Christmas Closedown

• Primary Objective
• Leave Without Pay
• Flextime and TOIL
• Hardship
• Leave Applications
• Out of Office Messages
• Further Information

In the 2013/2014 Christmas period, the last day of University operation for 2013 is Friday 20 December 2013.  The University reopens Monday 6 January 2014.

Click here for information about Christmas Closedown Considerations.

Please note that the days highlighted in green need to be covered by a form of leave.

Primary Objective of the Christmas Closedown

The primary objective of the Christmas closedown is to reduce leave accruals. In doing so the University does not wish to penalise staff with already low leave accruals or to prevent important research and operational work from being completed. Pro Vice-Chancellors and Heads of Division have discretion regarding exemptions to the closedown, and priority will be given to staff with low accruals when providing skeleton staffing in areas of the University, particularly where there are operational needs that must be met.

Leave Without Pay

The University will not force staff to take Leave Without Pay to cover the annual closedown. However, if a staff member has no Annual Leave but has significant Long Service Leave they will be encouraged to use the Long Service Leave.

Flextime and Time Off In Lieu (TOIL)

If a staff member has a large amount of Flextime and TOIL these may be used during the period in addition to Annual and Long Service Leave. Further information on flextime available from this link and TOIL from this link.

Hardship

Any staff that feel they may suffer undue hardship due to the closedown are encouraged to raise this issue with their immediate supervisor in the first instance. If concerns continue staff are welcome to contact their Human Resource Officer  for assistance.

Leave Applications

As the closedown will not affect all staff in the same way and staff will choose to access either Annual Leave or Long Service Leave (where applicable), staff must apply for leave taken over the annual closedown. HRonline applications should be submitted in the usual manner for this leave.

Out of Office Messages

Please ensure that an out of office message is placed on all phones and email addresses, along the lines of the following example:

"As part of University’s Christmas closedown, the ‘(name of work area)’ will be closed from [first day and date of closedown] to [last day and date of closedown] inclusive. If your call is urgent please phone [name of contact] on [full external phone number]. Otherwise I will return your call/message on [date of return]."

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Further Information

Further information is available from your Human Resource Officer, Human Resource Services.