SICK LEAVE

PURPOSE:

To outline procedure for University employees’ accrual and use of sick leave.

AUTHORITY:

Higher Education Policy Commission, Series 38.

ELIGIBILITY:

Full-time regular classified, full-time regular non-classified and faculty or faculty equivalent/academic professional employees with twelve (12) month contracts/appointments are eligible to accrue sick leave under this policy.

ACCRUAL RATE & MAXIMUM ACCRUAL:

Eligible employees shall accumulate sick leave with pay at a rate of 1.50 days per month. Full time regular employees who are employed at less than 1.00 FTE shall have his/her monthly accrual pro-rated accordingly. Sick leave may be accumulated without limit.

Employees must be in an active payroll status and work the majority of the month in order to receive that months accrual. Sick leave is credited to an employee’s leave bank, at the department level, on the 15th and at the end of each month.

A person initially appointed to, or separated from, a regular full-time position may receive sick leave credit for the appointment/termination month, provided the employee has been in an active payroll status the majority of the month. Employees do not accrue sick leave during a terminal leave period.

USE OF SICK LEAVE:

An employee may charge time, as appropriate, to his/her accumulated sick leave when:

• the employee is ill and unable to perform his/her duties
• the employee is injured and unable to perform his/her duties (cross ref. Processing Workers' Compensation Claims Policy).
• the employee has a personal pre-arranged appointment with a treating licensed physician, including reasonable travel time, that has been approved in advance by the supervisor
• a member of the employee's immediate family dies (cross ref. Funeral Leave Policy).
• a member of the employee's immediate family is seriously ill, and the employee must arrange for care or treatment of the family member, or is required to care for
• the family member and reasonable alternative care options do not exist (cross ref. Sick Leave Usage As It Pertains to Immediate Family Members Policy).
• the employee is suffering from a short or long term disability
• an injury occurs on the job that requires more than 3 consecutive days off (cross ref. Processing Workers' Compensation Claims Policy).
• an employee is on a pre-approved annual leave and the employee is hospitalized, or a member of the immediate family dies (cross. ref. Leave Reporting Policy).
• an employee is scheduled for a pre-approved annual leave and is ill the previous workday (cross ref. Leave Reporting Policy).
• disabilities caused or contributed to by pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, childbirth, and the recovery from, shall be for all job-related purposes, temporary disabilities and shall be treated the same as any other off-the-job illness or disability would be treated for sick leave entitlement. For this reason employees shall be entitled to sick leave for their disabilities related to pregnancy and childbirth on the same terms and conditions as they or other employees would be entitled for other illnesses and disabilities. In determining whether an employee is unable to work because of a disability related to pregnancy or childbirth, the same criteria shall be used as would be used in the case of another type of off-the-job illness or disability.

RECORD KEEPING:

All sick leave earned/used by an employee must be recorded on the official University time sheet form. The hours earned/used should be recorded in the appropriate column(s) of the time sheet and submitted, along with and departmental leave request form(s), to the appropriate departmental administrator at the end of each month (cross ref. Leave Reporting Policy). Each individual department is responsible for keeping accurate records of an employee’s earned/used sick leave.

MAXIMUM CHARGE:

The maximum charge against sick leave will be 260 work days per confinement, at which time disability retirement should be considered. Sick leave is paid time off. Sick leave charges will run concurrent with other leave charges (medical leaves of absence, family medical leave absences, catastrophic leave) as appropriate.

REPORTING OFF FROM WORK:

An employee is required to notify his/her supervisor or designee if ill or unable to work for any reason, prior to the employee's normal start time. Employees are also required to notify their supervisor prior to leaving the work site due to an illness. Failure to properly report off from work may result in disciplinary action against an employee (cross ref. cross. ref. Unauthorized Absence Policy).

WHEN PROOF OF ILLNESS IS REQUIRED:

It is the responsibility of the employee to provide appropriate and satisfactory information and/or documentation regarding his/her absence from work in order for it to be charged to accrued sick leave. Supervisors may require evidence from an employee for verification of an illness or other causes for which sick leave may be granted under this policy, regardless of the duration of the leave.

Sick leave for more than five consecutive days shall not be granted to an employee for illness without satisfactory proof of illness or injury, as evidenced by a statement of the treating licensed physician or by other proof satisfactory to WVU (Medical Verification/Catastrophic Leave Form). An employee who has been absent from work for an extended period because of illness or serious injury must obtain medical clearance before returning to work (cross ref. Medical Leave Verification Policy).

An employees failure to provide the requested verification may result in a prohibition to charge the time to accumulated sick leave, removal from the payroll, and/or disciplinary action (cross. ref. Unauthorized Absence Policy).

ON-THE-JOB INJURIES OR OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESSES:

On-the-job injuries or occupational illnesses which result in no more than three days of absence from work will not ultimately be charged against the employee's accumulated sick leave, provided the employee has reported the injury to his/her supervisor, completed and submitted the necessary Workers Compensation and incident report forms to the appropriate individuals, and the injury/illness is ruled compensable by Workers Compensation (cross ref. Processing Workers' Compensation Claims Policy). Sick leave is initially charged in this instance, however, upon receipt of approval by Workers’ Compensation the leave is reinstated.

If on-the-job injuries or illnesses require a medical leave beyond the three-day period, the employee may have the option of either:

• Receiving earned and accumulated sick leave benefits until exhausted and forfeiting any benefits adjudged to be due under the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Law or;
• Requesting a leave of absence without pay and reserving for future use any earned and accumulated sick and annual leave and receiving only Workers' Compensation benefits for which adjudged eligible (cross ref. Processing Workers' Compensation Claims Policy).

WHEN ACCUMULATED SICK LEAVE IS EXHAUSTED:

In cases where all accumulated sick leave has been used and annual leave is available, it shall be the option of that employee to:

• use any accumulated annual leave until it has also expired, rather than being removed from the payroll, or
• request a medical leave of absence without pay and retain the accumulated annual leave for use after the return to work.

TRANSFER OF SICK LEAVE FROM AGENCIES OF WEST VIRGINIA STATE GOVERNMENT TO WVU:

Accumulated sick leave may be transferred from other agencies of West Virginia State Government to WVU. It is the responsibility of the employee to request for a transfer of sick leave within one (1) year of the last date of employment with the other agency. Certification of the sick leave balance from the losing state agency must accompany the request for transfer and bear the signature of an officer of that agency.

UNUSED SICK LEAVE:

Sick leave provisions are contingent upon continued employment. Upon termination of employment, other than retirement, all accumulated sick leave will be considered forfeited as of the last working day with the institution. No reimbursement shall be provided for unused sick leave.

Employees who resign in good standing and are later reemployed may have their total accumulated sick leave reinstated, provided the date of termination is one (1) year or less from the date of reemployment. However, if the employee returns to work after more than one (1) year from the date of termination, no more than 30 days of accumulated sick leave may be reinstated.

Upon retirement, employees meeting the criteria established by the plan administrators (PEIA), may elect to have any unused sick leave applied as a credit toward the premium for the West Virginia Public Employee Insurance Plan.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Additional information or questions regarding sick leave procedures should be addressed to the Medical Management Unit in the Division of Human Resources at 293-5700 x8. Additional information or questions regarding sick leave usage or policy should be directed to the Employee Relations Unit in the Division of Human Resources at 293-5700 x5.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 6, 2003

WVU POLICY REFERENCE: http://www.wvu.edu/~adminfin/policies/hr_policies/WVU-HR-46.html