If a department observes summer hours, the guidelines listed below will help managers administer this paid time off.
Note: These guidelines do not apply to student workers or seasonal/intermittent employees.
During the summer, regular and fixed-term full-time staff have the benefit of working 35 hours a week, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m, with an hour for lunch and the same pay. Part-time staff do not reduce their hours in the summer and must work at least 3 hours on each day they work. Employees who work more than 7 hours on a day do not receive summer hours for that particular day since they are paid for the time worked. Summer hours cannot be banked to use on alternative days.
No department is required to work summer hours, and some departments may not observe them at all if their duties and responsibilities are better served by working the standard schedule during all or part of this time period. Individual department observance of summer hours is determined by the department head.
Vacation and sick time accrual is fully detailed in our Paid Time Off Policy. As a general reminder, vacation and sick time accrual rates for full-time staff during summer hours are based on the regular schedule of 7.5 hours per day. Part-time employees should consult the policy for information about calculating their monthly accrual rates.
Vacation and sick time utilization for full-time staff is also based on the regular schedule of 7.5 hours per day. Thus, if a full-time employee takes a week's vacation during the summer, that employee's accrued vacation time would be reduced by a full week (37.5 hours).
Vacation and sick time is charged in full or half day increments for exempt staff. Non-exempt staff should have their accruals adjusted based on a 7.5 hour day. For example, if a full-time non-exempt employee works without a lunch break from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. and then leaves for the day, that employee has worked 5 hours and will use 2.5 hours of accrued vacation or sick time that day. Please note that under Rhode Island law, all staff must take at least a 20-minute (unpaid) lunch period if their work day exceeds six hours.
Employees with an Alternative Work Assignment (AWA) for a Compressed Workweek should follow these guidelines for Summer Hours:
No, compressed workweek schedules must be set (not varying from pay period to pay period).
All employees with a compressed workweek schedule in place must revert to a normal Summer Hours schedule during a week with a holiday.
A non-exempt employee who is granted paid time off, such as vacation or sick time, should enter the same number of hours as they were scheduled to work. For example, 9 hours would be deducted if an employee uses vacation or sick on a day with 9 scheduled work hours.
The total hours for the workweek should be 37.5, including 2.5 Summer Hours, for a full-time non-exempt employee, whether they work a standard or compressed workweek. For non-exempt employees working a compressed workweek, it is best to enter 2.5 hours that represent ‘Summer Hours’ in one day. However, there is flexibility in how the ‘Summer Hours’ are entered over the course of the week, as long as a total of 2.5 hours is worked during that week. The Summer Hours do not count towards overtime calculations since they are deemed as hours worked.
Exempt employees will request a full day of time off in a one-day increment in Workday. Exempt staff are paid a salary to perform job duties regardless of the numbers of hours worked and exercise discretion to determine how to get their work done within the workweek. Therefore, paid leave time is not accrued or used in hours. Whether the time off is requested during Summer Hours or whether the time off is requested during a compressed work week, exempt employees will continue to request days off that are subject to approval.