University
Leave Policy UPPS
No. 04.04.30
Issue No. 12
Effective Date: 11/6/2007
Review: December 1 E2Y
01. POLICY STATEMENT
01.01 The purpose of this UPPS is to establish policies and procedures pertaining to University leaves.
02. DEFINITIONS
02.01 Regular
employee: One who is employed to work at least twenty hours per week for a
period of at least four and one-half months per fiscal year, excluding students
employed in positions which require student status as a condition of
employment. Only regular employees are eligible for paid holidays and leave as
provided herein, subject to the specific eligibility requirements listed.
02.02 Immediate
supervisor or approver: The individual
who is assigned approval responsibility for an employee’s work schedule and
time off.
All
leave requests should be submitted to the immediate supervisor for approval (or
vice president as required for certain leaves).
02.03 Department
head: The individual who is assigned administrative responsibility for employees
grouped in a departmental unit. This person also maintains all departmental
budgets.
02.04 Departmental
time administrator: The individual assigned responsibility for helping
supervisors and the department head monitor leave activity for employees in his
or her departmental unit.
03. VACATION LEAVE PROCEDURES
03.01 The
following regular employees earn vacation leave:
a. All staff
employees.
b. Twelve-month
faculty members such as deans and chairs of academic departments.
03.02 Split Appointments
a. Employees
with a split appointment (part faculty and part staff) are eligible for
vacation based on their staff appointment only, unless the faculty appointment
is for twelve months. If the faculty appointment is for twelve months, vacation
will be calculated on each appointment separately.
b. Employees
with split appointments must work the staff schedule for the percent time of
staff appointment.
03.03 Eligible state service is the basis for determining the vacation-earning rate. It is the employee's responsibility to notify Human Resources of all previous state service (including all dates and specific job titles) so a determination of eligible state service can be made. Regular or temporary service will be applied retroactively; however, student employment will not be credited until the first of the following month in which Texas State Human Resources is notified by the employee. Vacation leave, for full-time employees entitled to earn vacation, will be earned according to the following schedule:
Years of Eligible Employment Vacation Leave
(State of
Less than 2 years 8 hours
2 years but less than 5 years 9
hours
5 years but less than 10 years 10 hours
10 years but less than 15 years 11 hours
15 years but less than 20 years 13 hours
20 years but less than 25 years 15 hours
25 years but less than 30 years 17 hours
30 years but less than 35 years 19 hours
35 years and over 21
hours
03.04 Eligible
employees on less than twelve-month appointments will earn vacation leave only
for the month or fraction of a month actually worked.
03.05 Part-time
employees who are entitled to vacation leave earn such leave in proportion to
the amount of time employed. (Example: 50% employment [twenty hours per week]
entitles the employee to one-half of the full-time vacation rate.) The maximum
carry-over will also be proportionate.
03.06 Vacation leave will be earned beginning on the first
day of employment with the University and terminating on the last day of duty
(i. e., last day of actual work). One month's earnings of vacation leave will
be credited for each month or fraction of a month of employment with the
University based on the percent of appointment on the first workday of the
month. (Example: The accrual for a 50% appointment on 1/1/94 increased to 100%
on 1/16/94 would be based on 50% for the month of January).
Six
months of continuous employment with the State of Texas are required before
an employee may be granted any vacation leave, although vacation leave credit
will be accrued during that period. The six-month eligibility requirement means
that once an employee has completed six months or more of continuous state
employment and then leaves state employment, that person is eligible to take
vacation leave as it is earned upon reemployment, or be paid for it upon
termination following such reemployment. An eligible employee will earn
vacation leave while on vacation leave provided the employee returns to active
duty.
03.07 Before
using any vacation leave or immediately upon return to duty, the employee may
complete an Application for Leave Approval form. Use of this form is at the
supervisor’s discretion.
