The Attorney General of Texas 

December 27, 1978 

JOHN L. HILL 

Attorney General 

101 tAmmuce, svitc am 

Dallas. TX. 752a? 

214/7424944 

Honorable Lyndon Olson, Jr. 

Chairman 

House Committee on Higher Education 

State Capitol 

Austin, Texas 787ll 

Opinion No. I-I- 1305 

Re: Vacation entitlement of 

professional librarians. 

Dear Representative Olson: 

You have requested an opinion regarding the vacation leave policy for 

professional librarians at the University of Texas. You have submitted the 

following questions: 

Is the plan for compensatory vacation time in 

existence until November 19’77 for professional 

librarians at The University of Texas at Austin 

consistent with the current Appropriations Act 

of the Texas Legislature? 

If your answer to question one above is in the 

negative, must The University of Texas develop 

alternative terms of appointment so that said 

vacation benefits can be legally honored while 

said plan was in effect and had been for eight 

years and who relied on said plan in entering into 

employment with The University? 

If your answer to question two above is in the 

negative, must The University find an alternative 

method of compensating said librarians for their 

loss of compensatory vacation time? 

University policy has provided the professional librarian ten days of 

“compensatory vacation time” in addition to the approximately one day a 

month which accrued as per the Appropriations Act, article V, section 7. The 

extra ten days, characterized in some communications as holidays, were 

usually taken during the Christmas and spring breaks when classes were not in 

session. Librarians thus received approximately 22 days of vacation fin 

addition to those official state holidays which the university observed. 

General Appropriations Act, Acts 1977, 65th Leg., ch. 872, art. V, 5 6, at 

3144. This policy, which has been in effect for eight years, was terminated 

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Honorable Lyndon Olson, Jr. - Page 2 (H-1305 1 

lest year. Thii vacation time was represented to the librarians as an element of 

their employment. We understand that. 22 days of vacation for professional 

librarians compares with vacation benefits provided by other universities in the 

country and that it was a substantial condition on which the applicants relied in 

accepting a position with the university. 

Since the university communications referring to this practice do not make 

entirely clear whether the ten days of “compensatory vacation time” constitute 

vacation days or holidays, we will discuss the Appropriations Act provisions 

regarding both. The current Appropriations Act provides as follows: 

6. 

. . . . 

’ c. Holidays for State employees including hourly wage 

workers for each year covered by this Act shall be only 

those specified as follows: The second day in January in 

1978 and the first day of January in 1979, the third Monday in 

February, the second day in March, the 2lst day of April, the 

last Monday in May, the fourth day of July, the 27th day of 

August, the first Monday in September, the second Monday 

in October, the eleventh day in ‘November, the fourth 

Thursday in November and the Friday immediately following 

and the 25th day of December. In addition to the preceding 

holidays, State agencies may close on December 23, and 26, 

1977 and December 26, 1978, to provide a Christmas holiday 

period. Holidays falling on Saturdays or Sundays shall not be 

observed by closing State offices on the preceding or 

following days except the specific days authorized for a 

Christmas holiday period. 

Legal holidays and the Christmas holiday period to be 

observed by agencies of higher education and special schools 

under the State Board of Education shall not exceed the 

number of days specified in this Subsection; and the 

governing boards of the various educational institutions may 

adjust the actual observance of such holidays as will permit 

efficient academic schedules. 

Agencies of the State.designated in Articles I, II and III 

of this Act shall not substitute the observance of the 

designated holidays unless the continuing nature of agency 

operations requires employees to work on a designated 

holida{;.. An employee who is required to work and who does 

work’on .eny of the designated holidays shall be entitled to 

compensating time off to be taken on such day as may be 

mutually agreed upon by the employee and his supervisor. 

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Honorable Lyndon Olson, Jr. - Page 3 (H-1305) 

. . . . 

Sec. 7. EMPLOYEES VACATlONS AND LEAVES. 

a. Employees of the State shall, without deduction of salary, 

be entitled to a vacation in each fiscal year. Such 

entitlement shall be earned in accordance with the following 

schedule. 

[schedule of hours accrued] 

Acts 1977, 65th Leg., ch. 872, art. V, at 3145. Professional librarians are state 

employees, whether characterized as faculty members or nonteaching personnel. 

Educ. Code S§ 51.101, 51.352. Attorney General Opinion S-172 (1955); see Attorney 

General Opinion H-1055 (1977). Holiday and vacation time provided them must be 

consistent with the above provisions of the Appropriations Act. See Attorney 

General Opinion V-1452 (1952). We find no exception in the Act or otherstatute. In 

our opinion, the policy providing compensatory vacation time is inconsistent with 

the current Appropriations Act to the extent that it allows librarians to accrue 

vacation days in excess of the number permitted by the schedule in article V, 

section 7. 

However, to the extent that extra time off during the Christmas and spring 

breaks actually constitutes the observance of alternate holidays to permit efficient 

academic schedules, we believe it may be provided consistently with the 

Appropriations Act. A rule promulgated by the Regents of the University of Texas 

indicates that employees are entitled to all holidays in the Appropriations Act, or 

approved alternate days: 

All faculty, classified and other nonteaching personnel are 

entitled to such holidays as are provided by the Legislature 

in the then current appropriation bill and as are approved 

annually by the President of the System and the Board, or 

alternate holidays approved in the official calendars of the 

various institutions by the President of the System and the 

Board. 

Regents’ Rules and Regulations, Chapter III, § 14. Of course, the total number of 

legal holidays given by institutions of higher education may not exceed the number 

provided in the Appropriations Act. The university may provide ten alternate 

holidays at Christmas and spring breaks only if it does not observe ten holidays at 

the times designated in the Appropriations Act. 

Your final two questions involve action the university might take to honor 

the purported contracts. Any contract which is contrary to state law is void, and 

the university would be unauthorized to provide more days off than the law 

permits. Accordingly those two questions must be answered in the negative. 

P- 5138 
Honorable Lyndon Olson, Jr. - Page 4 (H-1305) 

SUMMARY 

Professional librarians at the University of Texas, as state 

employees, are entitled only to the vacation leave and 

holidays provided by the Appropriations Act. 

Attorney General of Texas 

l?JL&;&y.g 

OpiniOn Committee ’ 

p. 5139