Participants can be credited for hours during holidays and excused absences

Holiday hours can be allowed for unpaid activities.

Count hours of an activity during a holiday if the participant was scheduled to participate in 1 or more unpaid activities, but could not do so because the site where the activity was to occur was closed because of a holiday.

· Use the number of hours scheduled in the employment plan to determine the number of hours to count for the holiday.

· If a participant was scheduled for multiple activities on the holiday, split the credited holiday hours between the multiple activities.

Recognized holidays are:

· New Year’s Day (January 1st)

· Martin Luther King Day (3rd Monday in January)

· President’s Day (3rd Monday in February)

· Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)

· Juneteenth (June 19th)

· Independence Day (4th of July)

· Labor Day (1st Monday in September)

· Veterans Day (November 11th)

· Thanksgiving Day

· Christmas Day (December 25th)

When New Year’s Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Veterans Day, or Christmas Day falls on Sunday, the following Monday shall be a holiday. If these holidays fall on a Saturday, the preceding Friday shall be a holiday.

Excused absences can be used in unpaid activities:

· Participants in unpaid activities can receive up to 80 hours of excused absences in a 12-month period, but no more than 16 hours in any 1 calendar month.

· The 12-month period begins when a participant starts in an unpaid activity.

· Participants are considered to be meeting attendance requirements and credited with excused hours when the educational institution is not in regular session, such as during holiday breaks.

· During summer breaks, however, participants need to be in other activities to meet their hourly requirements.

· To credit a participant with other excused absence hours, do the following:

1. Check that the participant has not already used 80 hours of excused absences in the previous 11 months.

2. Use the participant’s employment plan activity schedule to determine how many hours to credit the participant. For instance, if the participant is supposed to participate in that activity for 25 hours a week and cannot do so one day because of an excused absence, that would be 5 hours credited to the participant. Credit only as many excused hours as the participant was scheduled to do that day.

3. If a participant was scheduled for multiple activities on the holiday, split the credited holiday hours between the multiple activities.

4. Besides school holidays, a participant can earn an excused absence for any good cause reason. See 19.9 (Good Cause).

5. Record the credited hours in the “excused’ row under the activity category where the hours were missed.

6. Case note the reason for granting an excused absence that day.