COP 05-0504 Sick Leave
BOT Policy 6Hx6:5.04 Sick Leave
Sick Leave
Any full-time employee who is unable to perform their duties because of sickness, accident, disability, or extended personal illness or death of the employee’s father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, child, other close relative, or member of the employee’s own household and, consequently, must be absent from work, shall be granted leave of absence for sickness. An employee disability caused or contributed to by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions affecting the employee shall be considered the same as personal illness for purpose of this policy.
Any full-time employee who is granted sick leave by the College shall receive regular pay while on approved leave to the extent earned accumulated sick leave credit is available to offset the time absent for work.
Each full-time employee earns credit toward one day (8 hours) of sick leave with compensation for each calendar month or major fraction of a calendar month of service, not to exceed 12 days (96 hours) of credit during any fiscal year. Annual contract positions with reduced hours will earn sick leave hours equal to the percentage of the employee’s full-time equivalency. Such sick leave credits shall be cumulative from year to year.
Full-time employees having sufficient accumulated sick leave credit may be granted up to four (4) days for personal reasons during each fiscal year, such period of absence to be with pay. Such leave, when granted, shall be charged against the employee’s accumulated sick leave credits. Personal leave shall be non-cumulative.
Accumulated unused sick leave credits shall be accepted from previous employment at Florida SouthWestern State College, another Florida community College, the Florida Department of Education, the State University System of Florida, or a Florida county board of public instruction, provided that at least one-half (½) of the sick leave credited at any time must have been earned at FSW.
For illness arising out of or during employment – See Workers Compensation (Safety and Risk Management) section.
www.fsw.edu/employeeservices/workerscomp
Personal Leave
An eligible employee may use no more than four (4) sick days per fiscal year for personal reasons. Personal leave is non-cumulative and therefore will not exceed four (4) days per fiscal year. New employees will qualify for personal leave once the accrued sick leave totals 48 hours (6 days). Personal leave may be used in the month following eligibility. To facilitate this, 32 hours (4 days) will be transferred from the sick leave balance to the personal leave, decreasing sick leave by 32 hours and increasing personal leave by the same amount. At the beginning of each fiscal year on July 1, current employees’ personal leave balances will be adjusted to reflect a total of 4 personal days, provided that the remaining sick leave balance is at least 2 days (16 hours) after this transfer. If transferring personal days would reduce the sick leave balance below 2 days (16 hours), the addition of personal days will be deferred until the sick leave balance reaches the required minimum. Personal leave use must be requested in advance and approved by the supervisor using the approved leave request process.
Sick Leave Pool (SPL)
The purpose of the sick leave pool is to provide an opportunity for employees to create a bank of sick leave hours that can be used by fellow employees who also participate in the sick leave pool (SLP). Before using sick leave pool days participants must exhaust all of their earned vacation and sick leave. SLP is used only for the employee in the case of a catastrophic illness or a health-related emergency.
The SLP is intended to be used by eligible employees until long-term disability insurance becomes effective. Members requesting SLP must also complete the appropriate Family Medical Leave paperwork with Human Resources. The medical leave must have been approved according to the requirements of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). A member will not be able to utilize the SLP without the Office of Human Resources having received the appropriate medical information. Once proper medical documentation is received, SLP will be paid retroactive to the first day of eligibility.
Enrollment in the Sick Leave Pool (SLP) is available to full-time employees after one (1) year of service during open enrollment. Employees must have a minimum of ten (10) days of unused accrued sick leave to be eligible to join. Members initially contribute two (2) sick leave days upon enrollment to the pool. After the initial contribution, no further contributions shall be required except as may be necessary to replenish the pool. Any such further contribution shall be equally required of all employees participating in the pool.
Use of leave from the SLP is contingent on the availability of days in the SLP. The maximum number of days a member may draw consecutive sick leave from the SLP is sixty (60) duty days during a rolling 12-month period (the current month and preceding 11 months), with no more than 120 days within a 3-year period of time.
A participating employee who chooses to no longer participate in the sick leave pool will not be eligible to withdraw any sick leave already contributed to the pool. For more detail, please review the COP.
Other Leaves of Absence
COP 05-0606 Other Leaves of Absence