3.7.2 Sick Leave

Policy Tracking	Date
Approved
Revised	July 8, 2019
Reviewed

Amount Earned:
1. A full-time employee who is working or on paid leave for one-half (1/2) or more of the regularly scheduled workdays in any month shall earn sick leave computed at the rate of 8 hours earned each month (96 hours earned each year).
2. The intent is to provide 12 days per year for full-time 12-month employees.
3. A full-time employee who works less than a 40-hour workweek shall earn sick leave on a prorated basis if he/she works one-half (1/2) or more of the scheduled work days in a month. The leave earned shall be computed as a percentage of total amount earned by an employee working a full workweek.
Accumulation: The amount of sick leave that an employee may accumulate is unlimited.
Advancement: The College may advance sick leave not to exceed the amount an employee can earn during the current fiscal year.
Verification of Sick Leave: The College may require a statement from a health care provider or other acceptable proof that the employee was unable to work due to one of the eligible uses in Section V.
Eligible Uses of Sick Leave: Where possible, Sick Leave must be requested in advance on forms provided by the College. Sick Leave may be granted for:
1. Illness or injury which prevents an employee from performing his/her usual duties.
2. Death of an immediate family member (SeeBereavement Policy).
3. Medical appointments.
4. Quarantine due to a contagious disease in the employee's immediate family.
5. The actual period of temporary disability connected with childbearing. Since there is no certainty as to when disability actually begins and ends, a doctor's certificate may be required to verify the employee's period of temporary disability.
6. Sick leave may be granted for illness of a member of the employee's immediate family when the employee is needed to care for the ill family member. For purposes of the policy, members of the immediate family would be spouse, child, and parents of employee or employee's spouse, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and other legal dependents living in the employee’s household.
7. Sick leave (up to 30 days) may be granted for the adoption of a child.
8. Sick leave may be granted for approved Family and Medical Leave (seeSection 3.7.7 Family and Medical Leave).
Sick leave is non-transferable to any other type of leave except as described for bereavement leave.
Leave Charges:
1. The minimum amount of sick leave that may be taken by staff is in increments of one hour. Faculty sick leave is reported as a portion of the work assignments missed for that day.
2. Only scheduled work hours shall be charged in calculating the amount of leave taken. Saturdays and/or Sundays are charged if they are scheduled workdays.
Transfer of leave:
1. An employee who transferred from a North Carolina public K-12 school, North Carolina community college, a UNC System University, or state agency ("public employers") to the College shall be credited with any sick leave which s/he had at the end of employment with the public employer provide that his/her employment was continuous.
Separation:
1. Use of sick leave or payment thereof is not allowable in terminal leave payments when an employee separates from College service.
2. Should an employee be separated before he/she has earned all of the sick leave taken, it will be necessary to make deductions from the final salary check for overdrawn leave on a day-for-day basis.
3. Sick leave shall be exhausted before going on leave without pay (leave of absence) because of extended illness. While an employee is exhausting sick leave, he/she earns all benefits for which he/she is entitled.
Unused sick leave may be applied toward retirement in accordance with the policies and procedures of the North Carolina State Retirement Division.
Reinstatement of Accumulated Sick Leave:
1. A former employee may be credited with all sick leave accumulated up to the time of separation for the College, provided the employee is reinstated within five (5) years from the date of separation.
2. Sick Leave accumulated through work with a State Agency, Social Services, Mental Health, Public Health, Emergency Managements, Public School, Community College, or Technical Institute may be reinstated when an individual is employed by the College within five (5) years of the date of separation from the other agency.
Retirement Credit:
1. One Month of credit is allowed for each 20 days, or any portion thereof, sick leave to an employee’s credit upon retirement.
The College will assume the responsibility of maintaining annual records for sick leave earned and taken for each employee.
The College will retain sick leave records for all separated employees for a period of at least fiveyears from the date of separation.