condition. Share leave may be granted for a maximum of sixty (60) days per designated condition.
Upon returning to work, a shared sick leave recipient will be expected to provide the Office of Human Resources (HR) a release to return to work from a healthcare provider.
Full-time faculty and staff members with at least six (6) months of continuous service who are unable to perform regular work duties and who have exhausted, or will have exhausted all forms of paid leave, are eligible to use shared sick leave from the SLP.
Contributing to the SLP is not a prerequisite for drawing from the SLP.
In order to be eligible to draw from the SLP, an employee must have suffered a serious health condition, as defined under the FMLA Policy. On rare occasions, and on a case-by-case basis, employees may be allowed to draw from the SLP in order to care for their spouses, parents, or dependents.
The SLP will be funded via the voluntary contributions of sick leave days by eligible employees. Employees will be given the opportunity to contribute a minimum of one (1) day and a maximum of five (5) days of sick leave to the SLP every 12 months. Separating or retiring employees may contribute a maximum of thirty (30) days immediately prior to their separations or retirements.
Employees must have a sick leave balance of at least eleven (11) days or more at the time of their contributions in order to be eligible to donate sick leave to the SLP. Contributing employees are therefore required to retain at least ten (10) of their own sick leave days after contributing to the SLP.
When the balance of the SLP falls to 500 hours, employees will again be given the opportunity to contribute to the SLP.
Once an employee contributes to the SLP, his or her donated sick leave will not be restored to his or her individual balance at any time. Contributing employees may not designate a particular employee to receive their donated sick leave, as this program is for any and all qualified employees who may be dealing with a serious medical condition.
Reasons for denying access to the SLP include: elective medical procedures, illnesses and injuries that do not require medical treatment, and minor illnesses and injuries that are almost always temporary. This list is not exhaustive.
Requests for drawing from the SLP must be made using the SLP request form and must be accompanied by a written statement from a licensed medical practitioner that provides the start date of the condition, a description of the illness or injury, a prognosis and the date the employee may be able to return to work. HR personnel will review prior sick and vacation leave usage when making the decision on whether to grant use of the SLP.