3354-2-20-53 Sick Leave, Personal Leave, and Administrative Leave

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Policy Number:	3354:2-20-53
Title:	Sick Leave, Personal Leave, and Administrative Leave Date Approved by the Board of Trustees: 12/7/00 Updated & Approved: 03/06/2003
Related Procedure	HR20-53

Continuing Admin & S/P	Temporary Admin & S/P	Tenure-track Faculty	Non-tenure track Faculty
x Full-time	x Full-time	Full-time	Temporary
x Partial-year	x Partial-year		Part-time
x Part-time	x Part-time
Staff	Staff
x Full-time	x Full-time
x Partial-year	x Partial-year
x Part-time	x Part-time

Sick Leave
1. Definition
  1. Accrued hours of sick leave represent compensation payable to an employee at his/her regular or base hourly wage (including shift differential where applicable) for scheduled work hours when the employee is absent due to personal illness, complications of pregnancy, injury, or exposure to contagious disease which may be communicated to other employees; or for absences due to the need to provide care to members of the employee's immediate family affected by any of the above-noted conditions.
  2. With respect to the provisions of this policy, immediate family shall be defined to include:
    1. Spouse
    2. Biological, adopted and foster children under 18, including:
      1. Anybody under 18 who is treated as the employee's child, which might describe the child of a spouse or domestic partner or a grandchild who lives with the employee
      2. Disabled children of any age
    3. Parents and grandparents, including:
      1. Anybody who treated the employee as a son or daughter when the employee is under 18
    4. Siblings
    5. Parents-in-law
    6. Sisters and brothers-in-law
    7. Other dependents living with the employee
2. Employees Eligible to Accrue Sick Time/Rate of Accrual
  1. Beginning with the first day of qualifying employment, full-time continuing and temporary, partial-year continuing and temporary and part-time continuing and temporary (in positions of greater than six months and 520 hours of continuous employment) staff, supervisory/professional and administrative employees earn .0576 of an hour of sick leave for each regular (vs. overtime) hour paid.
3. Accumulation
  1. Sick leave is cumulative without limit. Upon retirement, the cash value (at the current rate of pay) of twenty-five percent of the retiree's unused, accumulated sick leave hours (up to a maximum of 240 hours) will be paid to the retiree.
4. Conditions for Use of Sick Leave
  1. For absences of five or less consecutive working days:
    1. Notification by the employee to the supervisor, prior to the scheduled start of the work shift or, in the event this is not possible, immediately thereafter is required.
    2. Failure to provide such notification and/or the illegitimate use of sick time may void the employee's right to paid sick leave and subject the employee to disciplinary measures consistent with Board policy, administrative procedures and appropriate law.
  2. For absence of more than five consecutive working days:
    1. Written application for sick leave of greater than five consecutive working days shall be submitted in advance to the supervisor of record on a form provided by the Human Resources Department.
    2. Eligible employees are entitled to at least 12 weeks of time away from work due to serious personal or family illness or injury with the onset of an entitling event.
      1. Definition of ‘Serious' Illness or Injury
        
        Conditions that require inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider, including complications related to pregnancy.
      2. Eligible Employees Defined
        
        Full- or part-time continuing status employees are eligible for a personal or family illness leave no less frequently than upon completion of 1,250 hours within the preceding twelve month period.
        Temporary status employees are eligible for such a leave if they have been employed at the college for twelve months (do not have to be consecutive) and worked at least 1,250 hours in the twelve consecutive months preceding the requested state date of the leave.
    3. Eligible employees may request additional weeks of time away from work due to personal or family illness or injury beyond twelve not to exceed 52 weeks.
    4. Employees away from work due to personal or family illness or injury must use accrued compensatory, personal, sick and vacation time, in that order, beginning with the first day of the leave.
      1. Employees may retain a maximum of 80 hours of sick time or 80 hours of vacation time or a combination of both so long as the total banked hours do not exceed 80.
    5. College-paid health benefits will continue to be provided, at the same level of coverage, through the first twelve weeks of leave within a twelve-month period for employees who were receiving college-paid health insurance benefits prior to the start of the leave.
      1. The cost of the college-paid health insurance benefits, provided during any portion of the 12 weeks when the employee was not receiving compensation, may be recovered from the employee if he/she fails to return from the leave for reasons other than an approved request for extension of the leave or because the employee is approved for Long Term Disability Leave.
      2. College-paid dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurances will be continued so long as the employee is receiving compensation.
      3. Employees on leave beyond the initial twelve weeks will be eligible to continue receiving college-paid health insurance benefits so long as they are receiving compensation.
    6. Employees on paid sick leave, and their dependents, will remain eligible for fee waivers.
    7. The employee must be in satisfactory condition, physically and mentally, to resume his/her duties. At the conclusion of the leave the employee shall return to the former position or to another position (possibly in a different department or shift) in the same classification, unless the former position has been eliminated due to lack of work or funds.
      1. A temporary status employee on leave at the time the assignment concludes, due to either a lack of work or funds, is not guaranteed re-employment in another position.
    8. Employment while on leave from work will be cause for termination unless specifically approved by the Vice President for Human Resources and Organizational Development.
    9. Failure to return to work at the end of the leave shall be considered a resignation.
5. Advance of Sick Leave
  1. Administrators and Supervisory/Professionals
    1. Upon exhaustion of accumulated sick and vacation time, an administrator or supervisory/professional on a continuing contract or on a probationary contract which has been renewed for the following year may request of the President that he/she be advanced the following year's sick leave accrual of fifteen days.
    2. Sick leave advanced will be subject to recovery in the event the employee does not return from the leave of absence for a period of at least one year.
  2. Staff
    1. Upon exhaustion of accumulated sick, vacation, personal and compensatory time a continuing-status staff employee may request of the President that he/she be advanced the following year's sick leave accrual of fifteen days.
    2. Sick leave advanced will be subject to recovery in the event the employee does not return from the leave of absence for a period of at least one year.
(C) Personal Leave
1. Definition
  1. Paid time away from work for compelling personal or other reasons including, but not limited to, funerals and legal obligations.
2. Annual Allotment of Personal Leave
  1. Full-time continuing and temporary staff employees may claim up to 32 hours of personal leave per fiscal year. Of these 32 hours, eight hours will be provided by the college and the balance of 24 hours will be deducted from the employee's balance of sick leave hours.
  2. Partial-year continuing and temporary and part-time continuing and temporary (in positions of greater than six months and 520 hours of continuous employment) may claim a pro-rated number, based upon FTE, of 32 hours of personal leave per fiscal year. The FTE proration will also apply to determining the number of hours provided by the college and the balance of hours to be deducted from the employee's balance of sick leave hours.
  3. Full-time continuing and temporary administrators and supervisory/professionals are granted up to 40 hours of personal leave per fiscal year. Of these 40 hours, sixteen will be provided by the college and the balance of 24 hours will be deducted from the employee's balance of sick leave hours.
  4. Partial-year continuing and temporary and part-time continuing and temporary (in positions of greater than six months and 520 hours of continuous employment) administrators and supervisory/ professionals may claim a pro-rated number, based upon FTE, of 40 hours of personal leave per fiscal year. The FTE proration will also apply to determining the number of hours provided by the college and the balance of hours to be deducted from the employee's balance.
Administrative Leave
1. An employee may be placed on paid or unpaid administrative leave during an investigation as deemed appropriate by the Vice President for Human Resources and Organizational Development with approval of the President.