03.08 Credit
for the next higher rate of accrual, as shown in Section 03.03, will be given
on the first calendar day of the month, if the employee's employment
anniversary date falls on the first calendar day of the month; otherwise, the
increase will occur on the first calendar day of the following month. If an
employee begins working in a position that accrues vacation leave on the first
workday of the month, the employee is deemed to have begun working on the first
calendar day of the month for the purpose of this subsection.
03.09 Vacation
leave earned during one fiscal year may be carried forward to the next fiscal
year subject to the maximum limits as shown in the following table:
Years of Eligible Employment Maximum Vacation
(State of
Less than 2 years 180
hours
2 years but less than 5 years 244 hours
5 years but less than 10 years 268 hours
10 years but less than 15 years 292 hours
15 years but less than 20 years 340 hours
20 years but less than 25 years 388 hours
25 years but less than 30 years 436 hours
30 years but less than 35 years 484 hours
35 years and over 532
hours
All
hours of unused accumulated vacation leave which are lapsed at the end of a
fiscal year will be credited to the employee's sick leave balance as of the
first day of the next fiscal year.
Example:
An employee with five years but less than ten years of employment with the
State of
Vacation leave carried forward 240 hours
Vacation leave earned +120
hours
Total vacation available
360 hours
Total vacation used - 80 hours
Total unused vacation 280 hours
Maximum carry-over 268 hours
Only 268 hours may be carried forward from one fiscal year to the next. The employee converts twelve hours of vacation leave to twelve hours of sick leave.
03.10 When an
employee transfers from a vacation-earning position to a non-vacation earning
position, the employee will be given a one-time opportunity to be paid a lump
sum for the accrued vacation hours or "freeze" them until returning
to a vacation-earning position or termination of employment. "Frozen"
hours will be paid at the rate of pay in effect at the time the transfer to a
non-vacation earning position took place.
03.11 Vacation
leave is to be taken at a time that is mutually agreeable to both the employee
and supervisor.
a. Supervisors
will strongly encourage employees to take vacation leave each year, since it
has been well established that such "breaks" have a positive,
long-term effect on morale and productivity. Supervisors will insure that
employees are allowed each fiscal year to take at least the amount of vacation
leave that they accrue during that fiscal year.
b. All employees are strongly encouraged to take their
vacation leave. However, an employee may not take vacation leave in excess of
the amount accumulated – any such absence must be handled as a leave of absence
without pay. Employees must enter leave without pay as an exception to their
normal work schedule. If leave without pay will exceed 30 calendar days, the
department head should submit a Personnel Change Request (PCR) instead of time
entry.
c. Employees
may not take vacation leave while receiving workers compensation wages.
d. Employees
paid from grants – Since vacation hours earned by an employee while appointed
on a grant are the responsibility of the grant, grant account managers shall
ensure there is no outstanding vacation liability on the last day of the grant
for the hours accrued on the grant. As
such, as a condition of employment, grant account managers may require that
vacation time be taken off at the grant account manager’s discretion. However,
the grant account managers are encouraged to reasonably accommodate the
employees’ preferences as to when the vacation time will be taken off.
03.12
a. As provided
by the Legislature, regular staff may observe Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Good
Friday and Cesar Chavez Day in lieu of any holiday or holidays appearing on the
staff holiday schedule. In such instances, regular employee accrued vacation or
compensatory balances will be charged an equivalent amount of time on a holiday
or holidays appearing on the staff holiday schedule. For efficiency of
operations, the University will not remain open on any of the officially
designated staff holidays.
b. Non-regular
staff employees are not eligible to observe paid holidays and must take leave
without pay if they wish to observe the holidays listed in paragraph a. above.
c. Faculty
members wishing to observe the holidays listed in paragraph a. above must give
proper notice in writing to their department chair. The faculty member and
department chair should arrange the most appropriate way to cover affected
classes.
