Paid Time Off: Sick Leave

General

The primary purpose of sick leave is to provide a reasonable measure of protection against loss of income due to illness or disability.

Other Reasons Sick Leave May Be Taken

In addition to personal illness, sick leave may be taken under the following circumstances with managerial approval:

Doctor/Dentist Appointment. Employees are encouraged to schedule medical appointments during non-working time. However, if necessary, sick leave may be charged.
Bereavement/Family Illness. An employee may charge up to fifteen (15) days accrued sick leave per calendar year for a death or illness of an immediate family member. Immediate family is defined as parent, child, spouse, sibling, parent-in-law, child-in-law, grandparent, grandchild or any person with whom the employee makes his/her home.

Sick Leave and FMLA

Sick leave may run concurrently with other types of unpaid leave, under the terms and conditions of RF policies and procedures, such as FMLA. For additional information that applies specifically to the administration of leave under FMLA, see:

Documentation Required from Employees When Returning to Work

An employee absent on sick leave for five (5) or more consecutive work days (except for bereavement/family illness) is required to produce a return to work form filled out by a physician before returning to work.

Identifying Patterns of Sick Leave Abuse

Each location should maintain adequate records for proper control and to identify the reasons for which sick leave is used. This will assist in the identification of patterns which suggest abuse of sick leave. Examples of patterns would be the consistent use of sick leave on Friday afternoons, Monday mornings, and the day before or after holiday or vacation leave. If the manager, working in consultation with the operating location's office responsible for Research Foundation personnel, determines that such a pattern exists, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.

Eligibility

Salaried employees appointed at a minimum of .5 full time equivalent (FTE) are eligible to accrue sick leave unless they are

appointed for the summer only.
assigned a student title(s): Research Project Assistant, Project Instructional Assistant, Research Aide, Senior Research Aide, or Camp Counselor – Student.

When Accruals Begin

Sick leave begins to accrue as of the first pay period in which the employee works the majority of the pay period. Sick leave is available for use upon accrual.

Accrual Rate for Exempt Employees

Full-time employees accrue sick leave biweekly during their employment as indicated in the table Sick Leave Accrual Rates for Exempt and Nonexempt Employees in the Rates resource area.

Part-time employees accrue sick leave on a prorata basis according to FTE. For example, if employed at .75 FTE, an employee will accrue at 75% of the full-time rate based on length of service.

Accrual Rate for Nonexempt Employees

Full-time employees accrue sick leave as indicated in the table Sick Leave Accrual Rates for Exempt and Nonexempt Employees in the Rates resource area.

Part-time employees accrue sick leave on a prorata basis according to FTE. For example, if employed at .75 FTE, an employee will accrue at 75% of the full-time rate based on length of service.

Maximum Carry-Over

Employees may accumulate in excess of 200 sick days (1500 hours for 37.5 hour workweek and 1600 hours for 40 hour workweek) during a calendar year, by combining current accruals with unused past accruals. However, no more than 200 sick days may be carried over from calendar year to calendar year.

Payment for Accrued Sick Leave

No payment is made for unused sick leave upon termination of employment.

Retirement Contribution for Sick Leave

Employees who

have at least 10 continuous years of equivalent full-time service,
still meet eligibility requirements, and
retire at age 55 or older,
will be credited with a retirement contribution based on the value of accrued sick leave at the time of retirement up to a maximum of the full-time equivalent of 200 days. Employees who terminate employment or retire prior to the qualifying ages listed above will not receive a retirement contribution for sick leave accruals.

NYC's Earned Sick Time Act

If they are not otherwise eligible for RF paid sick leave, employees working in New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island) may be eligible under the NYC's Earned Sick Time Act. Eligible employees will receive paid sick leave after working 80 or more hours in a calendar year, this includes intermittent hours worked in NYC by employees whose primary work site is outside NYC. Employees may carry over a maximim of 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.

Extra Service appointments do not receive vacation, sick or personal leave.

The Notice of Employee Rights is included in the employee orientation package, where applicable.

Funding Sick Leave

Refer to the Leave Policy.

Change History

March 16, 2015 - Included NYC Paid Sick Leave, removed "Research Graduate Assistant", and added "Sick Leave and FMLA" section.
August 10, 2009 - Modified Maximum Carry-over section to remove limits to part-time employees
April 4, 2005 - Added "child-in-law" to "Bereavement/Family Illness" section.
November 22, 2004 - Revised Maximum Carry over section to change language from can accumulate a maximum to in excess of.
July 1, 2001 - Added "Research Graduate Assistant" as a student title.

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