Skip to content ↓

Human Resources outlines Christmas/Y2K pay policies, days off

Human Resources has received several inquiries concerning the Institute holidays and pay policies that will apply during the Y2K weekend.

The Institute will observe two holidays at the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000. Friday, Dec. 31 is being observed as the floating holiday for 1999. Monday, Jan. 3 is the MIT observance of the New Year's Day holiday. The Institute will not close early on Thursday, Dec. 23.

The holiday pay policies for support staff are set forth at sections 4.1.2 through 4.1.7 of the Personnel Policy Manual (PPM). Support staff required to work on a holiday are paid at one and a half times their regular straight-time rate for the number of hours worked on the holiday, in addition to holiday pay.

Administrative and sponsored research staff members are paid for Institute holidays as part of their monthly salary (see PPM section 4.1.8). In the case of such employees who work long hours of overtime (time over and above what would be considered a normal number of hours for salaried professional employees), compensatory time off is expected to be proportional both to the number of hours worked and the nature of the projects undertaken (see section 4.3.21 of the PPM).

For the Y2K weekend, as in all situations that require an additional level of staffing, it may be difficult to anticipate both the number of hours of work and the nature of the work that will be required. Therefore, Human Resources recommends that calculations of compensatory time be determined retroactively, and in consultation with the human resources officers for affected employees.

The holiday pay policies for union-represented service staff are as described in the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

For all categories of staff, normal pay policies apply for Saturday, Jan. 1 and Sunday, Jan. 2.

As is the case for working on any weekend, hourly paid staff may earn regular straight-time or premium overtime rates depending on the number of hours worked in the Monday-through-Sunday payroll week. Administrative and sponsored research staff members who work long hours of overtime may be eligible for compensatory time off under PPM 4.3.21.

Union-represented service staff may earn regular straight-time or premium overtime rates, in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on December 15, 1999.

Related Topics

More MIT News

Headshot of Catherine Wolfram

A delicate dance

Professor of applied economics Catherine Wolfram balances global energy demands and the pressing need for decarbonization.

Read full story