General Limits


	Do employees earn sick leave, vacation or personal days while on a leave of absence?
	Can an employee "borrow" sick leave, vacation and/or personal days not earned?
	Can sick leave or vacation be used in the case of an on-the-job accident?
	What date should be used to determine the appropriate accrual of vacation and personal days (and for support staff, sick days)?
	How are time accruals calculated for regular part-time support staff?
	Do regular part-time support staff members get paid for holidays?
	Do short-term casuals get paid for University holidays? Do they receive other benefits?
	While on an official leave of absence from the University, can an employee work for compensation with another entity or employer?

Question: Do employees earn sick leave, vacation or personal days while on a leave of absence?

Answer:

Support staff members do not earn sick leave, vacation or personal days nor are they entitled to holiday pay while on an unpaid leave of absence; however, these benefits continue to accrue during a paid leave. Adjustments in sick leave, as necessary, are either made within the same anniversary year as the leave of absence if the employee has sick leave available upon their return to work, or in the succeeding anniversary year.

Officers do not accrue vacation or personal days during a leave of absence, paid or unpaid. The salary continuation period for an officer on a documented disability leave of absence includes any paid holiday that may occur during the period of disability. An officer is not paid for holidays that occur during an unpaid leave of absence.

Question: Can an employee "borrow" sick leave, vacation and/or personal days not earned?

Answer: No. Under no circumstances can an employee "borrow" unearned sick leave, vacation and/or personal days. The level of benefit is exactly as it is defined under University policy or the respective collective bargaining agreement.

Question: Can sick leave or vacation be used in the case of an on-the-job accident?

Answer: The employee should be credited with salary continuation only to the extent dictated by University policy or the applicable collective bargaining agreement relating to on-the-job accidents or illness (Workers´ Compensation). Some contracts provide a separate salary continuation plan for Workers´ Compensation cases. Note: The 1199 agreements have no salary continuation for Workers´ Compensation cases. However, it has been agreed that the first week (5 days), not covered under Workers´ Compensation, can be charged to sick leave to the extent the employee has such time available.

Under University policy, the same sick leave schedule is used for both occupational and non-occupational illness/injury. In no case may vacation or personal days be used to cover absences due to reported on-the-job illness or injury. Once the applicable benefit is exhausted, the employee should be taken off payroll. Further compensation in all cases will be to the extent to which the employee is entitled in line with the provisions of New York State Workers´ Compensation law.

Question: What date should be used to determine the appropriate accrual of vacation and personal days (and for support staff, sick days)?

Answer: Normally, the hire date and seniority date are the same and either could be used to determine the accrual of time. However, if those dates are different and the department is unsure about which date to use, they should contact their HROS service manager for direction.

Question: How are time accruals calculated for regular part-time support staff?

Answer: Regular part-time support staff members are entitled to pro-rated sick leave, vacation and personal days based on the number of hours worked per week. For administrative purposes, regardless of the number of hours a regular part-time employee works per day, his/her earned benefit ``day" is equal to 1/5th the total hours of the work week. Accumulations, therefore, should be maintained in hours. Actual time lost should be charged against the appropriate hourly balance.

Question: Do regular part-time support staff members get paid for holidays?

Answer: Yes, but only if the holiday occurs on a day the regular support staff member would ordinarily be scheduled to work.

Question: Do short-term casuals get paid for University holidays? Do they receive other benefits?

Answer: Short-term casuals are only paid for holidays, at straight-time pay, if they work on that day. They are not entitled to other benefits (sick leave, vacation, or personal days).

Question: While on an official leave of absence from the University, can an employee work for compensation with another entity or employer?

Answer: Generally, no. Any such case should be discussed with Employee and Labor Relations.