May 2, 2007 -- On Friday, April 27, 2007, Governor Tim Kaine granted all state employees eight hours of recognition leave in honor of the May 3, 2007 visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, II and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, to Richmond, Va. Because several state office buildings around Capitol Square will be closed for security reasons all day on May 3, employees located in those buildings must take the leave on that day.

The Governor's memo specifies that all non-Capitol Square employees (i.e. University of Virginia employees) should take this leave by June 30, 2007, and are encouraged to use the leave to volunteer and/or participate in Jamestown 2007 commemorative events. However, we have sought and received clarification from the Department of Human Resource Management that employees have a full 12 months to use this leave.  Managers are asked to give maximum consideration to employees' preferences for using leave, but they should coordinate it so offices are adequately staffed to provide uninterrupted service to the public. 

Following are more details on how this affects University employees: 

• For classified and University staff, the leave will be automatically credited on the date designated by the state (May 3). The leave is to be designated as "recognition leave" (RL) on your time sheet when the leave is used.

• Hours for part-time qualifying employees will be pro-rated.

• For twelve-month faculty and professional research staff, the eight hours of leave should be worked out with individual managers.

• The University of Virginia's College at Wise administration will distribute information pertaining to the College at Wise.

If you have any questions please call the UHR Leave Center at 924-1426 or 924-4404, or send an email to hrdept@virginia.edu.