Adding a Paid Personal Holiday

Jun. 15, 2022


Dear Colleagues,

Greetings. I am writing to share some good news. The University is adding a paid personal holiday for your use by the end of each calendar year.

We receive many requests for additional paid holidays to commemorate meaningful events such as Juneteenth, Veterans Day, Cesar Chavez Day and others, that USC designates as non-instructional days. While we cannot accommodate all these days as paid holidays, we are adding this extra day off as a personal holiday to be scheduled at your own discretion. Our online and in person celebrations for these and other important occasions will continue, and we look forward to your participation.

To be clear, the addition of this new personal holiday is a permanent addition to the nine paid holidays and Winter Recess days that we currently support. We hope the flexibility will allow you to choose one of the following days to celebrate that aligns with your personal needs:

  • Federal and State Holidays not covered under USC’s Paid Holiday Policy (e.g., Veterans Day, Juneteenth, Cesar Chavez Day)
  • Religious Holidays not covered under USC’s Paid Holiday Policy
  • Employee’s Work Anniversary
  • Employee’s Birthday
  • USC’s Founders Day (Oct. 6th)

The teams are working quickly to set up the floating holiday flag in our payroll systems so that it will appear in your time off banks by June 20, 2022. To request this paid personal holiday, please be sure to follow the same process for requesting other time off.

Thank you for all you do and best wishes for a productive and relaxing summer.

Sincerely,

Felicia A. Washington, J.D.
Senior Vice President of Human Resources
HR, Equity, and Compliance