Skip to main content Skip to local navigation
Vice-President Equity, People and Culture
Home » Employee Service Recognition Program

Employee Service Recognition Program

York University values the many outstanding contributions and continued commitment to service excellence by its many dedicated employees. Our employees, their passion for and dedication to York, are the foundation of a vibrant and diverse University community. Making time to recognize and celebrate each others’ milestone achievements has impact and helps to foster a culture of inclusion and appreciation.  

Making time to recognize and celebrate each other's milestone achievements is an important pillar to a culture of inclusion and appreciation.

Program Guidelines

At York University, service milestones are recognized annually and marked in five-year increments, beginning at 5 years of service. Milestone celebrations provide an opportunity to gather in celebration of the achievements of these employees. 

Service years 5 to 25 are celebrated at the faculty/divisional level, while long service years 30 to 55 are celebrated at an institutional event. 

Who is eligible for service recognition?

Service recognition is calculated and acknowledged on an annual basis for the following employee bargaining units/groups:

  1. OHFA, OHFA-E, YUFA, and YUFA-E: Affiliated employees are eligible if their faculty/teaching service is tenure track, full-time, contractual and contractually limited. 
  2. CUPE 1356, CUPE 1356-1, IUOE, OPSEU-Unit 1, and YUSA-1: Affiliated employees are eligible if their service is continuous and working full-time hours, as defined by the applicable collective agreement, during a regular work week. This applies to sessional employees. 
  3. CPM: Employees are eligible if their service is permanent and working full-time hours (twenty-four hours or more) during a regular work week. This applies to sessional employees. 

Note there are certain conditions that will prevent an employee from being eligible for service recognition. These conditions are as follows:

  1. Employees in the following bargaining units/groups are ineligible for service recognition: 
    • CUPE 1356 Part-Time 
    • CUPE 3903 (Units 1, 2, 3 and 4) 
    • OPSEU (Unit 2) 
    • Post-Doctoral Fellows 
    • Non-unionized research staff (i.e. Research Assistants and Research Associates) 
    • Casual assignments (i.e. YUSA- 2, CUPE 1356-2, Work Study and/or student employment) 
  2. All service prior to a break in continuous service at York University that was the result of a resignation, retirement, or any other termination of the employment relationship (i.e. any previous service to the University) is ineligible. 
  3. An employee on an approved leave of absence, paid or unpaid, is not eligible for service recognition while on a leave. 

The following criteria is factored into calculating service recognition:  

  1. The employee’s work status was listed as “active” within the calendar year during which service milestone was achieved. 
  1. Service must be “continuous.” 
  1. “Continuous service” ends after a break in employment of more than 4 months (e.g. for contract employees). 
  1. The “service period” includes up to December 31st of the year for which service recognition is being acknowledged.   
  1. For all eligible employees, service includes all approved leaves and extension(s), paid or unpaid. 
  1. Should an ineligible employee become eligible for service recognition, the period of service during the ineligible period is not included in the service calculation. 

Except to the extent that:  

  1. An employee on an approved leave of absence, paid or unpaid, will be recognized upon return to active work, at the next milestone year, with service calculation inclusive of the period of time on an approved leave. 
  1. If an employee in CUPE 3903-Unit 2 or OPSEU-Unit 2, becomes eligible for service recognition in another full-time employee group as defined in the section above, their service counts as long as there were no breaks in service greater than 4 months. 

The Office of the Vice-President will issue communications each fall to Executive Officers, Senior Executive Officers, and People Partners once the Service Recognition Report is available in eReports. It is the responsibility of this group to generate the annual reports for their faculty/divisional areas and make the necessary arrangements for acknowledging milestone service for their employees.  

Service Milestones and Recognition Events 

York University annually acknowledges and formally recognizes the outstanding contributions of its employees. To show its continued appreciation of this dedicated effort, the University celebrates service milestones starting at 5 years of service to 55 years of service. 

To enhance consistency, efficiency and continuity with the Employee Recognition Program, follow these useful recommendations for recognition of milestone achievements: 

Milestone Service Years 5 to 25

Milestone Service years 30 to 55