How many vacation days do you get?
It depends on your completed years of service before the vacation year starts: 14 days for 1 to 4 years, 21 for 5 to 10, 35 for 11 to 24, and 42 for 25 or more. § 11-A-3
The vacation year runs from the May bid period through the April bid period, and days earned in one vacation year are taken in the next. § 11-A-1 § 11-A-3 New hires earn 1 1/6 days for each full bid period worked in their first, partial vacation year. § 11-A-2
What is a vacation day worth?
4.25 hours of pay, starting with the 2024–2025 vacation year (it was 3.75 hours in 2023–2024). § 11-C-1 § 11-C
How is vacation bid?
Annual vacation is awarded by seniority within your category, in three cycles: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. § 11-E-1 § 11-E-3 Before bidding opens you declare how many days you will bid (your Annual Vacation Election), which cannot be below the contract minimum and is normally in multiples of seven. § 11-E-2-a § 11-E-2-b
With seven or fewer days you get one period; with more, each period must be a multiple of seven unless it is your remainder. § 11-D-3-a § 11-D-3-b You can also bid monthly vacation by seniority, as long as it doesn’t conflict with a trip or activity already assigned. § 11-E-4-a
Can you move your vacation?
You can slide a whole block of annual vacation up to three days earlier or later, as long as it doesn’t run into a holiday or a trip, and you submit it by the deadline: for a slide within one bid period, 1200 CT on the 3rd of the month before (earlier for slides touching the first five days). § 11-F-1 § 11-F-1-a § 11-F-1-b-(1) Otherwise a vacation award changes only if you and the company both agree. § 11-F-3
The company can cancel vacation without your agreement only after you change category, and only in the situations the contract lists; you can then protect one vacation period of up to 14 days. § 11-F-4 § 11-F-5-a
Can you drop a trip with vacation?
Sometimes. If the company allows it based on staffing, you can drop a trip with pay and have the vacation taken from next year’s accrual (for drops in the December–April bid periods, from the year after). A lineholder is paid the trip’s value; a reserve gets 5:15 for each reserve day dropped. § 11-G-1 § 11-G-3
What happens to vacation you don’t use?
Days still unawarded at the end of the vacation year are forfeited. For up to 21 forfeited days the company makes a contribution under Sections 22-A-1-j and 24-G-4, by June 16; forfeited days above 21 are paid as regular earnings. § 11-H-1
If you leave the company you are paid for unused vacation earned in the previous vacation year. § 11-B-1 With a year or more of service you are also paid for this year’s accrual up to the end of the bid period before you leave, if you weren’t discharged for just cause and gave at least 10 days’ notice of resignation. § 11-B-2 § 11-B-2-a § 11-B-2-b
“Starting in the 2024-2025 vacation year, each vacation day shall have a pay value of four and one-quarter (4.25) hours.”
“A Vacation Year begins on the first day of the May Bid Period and ends on the last day of the April Bid Period.”