The following massmail was sent to faculty and staff across the Univesity of Illinois System:

Dear colleagues:

We are pleased to announce that a program providing additional paid days off during our December/January holidays has been extended to a fifth straight year, reflecting in real terms just how much we appreciate everything you do.

Employees who are eligible for leave benefits will receive three paid gift days for this year’s Reduced Service Days – on December 29, 30 and 31. Combined with holidays, other paid time off and weekends, it will extend the year-end break from Thursday, Dec. 24, through Sunday, Jan. 3. Before the program began in 2016, employees had been required to draw from their annual pool of paid time off to be paid for the three Reduced Service Days.

Our universities, hospital and clinics, and system offices will follow up with more details, including how to report the gift days and how they can be used on different days by essential employees who must work on December 29, 30 or 31.

For employees in union-represented bargaining units, paid time off for the holidays is addressed through the required collective bargaining process.

This has been a year unlike any in our long history. Your extraordinary commitment and hard work have helped us not only cope with the challenges of COVID-19, but write a new chapter in our rich legacy of service to students and the public good. Thank you again for your resiliency, sacrifice and dedication, and we hope the months to come bring a return to normal activities and a joyous holiday season with family and friends.

Sincerely,

Tim Killeen, President, University of Illinois System

Barb Wilson, Executive Vice President/Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois System

Robert J. Jones, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Michael Amiridis, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Susan J. Koch, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Springfield