03.13 The following applies to a University employee who resigns, is dismissed or otherwise separated from University employment:
a. If the
individual is transferring to another state agency and state service is
uninterrupted, accumulated vacation leave (if any) will transfer with the
individual and be honored by the gaining agency. Human Resources, at the request of the
individual, will provide appropriate documentation to the gaining agency.
b. In all
other cases, the employee is entitled to be paid for any accumulated vacation
leave (if the employee has been continuously employed by the University or the
State of
c. The
terminating employee must be removed from the payroll as of the last day
actually worked and cannot elect to remain on the payroll to exhaust all
accrued leave. No further accrual will be earned after the last day actually at
work. Any exceptions to this provision must be approved by the Director of
Human Resources and will in no case be granted beyond the end of the month that
the last workday occurred. See UPPS No.
04.04.16, Section 02.03 b. concerning extended appointments to expend state
compensatory time, which requires the appropriate divisional vice president’s
approval.
Example:
John Doe resigns and his last day of actual work is May 25th. He has a vacation
leave balance of eighty hours (ten work days). He cannot remain on the payroll
to exhaust all leave. Therefore, his actual termination date for all necessary
paperwork would be May 25th. He would be paid a lump sum payment for his eighty
hours of accrued vacation leave. He does not earn the vacation accrual for the
month of June since it is after his last day of duty.
04. SICK LEAVE PROCEDURES
04.01 All
regular employees earn sick leave.
04.02 Approval of leave applications will be based upon the physician's recommendation, along with those of the employee's supervisor, Director of Human Resources, and the President as appropriate. Department heads and supervisors, regardless of the need of their office or department, will not deny a leave request based on a physician's recommendation without first consulting with Human Resources.
04.03 Sick
leave entitlement for full-time employees shall be earned at the rate of eight
hours for each month or fraction of a month's employment. Accruals are earned
on the first day of the month that the employee is on duty. There is no limit
on the amount that can be accumulated or carried forward to the next fiscal
year. Sick leave accrual shall terminate on the last day of duty (i. e., last
day of actual work).
04.04 Eligible
regular employees on less than twelve-month appointments will earn sick leave
only for the months or fraction of a month actually worked.
04.05 Part-time
regular employees earn sick leave in proportion to the amount of time
appointed. Example: 50% time appointment (twenty hours per week) entitles the
employee to one-half of the full-time sick leave rate (four hours per month).
04.06 Sick leave with pay may be taken when sickness, injury, or pregnancy and confinement prevent the employee's performance of duty or when the employee is needed to care and assist a member of his or her immediate family who is actually ill; or for the purpose of obtaining medical or dental consultations or examinations as part of an employee's, or his or her immediate family's, personal health maintenance program. For purposes relating to regular sick leave, immediate family is defined as those individuals who reside in the same household and are related by kinship, adoption, or marriage, as well as foster children certified by the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. Minor children of the employee, whether or not living in the same household, will be considered immediate family for purposes of regular sick leave.
An employee's use of sick leave for family members not residing in that employee's household is strictly limited to the time necessary to provide care and assistance to a spouse, child or parent of the employee who needs such care and assistance as a direct result of a documented medical condition.
04.07 Employees
are allowed to use up to eight hours of sick leave each fiscal year to attend
parent-teacher conferences regarding their children in grades pre-kindergarten
through 12th.
04.08 An employee who must be absent from duty because of illness shall notify his or her supervisor or cause him or her to be notified of that fact at the earliest practicable time.
Sick
leave in excess of the employee's accrued balance may not be granted (except as
provided in Section 04.12) -- such absences must be handled as a leave of
absence without pay. Employees must
enter leave without pay as an exception to their normal work schedule. If leave
without pay will exceed 30 calendar days, the department head should submit a
Personnel Change Request (PCR) instead of time entry.
To
be eligible for accumulated sick leave with pay during a continuous period of
more than three working days, an employee absent due to illness shall provide
to his or her supervisor, a doctor's certificate or a written statement of the
facts pertaining to the absence and the nature of the illness which is
acceptable to the supervisor.
