Policy 4.35
Sick Leave for Principal Employees
Responsible Official: VP for Human Resources
Administering Division/Department: Leave Policies
Effective Date: September 01, 2009
Last Revision: September 01, 2009
Policy Sections:
Regular principal (exempt) employees who work at least 20 or more hours per workweek are eligible for sick leave benefits. Temporary employees, except rehired retirees, are not credited with sick leave.
Employees shall not be compensated for credited sick leave balances upon separation.
REASONS FOR LEAVE
An employee may be granted sick leave:
- when unable to perform job duties as a result of personal illness (includes accident or injury, pregnancy and childbirth, or other medical conditions);
- when the employee’s appointment with a health care provider cannot reasonably be scheduled during non-work hours;
- to care for an immediate family member who is disabled as a result of illness, accident or injury, pregnancy and childbirth, or other medical conditions requiring the presence of the employee. For the purpose of this policy, immediate family shall be the employee’s spouse; same-sex domestic partner; children, parents, and legal wards, regardless of domicile; and any other relative residing in the employee’s home.
NOTE: Routine medical or dental appointments for family members are not covered under the sick leave policy. An employee who needs time off for such family appointments must use either credited vacation, floating holiday or holiday hours if absent for the entire day. If the employee has exhausted all such leave hours, he/she may be granted leave without pay for such purposes, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Reference the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Policy for additional information regarding absences for serious health conditions.
PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS
Principal employees will be credited with sick leave on a per monthly accrual basis based on years of service (refer to the Sick Leave Chart for Principal Employees).
There is no maximum accumulation for sick leave.
Employees who change to a principal status shall be eligible to accrue sick leave according to the procedure indicated below.
- If the effective date of status change eligibility is on or before the 15th of the month, the principal employee will be credited with the prorated sick leave amount applicable to that month (refer to the Sick Leave Chart for Principal Employees).
- If the effective date of employment or status change is on or after the 16th of the month, the principal employee will be credited with the prorated sick leave amount applicable to the following month (refer to the Sick Leave Chart for Principal Employees).
Sick leave may be granted to principal employees for authorized sick leave reasons as indicated previously in this policy. The sick leave balance of a monthly employee will be charged if the employee is absent from work for 4 or more hours in a workday. Sick leave balances may be charged in full day (8 hour) or half day (4 hour) increments.Examples:
- If a principal employee works for 4 or more hours, then takes the rest of the day off as sick leave, his or her leave balance will not be charged.
- If a principal employee works 1 or 2 hours and takes the rest of the day as sick leave, the employee's leave balance will be charged 4 hours.
- If the employee takes the entire day off as sick leave, the employee's leave balance will be charged 8 hours.
- For part-time employees, proportional leave deductions would apply based on the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work. For employees who work flexible schedules, Human Resources will work with managers to implement the change to fit the facts of the schedule.
Sick leave will be granted concurrently with Salary Continuation for principal employees. However, if a principal employee is on Family and Medical Leave of Absence (FMLA) for a reason covered by this Sick Leave Policy, the employee will be paid for actual hours worked on a reduced or intermittent leave or on any day in which a partial-day FMLA leave is taken. Hours not worked on an intermittent or reduced leave or on any day in which a partial-day FMLA leave is taken will be charged against an employee’s sick leave balance or will be leave without pay. Thus, the supervisor can 'dock' the pay of otherwise-exempt, salaried employees for FMLA sick leave taken for partial day absences.
The total amount of sick leave that may be granted to an employee shall not exceed the employee’s sick leave balance.
REQUESTING LEAVE
When an employee is unable to report for work when scheduled, he/she is expected to notify his/her supervisor no later than the beginning of the work schedule on the first day of absence and on succeeding days of absence. Some departments may require notification of absence at least one to three hours prior to the beginning of the work schedule.
NOTE: When the employee is unable to notify his/her supervisor of an absence, he/she may ask another person to do so. Failure of other persons to carry out the appropriate notification procedures will not relieve the employee of this responsibility.
Where there are predictable circumstances which cause an employee to be absent from work because of a personal or family serious health condition, such as elective surgery, request for sick leave should be made as far in advance as possible (30 days under FMLA).
