SICK LEAVE  

POLICY

Sick leave is time off with pay due to illness or injury. Sick leave may be used as it is earned. Examples of sick leave usage are listed below.

1.   Personal illness, bodily injury, maternity/paternity, or exposure to contagious disease.

2.   Personal medical and dental appointments.

3.   Caring for members of immediate family.

4.   Death in the immediate family of the employee or spouse.

5.   To supplement worker's compensation payments.

Retirement/Resignation   
At the time of retirement or in the event of death, unused, accumulated sick leave shall be converted to a cash sum equivalent/credit to the employee's wages at the time of retirement or death and deposited in an account in his/her name. These funds will be applied toward the payment of monthly health insurance premiums for the employee and his/her dependents.  Upon termination of employment for reasons other than retirement or death, accumulated sick leave will be canceled. However, if an employee resigns and is subsequently re-employed by any State agency within three years of the resignation date, any unused accumulated sick leave will be restored.  

Classified

WSEU & UPQHC Represented

Employees shall earn sick leave at the rate of .0625 per hour in pay status in a bi-weekly period to a maximum of 5 hours. Employees shall earn sick leave at the rate of .0625 of an hour for each hour in excess of 80 hours in a bi-weekly pay period to a maximum of 1 hour for 96 hours work in a pay period.

 All Other Represented and Non-Represented

Sick leave will be earned at the rate of .0625 hours for each hour in pay status not to exceed 5 hours in any bi-weekly pay period.

Unclassified

All new unclassified employees are advanced 22 days (176 hours) prorated to percentage of appointment. After one and one-half years of service on an annual basis or three semesters on an academic year basis, additional non-lapsing leave is earned by such members at the rate of one day per month (8 hours) for twelve months for persons holding annual appointments, 1.33 days per month (10.67 hours) for nine months for persons holding academic year appointments, with a maximum annual accumulation limited to not more than 12 days (96 hours). Sick leave earnings are prorated based on the percentage of the appointment.

If a staff member takes sick leave, the rate of sick leave compensation shall be the rate of salary which the staff member would have normally received. Other than the 176 hours of sick leave advanced to the staff member upon appointment, sick leave may be taken only after it has been earned (i.e., it may not be anticipated, or used in advance). A staff member utilizing paid sick leave continues to accumulate sick leave during the period of absence. However, a staff member shall not accumulate sick leave while on an  unpaid leave of absence. Previously unpaid leaves of absence shall not affect accumulated sick leave.

Collegial Coverage for Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff

Colleague coverage is intended for the benefit of students and maintaining continuity of the educational process. Colleague coverage may be used for classroom instructional time and posted office hours when a faculty or teaching academic staff member is absent due to illness. Administrative responsibilities, research, etc. do not qualify for colleague coverage.

For example, a faculty member is ill for the entire day. On this day two classes (totaling one and one half hours each) are missed and covered by a colleague at no additional institutional cost. In this case, three hours of colleague coverage may be reported and five hours of sick leave should be reported and charged.

If the University incurs a cost to fulfill teaching responsibilities due to an absence, colleague coverage may not be used. Sick leave must be reported Colleague coverage cannot cross semesters. For example, a faculty member becomes ill on December 1 and is unable to fulfill teaching obligations for the balance of the semester. With institutional approval, colleague coverage may be charged for a portion, or duration, of the semester. If the illness continues beyond fall semester sick leave must be charged for all periods during which the employee is in pay status.

See Unclassified Personnel Guideline #10 for more information.

PROCEDURE