In
cases where sick leave usage may be questioned, a doctor's certificate or other
written statement of the facts concerning the illness which is acceptable to
the supervisor may be required for absences of less than three continuous
working days. When a doctor’s
certificate is provided, supervisors must rely on it in determining eligibility
for sick leave usage.
Although collecting information concerning an employee’s medical condition and treatment for employment purposes is not considered “protected health information” (PHI) under the “Health Information Portability and Accountability Act” (HIPAA) any requests outside of a doctor’s certificate or some other written statement of the facts concerning the illness is prohibited. Supervisors may not require employees to provide health care providers with authorization to release detailed information. Supervisors may not determine whether or not an employee’s condition or treatment warrants use of sick leave when a doctor’s certificate justifying the sick leave is provided.
04.09 Employees
may complete an Application for Leave Approval in advance if the need for leave
is known or immediately upon return to work in the case of an emergency. Use of
this form is at the supervisor’s discretion.
04.10 Staff
-- When an employee is absent due to illness or injury, he or she will be charged
sick leave for the number of hours he or she was scheduled to work.
Sick leave may be used by an employee while he or she is on vacation and becomes ill.
Faculty -- The Texas Legislature prescribes in the
Appropriations Act that faculty earn sick leave and must be charged for the use
of such sick leave. Recognizing that faculty do not necessarily have the
workday schedule normally followed by staff, the University adopted the
following procedures to account for sick leave usage by faculty.
For
sick leave purposes, the faculty workday is divided into both time periods and
scheduled events for the workday. There are two time periods in each
day--morning (midnight to noon) and afternoon/evening (noon to midnight). Each
time period is considered to be four hours in length. Events include classes,
office hours, meetings, and other assigned activities.
Time
periods -- If a faculty member misses all scheduled events in both the morning
and afternoon/evening time periods due to illness, the faculty member will be
charged for eight hours of sick leave.
If
a faculty member has scheduled events in both the morning and afternoon/evening
time periods and misses all the scheduled events due to illness in just one of
the time periods, the faculty member will be charged four hours of sick leave.
If
a faculty member has scheduled events in both the morning and afternoon/evening
time periods and misses one, but not all, of the events in one of the time
periods due to illness, the faculty member will be charged sick leave as a
percentage of the time period missed. The percentage will be determined by
dividing the number of events missed by the number of events scheduled and
multiplying the result by four hours.
If a faculty member misses all scheduled events for the workweek (Sunday through Saturday), the faculty member will be charged forty hours of sick leave.
If
a faculty member misses a full semester, the faculty member will be charged the
number of work hours for the entire length of the semester appointment (i. e.,
9/1 through 1/15 or 1/16 through 5/31). The hours charged will be eight hours
per day (Monday-Friday) or forty hours per calendar week as appropriate.
Examples:
Professor Jones teaches an MWF class 9:00-10:00 and has scheduled office hours
on Monday 2:00-3:00. Professor Jones also teaches an evening class MW
6:30-9:00.
(1)
Professor Jones is ill on a Monday and misses all events (MWF class, office
hours, and MW class). Professor Jones will be charged eight hours of sick
leave.
(2)
Professor Jones is ill on a Monday morning and misses the MWF morning class but
does maintain scheduled office hours and teaches the MW evening class.
Professor Jones will be charged four hours of sick leave.
(3)
Professor Jones on a Monday teaches the MWF morning class and holds regularly
scheduled office hours, but illness forces Professor Jones to miss the MW
evening class. Professor Jones will be charged two hours of sick leave.
(4)
Professor Jones misses the MWF class meetings, the Monday office hours, and the
MW evening class meetings during a workweek due to illness. These are the only
scheduled events for Professor Jones during this particular workweek. Professor
Jones will be charged forty hours of sick leave.
(5)
Professor Jones misses the entire fall semester (9/1-1/15 appointment).
Professor Jones will be charged 776 hours of sick leave (Aug = 0, Sept = 168,
Oct = 176, Nov = 160, Dec = 104, Jan = 80). Note: the actual number of hours
per month may vary as the calendar changes from year to year.
