Faculty and staff who have a question about holiday schedules should contact their supervisor. Department supervisors work with Payroll to record holiday time.
Employees – faculty and staff – who work at least 20 hours per week for a period of at least four-and-a-half continuous months per year are eligible for paid holidays. Employees who work less than full time receive holiday leave based on the percent of hours worked or appointed.
Holidays are officially designated by order of the UNT System Board of Regents. Note that not every legislatively approved holiday is scheduled by institutions of higher education.
Texas law establishes state-funded holidays and allows higher education institutions to apply approved closure days to operating calendars. State-assisted institutions of higher education can determine the start date for each semester/term, so long as they meet criteria determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
UNT System locations have paid holidays each fiscal year, which begins September 1 and ends August 31. Holidays are selected by administrators at each location, and then are approved by the UNT System Board of Regents.
When state holidays are on a weekend, they are not included in the annual allotment.
Please note that state agencies may not have the same holidays as do institutions of higher education.
FY 2020 Holiday Schedule
FY 2021 Holiday Schedule
UNT and UNT Dallas observe spring break week for students. Spring break usually follows the eighth week of instruction of the spring semester and a break is usually scheduled by all Texas public colleges and universities that observe spring break. Some years, a Spring Break Day for faculty and staff is approved by the UNT System Board of Regents.
Employees may have a floating holiday that must be used by fiscal year’s end (August 31) and with supervisor approval.
Spring Break Day and floating holidays are not always scheduled.
Employees who wish to do so may observe optional state holidays (as identified by state law) or other observances by substituting vacation or compensatory leave, or by working on one or more designated holidays. All optional or substitute holidays require supervisory approval prior to the scheduled observance.
The Texas State Auditor determines available holidays only for state agencies, according to state law. State agency holidays are published on the auditor's website after each legislative session.
The number of holidays for institutions of higher education may not exceed the number of holidays available to state agencies. Institutions of higher education usually allocate holidays to a winter break and do not observe every available state agency holiday.