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Vacation and Sick Leave Accrual and Usage
Policies and Procedures

Vacation  |  Sick Leave |  Sick Leave Transfer to Vacation

Vacation

General

All full and part-time faculty and staff are eligible for vacation except for the following:

• Faculty appointed on an academic year basis
• Faculty and staff whose appointments are designated as temporary, on call, provisional, project appointments of four months or less, or emergency appointments
• Faculty who hold Visiting or Emeritus appointments
• Students hired through the Office of Student Financial Aid and students hired in positions reserved specifically for student employees

Accrual Rates - Including Personal Holidays Effective January 1, 1995

• All Merit System Staff Members

YEARS OF SERVICE	ANNUAL	MONTHLY	MAXIMUM*
1 - 4	96 hrs.	8.00 hrs.	192 hrs.
5 - 11	136 hrs.	11.333 hrs.	272 hrs.
12 - 19	176 hrs.	14.667 hrs.	352 hrs.
20 - 24	192 hrs.	16.000 hrs.	384 hrs.
25 & after	216 hrs.	18.000 hrs.	432 hrs.

• Faculty and Professional - Scientific (Except those covered by SEIU contract)

EMPLOYEE	ANNUAL	MONTHLY	MAXIMUM*
12-month employee	192 hrs (24 days)	16.00 hrs (2 days)	384 hrs. (48 days)

• Professional - Scientific, hired on or after July 1, 1999, covered by SEIU contract.

YEARS OF SERVICE	ANNUAL	MONTHLY	MAXIMUM*
Up to 3	120 hrs.	10.0 hrs.	240 hrs.
More than 3, up to 6	160 hrs.	13.333 hrs.	320 hrs.
More than 6	192 hrs.	16.0 hrs.	384 hrs.

*See section entitled "Sick Leave Transfer to Vacation" for adjustment of maximum allowable accruals.

• Part-time staff members accrue vacation at their fractional equivalent of full-time employment.
• Vacation accrual for a partial month is computed on the basis of the number of working days in the month.
• No vacation accrues when an individual is not in pay status.

Maximum Accrual

• Vacation accrues on a monthly basis but as of the end of any one month may not exceed twice the current annual rate of accrual.
• When an employee transfers from full-time employment to part-time employment any excess of current accumulation over that allowable on the part-time basis will be "banked" until the staff member's current balance is returned to zero or the staff member returns to full-time employment.

Usage

• Although vacation accrues during the first month of employment no usage is permitted until after one month of service.
• Usage is not permitted in excess of currently accumulated total vacation credits.
• Holidays falling within the period of a paid vacation are paid as Holidays and are not charged to the staff member's vacation accumulation. This does not apply to the payment of accumulated vacation upon termination.

• Vacation accrues during any period of service in pay status.

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Sick Leave

General

• All full and part-time faculty and staff members are entitled to a leave of absence because of a medically related disability at their normal rate of pay to the extent that the individual has accumulated sick leave credits to cover the period of absence.

• The following types of appointments do not accrue sick leave credits:

  • Faculty and staff members hired on a temporary, on call, provisional, project appointment 4 months or less, or emergency appointments
  • Students hired through the Office of Student Financial Aid and students hired in positions reserved specifically for student employees.

Accrual Rates

• All full-time eligible faculty and staff members accrue sick leave at the rate of 144 hours or 18 days per year. The monthly accrual rate is 12 hours or 1 1/2 days.
• Part-time faculty and staff members accrue sick leave at their fractional equivalent of full-time employment.
• A partial month's accrual is computed on the basis of the number of working days in the month.
• No sick leave accrues for less than one day of service.
• All eligible full-time faculty holding academic year appointments accrue sick leave at the rate of 15 days per academic year.
• Academic year faculty who are employed during the summer accrue an additional 12 hours of sick leave for each month of employment during June and July.
• Sick leave credits do accrue during a period of absence for which a staff member is paid sick leave and may be used during that particular period of illness.

• Sick leave credits accrue during any period of service in pay status. Sick leave credits do not accrue during terminal vacation, nor is sick leave allowed during terminal vacation.

Maximum Accrual

• The amount of sick leave credits that may be accumulated is unlimited.

Usage

• Sick leave credits are used at the rate of one hour for each hour of absence.
• Holidays falling during a period of absence due to a medically related disability are paid as holidays and are not charged to the staff member's sick leave accumulation.
• If a staff member becomes ill while on his/her vacation, the staff member may use sick leave for those days the staff member is under the care of a physician. (Requires satisfactory documentation of such care).

• The maximum usage per year of family caregiving leave includes the current calendar year allowance of up to five days of sick leave (40 hours of sick leave based on full-time employment, pro-rated for part-time), as well as any unused allowance from the previous calendar year, up to 80 hours in total (pro-rated for part-time) for the care of and necessary attention to ill or injured members of the employee's immediate family. Carryover of the unused allowance from the previous year applies to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement only if the benefit has been negotiated and is contained in the agreement.

  Accrued sick leave is to be used for family caregiving leave. Appropriate verification of the status of the ill or injured person may be requested.

  In the event that the faculty or staff member does not have accrued sick leave, family caregiving leave is not available. However, the department or unit is encouraged to permit the faculty or staff member to use vacation or leave without pay to respond to family-related responsibilities.

• Where funeral leave is authorized by current policy, accumulated sick leave may be used not to exceed 3 days for each occurrence.
• Accumulated sick leave used to serve as a pallbearer may not exceed 1 day for each occurrence.
• The use of sick leave is not permitted in excess of currently accumulated sick leave credits.

• Although sick leave accrues during the first month of employment no usage is permitted until after one month of service.

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Sick Leave Transfer to Vacation

• All eligible employees who do not use sick leave for a full calendar month may elect to add up to one-half day (4 hours) of vacation to their accrued vacation account in lieu of adding up to one and one-half days (12 hours) to their accrued sick leave account. Part-time employees shall be prorated to the accrual rate for full-time employees.
• Eligible employees are those permanent full-time and permanent part-time employees who are not faculty members with nine month appointments, who are otherwise eligible for accrued vacation and sick leave benefits, and who have accumulated a minimum of thirty days (240 hours) in their sick leave account.
• Employees who elect to convert unused sick leave to vacation will not accumulate more than twice the possible annual amount of converted vacation, or twelve days (96 hours), but will be allowed to accumulate that amount in addition to twice their annual vacation entitlement.  The vacation maximum will increase by the amount of the transfer each month until the final maximum is achieved.
• To elect additional vacation leave in lieu of sick leave, employees must notify their supervisor by the tenth of the month following the calendar month in which there has been no sick leave usage.
• Employees may also make a one-time election (via their monthly time record) to automatically convert sick leave to vacation leave each month they are eligible. The election will remain in effect until the employees notify their employer (via their monthly time record) to terminate the original election. Once an election to transfer sick leave to vacation has been selected and processed through a monthly payroll cycle, the election is irrevocable.
• Any use of sick leave, including use for doctor's appointments, funeral leave, etc., makes an employee ineligible to make the conversion for the month in which the use occurs.
• If use of sick leave reduces an eligible employee's sick leave account below 240 hours, the account will have to be built up to 240 hours before eligibility for vacation conversion under this program is restored.

• Retroactive adjustments are not allowed.

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