NOTE: These examples are based on a 100% full-time appointment. Proportionate deductions will be charged for less than full-time appointments.
04.11 Use of
any type of paid leave or leave without pay which qualifies under the federal
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will automatically run concurrently with
the FMLA leave period. Therefore, "stacking" of leaves to extend the
employer insurance contribution or approved leave period is not permitted. See
Section 09. for FMLA details.
04.12 Extended
Sick Leave: Employees must first qualify for and exhaust their sick leave
pool entitlements before extended sick leave will be granted. The President has
delegated the authority to approve exceptions to the amount of sick leave an
employee may take to the employee's divisional vice president. Such exceptions
are authorized on an individual basis after review of the merits of each
particular case, and will not normally exceed thirty working days.
Extended
sick leave requests must be initiated by the employee on an Application for
Leave Approval form with a doctor's statement attached. The department head
must recommend approval or disapproval on the form, attach a statement of
justification for the recommendation, and forward both to Human Resources for
eligibility verification. If eligible, Human Resources will forward the forms
through supervisory channels to the divisional vice president for
consideration. The divisional vice president will notify the department head
and employee of the decision with a copy to Human Resources. If not eligible,
Human Resources will notify the employee and the department head.
If
the request is approved, the approved leave form and supporting documentation
must be maintained in the department file.
If
the request is disapproved, the employee must be placed on leave without pay.
The
Director of Human Resources will insure, as provided by the Appropriations Act,
that a copy of the University's policies and procedures for granting extended
sick leave is on file with the State Auditor.
04.13 The following applies to a University employee who resigns, is dismissed or otherwise separated from University employment:
a. If the
individual transfers directly to another state agency and employment with the
State is uninterrupted, accumulated sick leave (if any) will transfer with the
individual and be honored by the gaining agency. Human Resources, at the
request of the individual, will provide appropriate documentation to the
gaining agency.
b. A
terminating employee is not entitled to be paid for accumulated sick leave.
c. If an
employee dies while employed by the State of
d. Employees who separate from employment with the State are entitled to have their sick leave balance restored if reemployed by the State within twelve months after the end of the month in which the separation occurred.
However,
employees reemployed by the same agency or institution must first have a break
in service of at least thirty calendar days to be eligible for sick leave
restoration. This 30-day requirement is waived if the separation was due to a
reduction-in-force.
05. SICK LEAVE POOL PROCEDURES
05.01 In accordance with the provisions of SB 357, 71st Legislature, the University has created a Sick Leave Pool and appointed the Director of Human Resources as the Pool Administrator. The Sick Leave Pool is created to benefit certain employees who suffer a catastrophic injury or illness.
A catastrophic illness, as defined for eligibility to use sick leave pool leave, is any injury or illness, excluding routine pregnancy, which has caused an absence of thirty working days within the immediate preceding six calendar months.
a. Employees
of the University who are eligible to accrue and use sick leave may participate
in the Sick Leave Pool. The President is excluded from participating in the
Sick Leave Pool by Senate Bill 357.
b. Employees
may use pool leave for their own catastrophic illness or injury or for one in
their immediate family as defined in Section 04.06. Catastrophic illness does
not include routine pregnancy. A physician's certification stating that a
pregnancy is not routine and the reasons why will be required for
consideration.
c. Employees
must exhaust all earned leave with pay entitlements, and must have been absent
at least thirty working days in the immediate preceding six months as a result
of a catastrophic injury or illness before they are eligible to use leave from
the pool. Thirty working days is based on the individual's normal work schedule
(i. e., percent time of appointment) and includes paid holidays.
d. Employees
on pool leave for a full calendar month accrue paid leave for that month;
however, these accruals may not be used until they physically return to work following
the pool leave.
e. Employees
with catastrophic illnesses or injuries are not required to contribute to the
pool before they can use pool leave.
f. Employees
who use pool leave are not required to pay back pool leave.
g. Employees eligible to receive workers compensation wages due to a work-related illness or injury are not eligible to use pool leave for that illness or injury.
