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2025–26 Winter Holiday Curtailment

Key Takeaways:

  • 2025–26 Winter Holiday Curtailment is scheduled for Dec. 24 through Jan. 2
  • Campus operations will reopen on Jan. 5, 2026
  • UCLA Health System and certain essential-service facilities will remain open


Following campuswide review of this year’s plans for the Winter Holiday Curtailment, UCLA will curtail operations starting Wednesday, December 24, 2025, through Friday, January 2, 2026. The campus will return to regular operations on Monday, January 5, 2026. The period includes four University paid holidays (December 24, 25 and 31, 2025 and January 1, 2026). This year, four days (December 26, 29, 30 and Jan. 2) are not paid holidays.

UCLA Health employees will receive communications directly from Health Services regarding their winter holiday operations.

In accordance with university personnel policies and applicable labor agreements, and consistent with campus practice in previous years, employees have the choice of the following options to cover the non-paid holidays during the curtailment period:

  • Eligible employees may use vacation days in advance of their actual accrual.
  • Newly hired employees, represented and policy-covered employees, may use their vacation accruals during the curtailment before acquiring six continuous months on pay status.
  • Employees with accrued compensatory time may elect to use it to cover the four days off or to offset the use of vacation time.
  • Employees who do not wish to use vacation or compensatory time off may request leave without pay for the four working days based on departmental approval. In this case, employees will still accrue hourly vacation and sick leave for the days they choose to take leave without pay.

University policy related to curtailment leave allows eligible employees to use three vacation days in advance of actual accrual. The Office of the President has approved an exception to the vacation leave and curtailment leave policies to allow eligible employees to use up to four vacation days in advance of actual accrual during the campus curtailment.

For exclusively represented employees, labor contracts may include similar provisions, and requirements under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act will be observed.

The above options may be used in combination. Employees should notify their respective supervisors in advance as to which option or combination of options they propose to use.

During the break period, the UCLA Health System and certain essential-service facilities will remain open and corresponding staff will continue to work. There may also be other employees who will be asked to work during this period related to calendar year-end activities. As with previous years, a BruinPost will be sent in December outlining what campus services will remain available during the curtailment. Deans, vice chancellors and organization heads to whom this responsibility has been delegated will need to determine if any facilities under their management will need to remain fully or partially open during the break and, accordingly, arrange for appropriate staffing. Please advise the Office of the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management regarding facilities that need to remain open at Service@fm.ucla.edu. 

To help with inquiries, a 2025–26 Winter Holiday Curtailment FAQs page was developed. Further questions regarding the application of personnel policies or collective bargaining agreements during the curtailment should be sent to Kathleen Shiroma, Manager, Staff Personnel Policy in Campus Human Resources, at KShiroma@chr.ucla.edu or Jane Miller, Senior Director of Employee and Labor Relations in Health Human Resources, at JaneMiller@mednet.ucla.edu.