Holiday treatment for December, January announced
This year, Dec. 25 will fall on a Saturday, as will Jan. 1. The official University holidays, therefore, will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 23, 24 and 25; Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Dec. 27, 28, and 29; and Saturday, Jan. 1.
University policies provide, however, that if a holiday falls on an employee's regularly scheduled day off, the employee receives another day off with pay to be used at another time. Thus, employees who normally do not work Saturdays will receive two compensatory days off for the Saturday holidays occurring on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
Thursday and Friday, Dec. 30 and 31, are not University holidays and offices ordinarily would be open those days. However, in order to provide a generally more desirable and efficient application of time off, University offices and facilities except for essential services will be closed for these two days as well. Therefore, the University will be closed from the end of normal operations on Wednesday, Dec. 22, until Monday, Jan. 3.
The two compensatory days earned for the Saturday holidays (Dec. 25 and Jan. 1) will be used for the work absences on Dec. 30 and 31 because of University offices and facilities not being open. Those days closed, however, will not be official University holidays for premium pay purposes. Employees in essential services who qualify for compensatory days but who must work Dec. 30 and 31 still will have their compensatory days off for use at a later time.
Those who normally are scheduled off on Thursdays or Fridays but who must work either or both of those days will be compensated in accordance with applicable University policy.
Information about paycheck distribution will be announced at a later date.
This schedule does not apply to the College of Medicine at Hershey Medical Center.
Questions regarding this holiday schedule should be directed to the appropriate college or department human resources representative, or the business office at a facility away from University Park.
Absence policy reminder
Faculty and students are reminded of Penn State's policy regarding students' requests for absence from class for the purpose of observing a religious holiday. The University Faculty Senate Policy on Class Attendance (42-27) states that instructors should provide, within reason, opportunity to make up work for students who are obliged to miss classes for legitimate reasons.
As further clarification, Academic Administrative Policy on Religious Holidays (R-4) states that while the University makes every effort to avoid conflicts with religious holidays, when conflicts are unavoidable, the policy is to try and make special arrangements for the student affected. The Faculty Handbook states that "Faculty members are expected to entertain requests for exemptions from class attendance for purposes of religious observances."
The Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs suggests that instructors refer to an exhaustive listing of holy days of the major world religions for which observance may require a student to depart from his or her normal routine at the University. An all inclusive list which provides both major and minor religious holidays is available on the Web at http://www.sa.psu.edu/cera/ Anyone with questions should call the center at (814) 865-6548.