05.02 To
contribute time to the pool, an employee must submit a written application to
the Pool Administrator on the Sick Leave Pool Request/ Donation form.
a. Contributions
to the pool are strictly voluntary and must be approved by the Pool
Administrator.
b. Active
employees may contribute an unlimited number of hours of sick leave to the pool
each fiscal year, but donations must be in eight-hour increments.
c. Employees
may not stipulate who is to receive their contributions.
d. Employees
who contribute leave to the pool cannot get it back.
05.03 Requests
for pool leave must be on the Sick Leave Pool Request/ Donation form and
forwarded to the Pool Administrator through appropriate supervisory channels.
Requests must be accompanied by a Certification of Health Care Provider Form.
Requests will normally be considered and approved by the Pool Administrator on a
first-come, first-served basis.
a. The Pool Administrator will have ten working days from the date he or she receives a request in which to approve all or part of the request or deny the request.
b. The amount of pool leave granted for each catastrophic illness or injury will be determined by the Pool Administrator. Pool leave begins on the thirty-first work day after satisfying the thirty working day waiting period described in Section 05.01 c., or after the employee has exhausted all available paid leave, whichever occurs later. The total amount granted cannot exceed one-third of the balance of hours in the pool, or ninety working days, whichever is less.
c. Any unused
balance of pool leave granted to an employee returns to the pool. The estate of
a deceased employee is not entitled to payment for the unused pool leave.
06. FUNERAL/JURY
DUTY/COURT SUBPOENA/EMERGENCY LEAVE PROCEDURES
The
Texas Legislature has provided the University with authority to grant emergency
leave under certain conditions. There are four types of emergency leave:
funeral, jury duty, court subpoenas, and other emergency leave.
06.01 Funeral Leave – Supervisors shall grant leave with
pay for a death in the employee’s family. Family is defined as the employee’s
spouse, or the employee’s or spouse’s parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents,
grandchildren and children. A general guideline for the amount of leave is
three days for an in-state service and five days for out-of-state service. Requests for more than five days require
approval by the divisional vice president.
06.02 Jury Duty
– Employees are entitled to serve on a jury without any deduction in pay. Employees
shall receive paid leave for the period of time they cannot be at work in order
to fulfill their jury duty obligation. Unless excused by their supervisor,
employees are expected to report to work as soon as they are excused from jury
duty to complete the time remaining on their shift. Employees may keep any fee
or compensation received for jury duty without any offset to their university
earnings and are not required to account to the State for any such fee or
compensation received. A copy of the jury summons or an official statement by
the judge, county clerk, or other official is required for documentation.
06.03 Court Subpoena – Supervisors shall grant paid leave
when an employee is subpoenaed to appear in a court of law in an official
capacity for the University or as an expert witness. A copy of the subpoena is
required for documentation.
Time
off to appear in court for personal reasons shall be charged to vacation, state
comp, FLSA overtime or leave without pay.
06.04 Other Emergency Leave – Vice presidents may grant up
to five days of paid leave per fiscal year for reasons not related to illness
or injury. Illness-related absences are
addressed in the sick leave, sick leave pool, and extended sick leave policies.
To qualify for emergency leave, an employee must exhaust all other paid leave
entitlements.
Routing
– Requests must be submitted in writing on an Application for Leave Approval
form and include all information relevant to the justification for the request.
The employee’s department head must recommend approval or disapproval on the
form, attach a statement of justification and forward both to Human Resources
for eligibility verification. If eligible, Human Resources will forward the
request to the divisional vice president for consideration. The vice president
will return the forms to Human Resources who will notify the employee and
department head of the decision.
07. DONOR LEAVE PROCEDURES
07.01 An employee is entitled to a paid leave of absence for the time necessary to permit the employee to serve as a bone marrow or organ donor. Proper documentation from the doctor is required. The paid leave of absence may not exceed:
a. five
working days in a fiscal year to serve as a bone marrow donor; or
b. thirty
working days in a fiscal year to serve as an organ donor.
