Body
Below are guidelines for participation in the Sick Leave Pool by eligible full-time regular, non-faculty employees (I) and full-time faculty (II).
I. Non-Faculty Sick Leave Pool
The Sick Leave Pool is established to provide additional paid sick leave protection to eligible employees after all accumulated paid time off has been exhausted.
Eligible non-faculty employees may utilize a maximum of 300 hours (40 days) from the sick leave pool.
Eligibility Requirements
Participation in the sick leave pool is voluntary.
An employee who has been in a full-time regular status for at least one (1) year and who has accumulated at least 90 hours of accrued sick time will be eligible to apply for membership in the Sick Leave Pool.
Enrollment Requirements
An eligible employee may submit an application form in accordance with the following guidelines:
An employee may complete and forward the application for membership in the sick leave pool to Human Resources during the annual enrollment period, usually the first two weeks of April.
Employees will initially contribute 15 hours (two days) to the sick leave pool, following approval of the employee’s eligibility for membership. The two days will be deducted from the contributing employee’s accrued sick time balance.
Participation
The following guidelines apply to an employee’s participation in the sick leave pool:
Employee must be an approved member of the sick leave pool.
Employee must be on an approved medical leave of absence due to their own serious health condition. Employee must provide medical certification stating that they are unable to work when initially applying for hours from the sick leave pool and again if requesting additional hours. The college at its own expense may require a second opinion. The certification will contain the following information:
A written statement that the employee is unable to work;
A statement indicating the medical prognosis;
A statement of the expected treatment plan and
An estimation of when the employee will be able to return to work.
Employees will not be eligible to use sick time from the pool until all accrued time has been exhausted and the employee has been on 37.50 hours (5 days) of consecutive unpaid time off. Employees accrued time will be used in the following order: compensatory, sick, grandfathered sick(frozen sick, sick leave payoff) and vacation time, if applicable.
Employee receiving hours from the sick leave pool may return to work on a part-time basis if Human Resources receives a certified return to work with limited hours restriction from a treating health care provider. Sick leave pool hours may be used to complete the 7.50 hours of a workday for a period no longer than 30 calendar days and may not exceed the maximum 300 hours allowed.
Hours from the sick leave pool will be applied as needed up to the maximum hours allowed.
A participating employee who uses sick time from the pool will not accrue sick or vacation time during an absence.
A disability that is covered under Worker’s Compensation shall not be covered under the sick leave pool.
Replenishment
The following guidelines apply to replenishing the balance of the sick leave pool:
Human Resources will call for replenishment of the sick leave pool when the number of days in the pool is reduced to sixty (60).
Human Resources will notify participants of how many days each participating employee will be required to transfer to the sick leave pool.
Each member of the sick leave pool will be required to transfer an equal number of days to the pool.
If an employee chooses to not participate in replenishment of the sick leave pool, Human Resources will remove the employee from the pool.
In the event that an employee does not have sufficient accumulated sick time for the replenishment allocation, the required hours for replenishment will be transferred to the sick leave pool as they are accrued by the employee.
An employee may withdraw from the sick leave pool with written notice submitted to Human Resources; however, the 15 hours (2 days) required to join and any hours transferred for replenishment will not be returned.
II. Faculty Sick Leave Pool
Article 13.1 of the FUSA contract establishes guidelines for participation in the Sick Leave Pool by eligible full-time regular, faculty employees. Below is a summary:
The Sick Leave Pool is established to provide additional paid sick leave protection to eligible faculty employees after all accumulated paid time off has been exhausted.
Eligible faculty employees may utilize a maximum of 562.50 hours (75 days) from the sick leave pool.
Eligibility Requirements
A faculty member may participate in the Sick Leave Pool on a voluntary basis.
A faculty member shall be eligible for participation in the Sick Leave Pool after one year of employment with the College, provided the faculty member has accrued a minimum of twelve (12) days (90 hours) of unused sick time.
Enrollment Requirements
Sick time that a faculty member contributes to the Sick Leave Pool will be deducted from the member's accrued sick time balance. A participating faculty member shall make an initial contribution of four (4) days (30 hours) of accrued sick time to the pool. No additional contributions to the Sick Leave Pool will be required unless replenishment is needed.
A faculty member will have the opportunity to enroll as a member of the Sick Leave Pool during the annual enrollment period, which occurs during the Fall semester each year. The faculty member will make a four (4) day contribution (30 hours). A faculty member is not eligible to join the Sick Leave Pool while on medical leave.
Participation
To utilize sick time from the Sick Leave Pool, a participating faculty member must use the sick time for a personal illness, accident, or injury. A participating faculty member shall be eligible to use sick time from the Sick Leave Pool after their own accrued time off has been depleted and the faculty member has used five (5) days of time off without pay for a personal illness or injury. Following review and approval by the Office of Human Resources, the maximum number of days that a participating faculty member may draw from the Sick Leave Pool shall be three increments of up to twenty-five (25) days each.
A participating faculty member who uses sick time from the Sick Leave Pool shall not be required to re-contribute the sick time used, except for replenishment if needed. If a participating faculty member elects to no longer participate in the Sick Leave Pool, the faculty member shall not be eligible to withdraw any sick time contributed to the Sick Leave Pool nor be eligible to draw from the Sick Leave Pool in the future.
After using three (3) draws of any amount up to the maximum of 25 days (per draw, faculty members will have to reapply to the Faculty Sick Leave Pool. To be accepted, the faculty member must have a minimum of one (1) year's continued employment with the college, twelve (12) accrued sick leave days (90 hours), and four (4) contributed sick leave days (30 hours) to the Sick Leave Pool during the enrollment period.