University Staff only
Use or lose your personal holiday, (floating) legal holiday and vacation carryover balances by 12/31/2023.
Academic Staff only
Use or lose your personal holiday, (floating) legal holiday and vacation carryover balances by 06/30/2024.
For both University & Academic Staff
- You can view your balances via MyUW
- Unapproved absence requests and future absences are not deducted from your available balance
- Leave Balances only update once each pay cycle
- Full list of 2023, 2024 & 2025 Legal Holidays
- To use your floating Legal Holiday hours, simply select the “Legal Holiday” drop down when requesting an absence.
- Floating Legal Holiday hours can be used before the holiday occurs.
Summary of upcoming legal holidays, noting which are floating holidays
| 2023 Legal Holiday | When Observed | University Staff Expiration Date | Academic Staff Expiration Date |
| Thanksgiving, Fourth Thursday in Nov | Thursday, November 23 | 12/31/2023 | 06/30/2024 |
| Christmas Eve, December 24 | Sunday, December 24 (Floating Holiday) | 12/31/2023 | 06/30/2024 |
| Christmas, December 25 | Monday, December 25 | 12/31/2023 | 06/30/2024 |
| New Year’s Eve, December 31 | Sunday, December 31 (Floating Holiday) | 12/31/2023 | 06/30/2024 |
| 2024 Legal Holiday | When Observed | ||
| New Year’s Day, January 1 2024 | Monday, January 1, 2024
(not in current 2023 Legal Holiday Available Balances) |
12/31/2024 | 06/30/2024 |
Additional announcements for University Staff
Dec. 31 deadline for University Staff to request leave conversion
Eligible University Staff employees have an annual opportunity to bank set amounts of unused vacation or vacation carryover hours and/or elect to receive a cash payout. All banking or payout requests must be submitted no later than Dec. 31, 2023. Employees cannot bank or receive a cash payout for personal and legal holidays. Employees can review their leave balances and submit their vacation leave banking request in MyUW at my.wisc.edu.
University Staff have until end of year to swap sick leave
University Staff who used sick leave in 2023 may be able to change the type of leave they used and instead use personal holiday, floating holiday, vacation, or vacation carryover hours they have accrued. An employee may wish to consider a “sick leave swap” if they have unused leave that would expire at the end of the calendar year. Employees may also wish to consider swapping sick leave to reduce or maintain Income Continuation Insurance (ICI) premiums or to take advantage of deferred enrollment into the ICI program during the ICI Annual Review. Any requests to swap one type of leave for another must be submitted by Dec. 29, 2023. Employees should contact their local human resources office with any questions.