07.02 An employee is allowed paid time off to donate blood up to four times per fiscal year. The employee must obtain prior approval from the employee’s supervisor and provide the supervisor with proof that the employee donated blood.
07.03 A request
for donor leave will be submitted in writing to the employee's supervisor
together with a doctor’s statement or proof of blood donation on an Application
for Leave Approval form.
08. PARENTAL LEAVE PROCEDURES
08.01 Parental
leave may be taken for the birth of a natural child or the adoption or foster
care placement with the employee of a child under three years of age. The leave
period begins with the date of birth or the adoption or foster care placement.
Employees with less than a total of twelve months of state service or who have
worked less than 1,250 hours in the twelve months immediately preceding the
start of leave are entitled to a parental leave of absence, not to exceed
twelve weeks, if the employee uses all available paid vacation and sick leave
while taking the parental leave. However, sick leave may only be taken for the
period of time a health care provider certifies the employee is unable to work
(see Section 04.06). The use of compensatory time is permitted but not
required.
Males
and females may use up to six weeks of sick leave for adoption regardless of
whether the child is actually sick at the time of adoption.
Example:
A female employee may take twelve weeks of parental leave for the birth of a
child. Her physician releases her to return to work six weeks after delivery
thus allowing her to use six weeks of accrued sick leave. The second six weeks
must be covered by accrued vacation or leave without pay.
Males
may use sick leave in conjunction with the birth of a child only if the child
is actually ill or to care for his spouse while she is recovering from labor
and delivery.
08.02 A request
for parental leave will be submitted in writing to the employee's department
head together with a corroborating statement from a doctor (if applicable) on
an Application for Leave Approval form. The department head will forward the
request for approval to Human Resources for processing.
08.03 A state
employee, who is a foster parent to a child under the conservatorship of the
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, is entitled to a leave of
absence with full pay for the purpose of attending meetings held by the
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services regarding the child under the
foster care of the employee, or to attend an Admission, Review and Dismissal
(ARD) meeting held by a school district regarding the child under the foster
care of the employee.
09. FEDERAL FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE PROCEDURES
09.01 Eligibility
Employees who have a total of at least twelve months of state service and who have worked at least 1,250 hours during the twelve month period immediately preceding the time leave would begin, are entitled to leave pursuant to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
09.02 Covered
Reasons for Leave
FMLA
provides that all eligible employees are entitled to a total of twelve weeks of
unpaid leave during any twelve-month period for one or more of the following
reasons:
a. the birth
of a child, or placement of a child for adoption or foster care;
b. to care for
a "family member" (see Section 09.04 a.) of the employee if that
individual has a serious health condition; or
c. because of
a serious health condition of the employee that renders the employee unable to
perform his or her job functions.
09.03 Duration
of Leave
a. The maximum
amount of leave available under FMLA provisions is twelve weeks in a
"rolling" twelve-month period. The rolling twelve-month period is
measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave.
b. If the
leave is for birth, adoption, or foster care placement, the leave must be
completed within twelve months of the date of birth or placement.
c. If a
husband and wife both work for the State and are eligible for leave, they are
only entitled to a combined twelve workweeks of leave taken for birth,
adoption, foster care, and to care for a parent.
d. An employee taking leave for personal illness or to care for a sick family member need not take such leave continuously and may take it on an intermittent basis, or by reducing the employee's scheduled work hours, if the employee provides certification from the health care provider caring for the employee or family member that leave must be taken in that manner.
e. Requests
for intermittent or reduced schedule (part-time) leave after the birth,
adoption or foster care placement of a child will be considered on a
case-by-case basis. Approval is subject to:
1) the ability
of the employee's supervisor to ensure that work is completed through
scheduling changes or job-sharing; and
2) the
employee's consent to alter schedules or work longer hours on an emergency
basis, such as when other employees are out sick.
