GW provides all benefits-eligible staff with annual time off and we encourage employees to use their time away from work to rest and recharge. Please review the important tips and reminders below to ensure your time off is correctly recorded in the Time Reporting System (TRS). As a reminder, we have a "use or lose" policy and there is a limit on the number of hours a staff member may carry over into the next fiscal year.

The end of the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) is fast approaching! Staff should review their annual time balance (PDF) as well as the annual time carryover policy* to ensure they take their well-earned time away from work. As a reminder, all annual time needs to be submitted in the Time Reporting System (TRS) for manager approval. If you are aware that a request you submitted needs manager approval, please ask your manager (or your manager’s delegate) to review and respond to the request(s) in the system. Additionally, if you have taken unrecorded time off, please submit a retroactive time off request (PDF) for previous dates.

*Subject to state requirements.

The university’s Annual Time Carryover policy is as follows:

Annual time carryover balances will automatically rollover and populate in the TRS on July 1, 2023.  Any annual time hours above the limits noted above will be forfeited. 

When requesting annual time from July 1 through August 31, the TRS will automatically deduct from the annual time carryover hours first before using regular annual time hours. Any annual time carryover hours remaining after August 31 will be forfeited.

A reminder that the final accrual (i.e. allocation of time off hours) of the fiscal year does not occur until June 30; however, staff can take their entire fiscal year balance in advance of the final accrual. Employees cannot take more annual time than what will accrue during the fiscal year, or borrow from a future fiscal year. 

If more annual time is taken than what will accrue in a fiscal year, the employee will be responsible to pay the university for the excess time taken. Employees and managers can use this tip sheet (PDF) to understand TRS warnings and help prevent negative balances. You should not submit the annual time request if your balance shows a negative number on June 30. See the below example of the warning employees receive when trying to submit more time than accrued in the fiscal year. 

If you have questions on paid time off and leave programs, please contact us at timeoff@gwu.edu. 

Thank you,

GW Benefits
Human Resource Management and Development