When an employee becomes medically unable to work because of illness, accident or injury while working, the employee’s supervisor(s) should be notified as soon as possible. The employee should provide a statement from a health care provider indicating when the employee is released to return to work. Such circumstances should be thoroughly documented by the employee’s supervisor(s).
GENERAL
Employees who have exhausted their sick leave balances may use their unused vacation leave, holidays or floating holidays for any absence(s) from work due to personal or family illness. Leave without pay may be granted once sick leave is exhausted.
If a sick leave request is denied for failure to follow the established call-in procedures or other requirements, the employee must use unused vacation leave, holidays or floating holidays to cover the absence, or leave without pay if these balances are exhausted, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Periods of employment in an ineligible status [i.e., temporary (other than rehired retirees), regular for less than half time, student status, or leaves of absence without pay] are not counted toward length of service for sick leave, except for individuals on an approved seasonal leave. All periods of eligible employment prior to a break in service are counted toward length of service for sick leave accrual purposes.
SICK LEAVE ACCRUAL FOR RE-HIRED/TRANSFERRED EMPLOYEES
Employees who are re-hired or transferred, including retirees, shall accrue sick leave according to the total length of sick leave eligible service and the number of regularly scheduled hours worked per pay period.
This will include former employees of Emory University Hospital or Crawford Long Hospital with service prior to January 1, 2003.
If the break in service between the employee’s effective date of re-employment or the date of retirement and last date of employment is no more than 10 consecutive calendar days, the entire balance of unused sick leave hours at the time of retirement or last day employed shall be reactivated.
If the break in service between the employee’s last employment date or date of retirement and the effective date of reemployment is more than 10 consecutive calendar days, the unused sick leave hours balance at the time of retirement or last day employed shall not be reactivated.
VERIFICATION
The department may require a statement from a health care provider confirming the need for absence by the employee after the employee is on sick leave for three days or more.
In certain cases, because of job requirements, an employee may be required to provide a statement from his/her health care provider regarding his/her ability to perform stated duties.
RECORD KEEPING
The department shall have the responsibility for administration and record keeping of the Sick Leave Policy for the employees within the department. Human Resources can provide advice regarding administration and interpretation of this policy.
The employee leave balances must be transferred to the new department in the university upon the effective date of transfer.
SICK LEAVE ACCRUAL CHARTFOR PRINCIPAL EMPLOYEES
RATE OF ACCRUAL
AVERAGE HRS. WORKED PER WEEK
Less than 10 total years
of active employment
HRS. PER MO.10 but less than 20 total years of active
employment
HRS. PER MO.20 or more total years
of active employment HRS. PER MO.20
4.0
6.0
8.0
21
4.2
6.3
8.4
22
4.4
6.6
8.8
23
4.6
6.9
9.2
24
4.8
7.2
9.6
25
5.0
7.5
10.0
26
5.2
7.8
10.4
27
5.4
8.1
10.8
28
5.6
8.4
11.2
29
5.8
8.7
11.6
30
6.0
9.0
12.0
31
6.2
9.3
12.4
32
6.4
9.6
12.8
33
6.6
9.9
13.2
34
6.8
10.2
13.6
35
7.0
10.5
14.0
36
7.2
10.8
14.4
37
7.4
11.1
14.8
38
7.6
11.4
15.2
39
7.8
11.7
15.6
40
8.0
12.0
16.0
SICK LEAVE HAS NO MAXIMUM ACCUMULATION LIMIT.
NOTE: “Total years of active employment” is the number of years of active Emory employment in a regular status of at least half-time, regardless of breaks in employment.
Availability of paid sick leave does not mean that health-related absences (other than those protected by FMLA) will not be considered in determining whether an employee has excessive or otherwise unacceptable absenteeism. Abuse of the sick leave policy may result in disciplinary action.
- Current Version of This Policy: http://policies.emory.edu/4.35
- http://policies.emory.edu/4.35 (http://)
Subject Contact Phone Administrative Assistant NaTista Gore 404-727-7625 natista.gore@emory.edu
Revision History
- Version Published on: Sep 01, 2009
- Version Published on: Mar 29, 2007 (Amended 5/08/07)