this issue, along with the agency policy, what is the best way to go about getting this addressed? Keep in mind that my agency is not linked with a union, and Georgia is an "at-will" employment state.

 

[army judge]

Seeing as the SAO has specific policy in regards to this issue, along with the agency policy, what is the best way to go about getting this addressed?

One would think that you might wish to have an informal chat with your manager.

If you wish to formalize things, you start by asking someone in payroll AUTHORIZED to assist with employee pay and payroll related questions.

Your situation might escalate from there, depending upon what you learn after endeavoring to ask questions of those in the know.

 

[Kimba]

Prior to posting this question I had an informal conversation with my manager about the status of my deferred holiday time. My manager indicated that I should e-mail our personnel technician in order to inquire about the status, which I did, but as I indicated in my OP the e-mail went unanswered.

After making a few phone calls today it seems that administrative staff are being given the requisite time off, but not staff who are in the same employee pool as myself. The manager I spoke with is responsible for making the schedule, so that is who I approached about this.

I've been with this agency for almost 14 years now, and have never had this much holiday deferred time on the books. The issue with staff shortages is obviously the root cause of this, but for this agency to defy its own(and the SAO) policies regarding this is troubling, especially when budgetary reasons are cited as to why they are not paying out the deferred time. It doesn't make sense that if there are staff shortages, that there should be a corresponding shortage of payroll funds if budgeted, but unfilled positions are not being paid.

 

[army judge]

Prior to posting this question I had an informal conversation with my manager about the status of my deferred holiday time. My manager indicated that I should e-mail our personnel technician in order to inquire about the status, which I did, but as I indicated in my OP the e-mail went unanswered.

After making a few phone calls today it seems that administrative staff are being given the requisite time off, but not staff who are in the same employee pool as myself. The manager I spoke with is responsible for making the schedule, so that is who I approached about this.

I've been with this agency for almost 14 years now, and have never had this much holiday deferred time on the books. The issue with staff shortages is obviously the root cause of this, but for this agency to defy its own(and the SAO) policies regarding this is troubling, especially when budgetary reasons are cited as to why they are not paying out the deferred time. It doesn't make sense that if there are staff shortages, that there should be a corresponding shortage of payroll funds if budgeted, but unfilled positions are not being paid.

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