91Ó°ÊÓ

Revised: October 1, 2014

Permanent full-time College employees accrue sick leave at the rate of one day per month up to a maximum of twelve for the fiscal year. 9 month and 10.5-month faculty earn sick leave on a pro rata basis. The leave shall be computed as a percentage of the total amount earned by a full-time employee. 

Permanent part-time and temporary employees do not earn sick leave.

• Advancement—The College may advance sick leave not to exceed the amount that would be earned during the period for which the employee is contracted to work.
• Verification— The College may require a statement from a medical doctor or other proof verifying the need for sick leave when such leave is for as many as five workdays.

Requests for sick leave must be reported before the employees scheduled work hours and will be submitted through the online leave system to the appropriate department chairperson or administrator. If possible, this leave request should be submitted in advance. If this situation is impractical, submission of the online leave approval should be submitted for approval upon return to work.

Employees not reporting after three days, or failing to report at the expiration of the leave of absence, unless an extension has been requested, may be considered as resigning or a failure to report to duty and subject to termination.

Acceptable Reasons for Sick Leave are listed below:

• Illness or injury which prevents an employee from performing his or her usual duties.
• Illness of a member of the employee’s immediate family. An immediate family member is defined as “spouse, parent (including biological, adoptive, step or legal ward), child (including biological, adopted, foster, step or legal ward), brother or sister (including step, half or in-law relationships), grandparent or grandchild (including step relationships), and other dependents living in the employee’s household. The term includes the step, half, and in-law relationships. A maximum of twelve days per fiscal year is allowable for this purpose.
• Quarantine due to a contagious disease in the employee’s immediate family.
• The period of actual temporary disability connected with child bearing as determined by the attending physician. During such a period of disability, the natural father may request sick leave for parental purposes.

College employees may be credited with sick leave accumulated from previous employment in N.C. institutions or agencies provided that this transfer is within five years of hire. Employees who move from staff to faculty positions will be paid for vacation leave, up to 240 hours or 30 days, if not taken prior to transfer. Those who move from faculty to staff positions will accrue vacation leave based on their years of aggregate service in College and/or state employment.

Sick Leave & Separation

• Sick leave is not allowable in terminal leave payments when an employee separates from the College.
• Should an employee be separated before earning all of the sick leave taken, it will be necessary to make deductions from the employee’s final salary check for overdrawn leave on a day-to-day basis.
• Sick leave shall be exhausted before the granting of leave without pay due to extended illness. While exhausting sick leave, an employee earns all benefits for which he or she is entitled.
• Retirement Credit: Sick leave accumulated under this policy shall be transferred to total service as provided under the North Carolina Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System.
• If an employee is separated for any reason and begins drawing retirement benefits within five (5) years from the date of his or her separation, sick leave accumulated during the employee’s tenure at the college will be credited toward retirement.

Reinstatement of Sick Leave

• Reduction in force: Employees separated because of a reduction in force shall be credited with sick leave that has been accumulated up to the date of separation if reinstated within one year. Sick leave cannot be accumulated during any absence from the college.
• Authorized leave without pay: Employees granted leave without pay shall be credited with accrued sick leave if reinstated before the termination date of such leave.
• If an employee is separated for reasons other than those stated above and is reinstated within one year from the date of his or her last workday, he or she will have sick leave credits reinstated equal to those accumulated at the time of separation.

Sick Leave Without Pay
Sick leave without pay may be granted by the College for the remaining period of disability after both sick and annual leave have been exhausted until the 60-day waiting period for disability has been met. After this point, the employee should follow disability procedures as defined by the State Retirement Plan.

 

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