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POLICY #9.10 
SUBJECT: Sick Leave

I. PURPOSE

The purpose of this Policy is to outline the University's policy on accruing sick leave for Eligible Employees and approving use of sick leave to employees who are temporarily disabled due to illness, injury, or incapacity.

II. REFERENCES

III. DEFINITIONS

  1. Disability: A temporary inability to discharge the duties of employment as a result of mental or physical injury, illness, or incapacity. Long-term disabilities are addressed under SUU Policy 8.2.8.
  2. Eligible Employee: Benefited, non-faculty employees under regular University appointment for .75 FTE or greater.
  3. Sick Leave: An Eligible Employee's personal illness, well-care and medical, dental, and vision appointments. Sick Leave may also be used to care for a member of an employee's immediate family (including the employee's spouse, domestic partner, children, and parents/parents-in-law).

IV. POLICY

  1. Sick Leave Benefits, Accruals, and Authorization
    1. An Eligible Employee may use accrued Sick Leave for personal illness, well-care, injury, or incapacity or to care for the employee's spouse, domestic partner, dependent children, parent, or parent-in-law.
    2. An Eligible Employee with a 1 FTE will accrue one (1) day (equivalent to eight [8] hours) of Sick Leave per month during their employment. They have the opportunity to accumulate a maximum of 130 working days (equal to 1,040 hours or approximately six [6] months). An Eligible Employee employed at least .75 and less than 1 FTE accrue a proportionate amount of leave based on percentage of time worked.
      1. Employees accrue Sick Leave based on the number of actual months worked. For example, a non-faculty, salaried employee on a nine (9) month regular University appointment shall accrue nine (9) days of Sick Leave or one (1) day per month worked during the 12-month Sick Leave year.
      2. Employees hired after the first day of the month will accrue a prorated portion of the one (1) day of Sick Leave during the first month of employment.
    3. Faculty appointments do not accrue Sick Leave.
    4. Employees on a leave without pay status do not accrue Sick Leave during this period (see SUU Policy 9.6).
    5. Employees hired directly from other Utah System of Higher Education institutions (USHE) or from the USHE System Office will be able to transfer up to a maximum of 130 days (1,040 hours) of their unused Sick Leave balances to Southern Utah University.
    6. Employees who miss three (3) or more days because of illness or injury must, upon request, provide their supervisor or the Human Resources Office with an appropriate medical certification.
      1. If the three (3) days are consecutive and the employee meets the qualifications, the employee will be Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) information and provided the documents to be completed by the employee and their doctor (see SUU Policy 9.7).
    7. If the length of the Disability exceeds the employee's Sick Leave available, the employee may use any accumulated vacation leave or go on leave without pay (see SUU Policy 9.6).
    8. An employee who is terminated, resigns, or retires will not be compensated for unused accrued Sick Leave.
    9. Employees should notify their supervisor as soon as possible when they are sick to allow for scheduling and departmental adjustments. When scheduling appointments or elective medical procedures, working with the employee's supervisor is expected to minimize the impact on the department and colleagues.
    10. Sick Leave Taken is recorded to the nearest quarter hour. The employee submits their leave report to their supervisor or to the supervisor's proxy/delegate. The supervisor or supervisor's proxy/delegate is responsible for reviewing and approving the employee's leave report.
  2. Extended Sick Leave
    1. After all accrued Sick Leave and earned vacation have been exhausted, extended Sick Leave for the employee may be authorized by the President. Such extension shall not exceed 90 days for the employee.
    2. It shall be the responsibility of the employee to request extended Sick Leave by submitting a formal, written application to the delegated official in Human Resources wherein both the term of the requested extension and the reasons for the request are explained in detail.
    3. Whenever the President allows extended Sick Leave, the Board of Trustees shall be informed in each instance at the next regularly scheduled Board meeting.
    4. The use of extended Sick Leave is limited to catastrophic non-work-related illnesses or injuries. Lost work time, due to work-related illnesses or injuries, is compensated by the State of Utah Workers' Compensation Act.
    5. The use of extended Sick Leave will be recorded as Family and Medical Leave under SUU Policy 9.7.
  3. Sick Leave Conversion Program
    1. All Eligible Employees, under this Policy, may participate in the Sick Leave conversion program.
    2. Unused Sick Leave will automatically be converted to vacation leave for Eligible Employees under the following guidelines and procedures:
      1. At the time of conversion, the employee must have accumulated a minimum of 18 days of unused Sick Leave.
      2. Employees with more than 26 days (208 hours) accumulated will be eligible for the full four (4) day (32 hours) conversion.
      3. Employees with at least 18 days (144 hours) but fewer than 26 days (208 hours) will be eligible for up to four (4) days (32 hours) of conversion. The amount of conversion will decrease if more than eight (8) days (64 hours) are used in that fiscal year.
      4. The days converted to vacation leave may not exceed four (4) days.
      5. Converted Sick Leave will be managed under SUU Policy 9.2 once conversion has taken place. This includes the maximum accrual for annual vacation leave credits that can be carried over from one period (ending on June 30) to the next period (beginning on July 1), which is 30 days (240 hours).
      6. Eligible Employees must submit a request in writing by October 15th in the year of conversion to the Human Resources Office if they do not elect to have Sick Leave converted to vacation leave.

V. RELEVANT FORMS/LINKS

N/A

VI. QUESTIONS/RESPONSIBLE OFFICE

The responsible office for this Policy is the Vice President for Finance. For questions about this Policy, contact the Office of Human Resources.

VII. POLICY ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT DATES

Date Approved: June 6, 1994

Amended: August 6, 2004; September 21, 2007; July 6, 2011; December 7, 2012, September 22, 2023