With
respect to intermittent or reduced schedule leave after the birth, adoption or
foster care placement of a child,
In
all cases of intermittent and reduced schedule leaves,
09.04 Definitions
a. Family
Member – includes the employee's spouse, son, daughter or parent (but not a
parent-in-law). A son or daughter is any child under eighteen who is the
biological child of the employee, who is adopted by the employee, or whom the
employee supervises on a day-to-day basis and for whom the employee is
financially responsible; or a child over eighteen who is incapable of self-care
because of a mental or physical disability. A parent is any individual who
assumed day-to-day and financial responsibility for the employee when the
employee was a child.
b. Serious
Health Condition – any injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that
involves either
1) Inpatient
care in a hospital, hospice, or residential care facility; or
2) Continuing
treatment by a health care provider. Continuing treatment includes:
(a) A period of
incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days involving treatment two
or more times by a health care provider, or treatment on at least one occasion
that results in a regimen of treatment under the health care provider's
supervisor;
(b) Pregnancy or
prenatal care;
(c) A chronic
serious health condition that requires periodic visits for treatment, continues
over an extended period of time, and may cause episodic rather than continuing
incapacity (i. e., asthma, diabetes, epilepsy);
(d) A permanent
or long-term condition for which treatment may not be effective (i. e.,
Alzheimer's, severe stroke); or
(e) A condition
that would likely result in an incapacity of three or more days in the absence
of medical treatment (i. e., cancer, severe arthritis).
09.05 Procedures
for Requesting Leave
All
requests for leave should be initiated by the employee contacting his or her
immediate supervisor and completing a Request for Family and Medical Leave Form
and Certification of Health Care Provider Form.
a. If the need
for leave is foreseeable, the employee must provide notice of not less than
thirty days. Leave will be denied unless there is a reasonable excuse for the
delay. If leave is denied for lack of notice, the employee may designate leave
to start thirty days after notice is given.
b. If the
leave is for the planned medical treatment of the employee or a family member,
or requires intermittent or reduced schedule leave, employees may be required
to arrange a particular schedule or to reschedule appointments or treatments,
subject to the consent of the health care provider.
c. If the need
for leave is not foreseeable, notice must be given by the employee as soon as
possible and practicable. Except in the case of extreme medical emergencies,
employees are expected to call to advise their supervisor as soon as they know
of the need for and expected duration of leave. Written requests for leave must
be submitted within three work days after verbal request is made.
d. Medical
certification will be required by a health care provider. Certifications must
be submitted within fifteen days of the date requested by the employer.
e.
All employee requests
for FMLA leave are contingent upon a determination by
09.06 Substitution
of Paid Leave Entitlements
Employees
must utilize all paid leave entitlements including vacation and sick leave while
taking FMLA leave. However, sick leave may only be used for the period of time
a health care provider certifies the employee is unable to work (see Section
04.06).
Males
and females may use up to six weeks of sick leave for adoption regardless of
whether the child is actually sick at the time of adoption.
Example:
A female employee may take twelve weeks of FMLA leave for the birth of a child.
Her physician releases her to return to work six weeks after delivery thus
allowing her to use six weeks of accrued sick leave. The second six weeks must
be covered by accrued vacation or leave without pay.
Males
may use sick leave in conjunction with the birth of a child only if the child
is actually ill or to care for his spouse while she is recovering from labor
and delivery.
The use of FLSA overtime while on leave is permitted with supervisory approval, however, the period of time that FLSA overtime is applied toward may not be counted against the employee's FMLA leave entitlement. Holidays that occur while on FMLA leave are not counted towards the twelve-week entitlement if the University is closed for at least a week.
Employees
who are receiving workers compensation benefits or temporary disability benefit
payments are not required to use paid vacation while on FMLA leave.
Use
of any type of paid leave or leave without pay that qualifies under FMLA will
automatically run concurrently with the FMLA leave period. Therefore
"stacking" leaves to extend the employer insurance contribution or
approved leave period is not permitted.
09.07 Status of
Benefits