Workday Leave Reminders & Tips

How to Check Vacation Carryover Balance in Workday

1. Click your picture or initials in the top right corner, then click View Profile.
2. Click Absence in the menu on the left side of your profile (you may need to click “More” to expand all of your choices).
3. Click Absence Balance tab at the top of the screen.
4. Locate Vacation Available row.
   1. Beginning Year Balance: how much vacation carryover you started with on 7/1/25.
   2. Carryover Balance: how much vacation carryover you still have available. Must be used by 6/30/26 or it will expire.
   3. Accrued Year to Date: how much vacation you have available for the current fiscal year.
   4. Absence Paid Year to Date: how much vacation/vacation carryover you have used to date since 7/1/25. This amount should equal your Beginning Year Balance minus your Carryover Balance.
   5. Beginning Period Balance: your Carryover Balance plus your Accrued Year to Date balance, as of the beginning of the most recent pay period.

Vacation Available vs. Vacation Year to Date

• All 176 (prorated for part-time employees) vacation hours are available for use at the beginning of each fiscal year. This is why the Vacation Available row shows all 176 hours, plus your remaining vacation carryover hours.
• However, vacation is technically earned over the course of the fiscal year, based on paid status during each biweekly pay period. This means that if an employee is on an unpaid leave of absence, they are not earning vacation during that time and so will actually have less than 176 hours of vacation for that fiscal year.
• The Vacation Year to Date row shows how much vacation you have earned to date, minus any vacation you have already used in the current fiscal year. If you click the blue hyperlinked number in the Accrued Year to Date column, you can see just the number of vacation hours that have been earned so far, without the used amount subtracted.
• If an employee terminates their position mid-fiscal year, they are entitled to be paid out for any remaining vacation carryover and personal holiday hours, and vacation hours which have been earned through their final day on payroll. If an employee has used more vacation than they have technically earned to date, they would be required to pay the difference back to the university (either through reduction of the final paycheck, or additional means if there are not enough funds on the final paycheck).

Other Important Reminders

• Leave is deducted from your balance once the leave report has been approved by your supervisor AND the pay period containing the date of the absence has begun processing. Absences that are dated in the future of the current pay period will NOT be reflected in your balance yet, even if they have been approved by your supervisor.
• Any remaining personal holiday and/or floating legal holiday hours must also be used by 6/30/26 or they will be lost.
• Requests to change an absence entry from one leave type to another (ex: changing a sick leave entry to vacation carryover or personal holiday in order to use up those hours before 6/30/26) must be received by the Payroll and Benefits Administrator (meghan.raap@wisc.edu) within two pay periods of the date of the absence.