5.38 Paid Leave Benefits

(Adopted 6-1-1992; Revised 6-4-2001, 12-2-2013)

Eligible full-time employees receive paid sick leave, vacation leave, and personal leave annually.

Procedures (Revised 4-6-2006, 12-2-2013)

5.38.1  Sick Leave Accrual (Revised 6-13-2022)

Full-time administrators, professional staff, and support staff will accumulate sick leave monthly at the rate of 16 days per year (10.67 hours per month).  Employees will be eligible to accrue sick leave effective the first of the month following the date of hire.  Sick leave does not accrue while an employee is on unpaid leave.

Full-time faculty on a nine-, ten-, or eleven-month contract will accumulate sick leave monthly at the rate of 16 days per year spread over their contract period.  Full-time faculty on a twelve-month contract will accumulate sick leave monthly at the rate of 16 days per year (10.67 hours per month).

Sick leave accrues monthly on the last working day of each month and may accumulate up to 60 working days (480 hours).  Sick leave accrual is to help bridge the leave for long-term disability.

5.38.2  Use of Sick Leave

Sick Leave may be used for reasons of personal illness, injury, or medical appointment of an employee and/or to care for an illness or injury or to attend to a medical appointment of an immediate family member.  Immediate family members include the employee’s spouse, children, stepchildren, foster children, children for which the employee is a legal guardian, parents, stepparents, parents-in-law, and foster parents.  Exceptions to include other individuals may be approved by the appropriate administrator.

Full-time staff may utilize sick leave in 15-minute increments.  Full-time faculty may utilize sick leave in four-hour or eight-hour increments.

Pay advices do not necessarily reflect leave used within the current pay period.

A statement from a physician verifying the necessity for absence(s) may be required for more than three (3) consecutive days of absence.

Employees should notify their supervisor as soon as the need for Sick Leave is known and must complete and submit a leave of absence approval form.

In the event of an injury or illness that is covered by workers’ compensation insurance, state laws governing such injuries take precedent over this Policy.

At the time of termination of employment, any accrued sick leave will be forfeited.

5.38.3  Personal Leave

Full-time faculty, administrators, professional staff, and support staff will receive five (5) days (40 hours) of Personal Leave per year on July 1 of each fiscal year.

Full-time faculty, administrators, professional staff, and support staff hired after July 1 of each fiscal year will receive prorated Personal Leave effective the date of hire as follows:

5.38.4  Use of Personal Leave (Revised 4-22-2014)

Personal leave is to be used at the discretion of the employee, subject to supervisory approval.  Examples of activities for which an employee may want to utilize Personal Leave include personal business which cannot be conducted outside of normal working hours, religious observances, and parent-teacher conferences.

Personal leave may be utilized in one-half hour increments.  Employees must complete and submit a Leave of Absence Request form.

Personal leave that is unused as of June 30 of each fiscal year will be transferred to the employee’s Earned Sick Leave account if the employee has not already met the maximum sick leave accrual.

Pay advices do not necessarily reflect leave used within the current pay period.

An employee resigning from the College may use no more than 16 total hours of personal or vacation leave during the last two weeks of employment.

At the time of termination of employment, any unused personal leave will be forfeited.

5.38.5  Vacation Leave (Revised 6-13-2022)

Vacation leave is to be used at the discretion of the employee, subject to supervisory approval.  Employees will be eligible to accrue vacation leave effective the first of the month following the date of hire.  Leave accrues monthly on the last working day of each month.  Vacation leave does not accrue while an employee is on unpaid leave or utilizing shared sick leave.

The President will have vacation leave as negotiated.

Full-time administrators, professional staff, and support staff will accrue three (3) weeks (15 days or 120 hours, at the rate of 10 hours per month) paid vacation annually.  After five (5) years of full-time employment with the College, the annual vacation time will be four (4) weeks (20 days or 160 hours, at the rate of 13.33 hours per month).  Maximum vacation accrual is nine (9) weeks (45 days or 360 hours).

5.38.6  Use of Vacation Leave (Revised 4-22-2014)

Vacation leave cannot interfere with the department’s operation.  Requests for 40 consecutive hours or more of vacation leave should be approved by the supervisor two (2) weeks in advance of such leave.  The supervisor must approve specific vacation dates.  Only accrued vacation leave may be taken; leave cannot be used prior to being accrued.

Vacation leave may be reported in one-half hour increments.  Employees must complete and submit a Leave of Absence Request form.

Pay advices do not necessarily reflect leave used within the current pay period.

An employee who is resigning from the College may use no more than 16 total hours of vacation or personal leave during the last two weeks of employment.

At the time of termination of employment, any accrued vacation leave will be paid through direct deposit following the last regular salary payment.

5.38.7  Voting Leave

East Central College employees may take up to three (3) hours of leave from work to vote in local, state, and national elections.  Employees will be expected to notify the supervisor at least one (1) week in advance and will be required to use personal or vacation leave time for the absence.

5.38.8  Jury Duty/Court Appearance Leave

Leaves of absences for jury duty or for court appearances related to College business shall be granted with pay.

5.38.9  Bereavement Leave

Up to three (3) consecutive working days of leave with pay will be granted to regular, full-time employees upon the death of a family member.  For purposes of this Policy, family members are spouse, child(ren), son-in-law, daughter-in-law, parents, parents-in-law, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, grandchildren, brother, brother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law, stepparent, step-child, step-brother, step-sister, foster child, foster parent, or any member of the immediate household of the employee. Exceptions to this procedure must be approved by the College President.

Requests for extended leaves of absence for out-of-state travel should be approved by the supervisor.  Accrued personal or vacation leave may be used.