06:10:02 Sick Leave

Purpose

To establish procedures for approval and use of employee sick leave.

Policy

It is the policy of the Tennessee Board of Regents to protect all regular full-time and regular part-time employees against loss of earnings due to illness, injury, or incapacity to work, including illness or incapacity to work due to pregnancy, and to provide time off to employees in the event of serious illness or death of certain family members. Full-time employees are eligible to accrue seven and one-half (7.5) hours (1 day) of sick leave per month after working more than 50 percent of the month. Regular part-time employees are eligible to accrue sick leave on a prorated basis equal to the percentage of their employment to full-time employment.

Walters State faculty and staff employees shall have a Leave Request completed for each day or period of absence which meets the criteria for sick leave under this policy. If the employee is absent for the entire day, the appropriate amount of leave will be charged. A normal work day is seven and one-half (7.5) hours sick leave, but more leave may be charged if the employee is working an adjusted work schedule pursuant to WSCC Policy 06:10:15  Adjusted Work Schedule. The final approving authority for sick leave requests is the chief administrative officer.

Once sick leave has been approved, it is the responsibility of departments and/or supervisors to submit leave forms to the Human Resources Department in a timely manner. Timely, in this context, shall be defined as no later than three working days after the leave has been approved. If it is unknown how long an employee will be away from the worksite, sick leave forms should be filed regularly (one week, at a minimum) until the employee returns.

If an employee is out of work for a personal or family “serious health condition” such as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition for more than three consecutive days, the Human Resources Department must be notified by phone or e-mail so that Family Medical Leave paperwork can be completed. (See TBR Policy 5:01:01:14 or WSCC Policy 06:10:13 ). Sick leave and Family Medical Leave (FMLA) shall run concurrently. Where an employee must be absent because of illness in the immediate family, sick leave may be granted by the appropriate approving authority. “Immediate family” shall be defined as listed in TBR Policy 5:01:01:07, section III.C.

Sick leave, if available, may be granted at the discretion of the appropriate approving authority in instances of death of a member of the family as detailed in TBR Policy 5:01:01:07, section III. D.
Additional sick leave procedures applicable to faculty members may be found in WSCC Policy 06:10:10 .
Upon termination of employment, accumulated sick leave shall not be used as terminal leave, and the employee shall not be entitled to any lump sum payment for accumulated sick leave. If an employee is transferring to another state agency, his or her accumulated sick leave shall be transferred according to Leave Transfer between TBR Institutions and State Agencies. (See TBR Policy No. 5:01:01:06.)

If an employee leaves the System or any other state service in good standing after having worked on a full-time continuous basis for at least one full year and thereafter returns to service with the System on a full-time basis, the employee shall immediately be credited with all sick leave to which he or she was entitled at the time of the previous termination,
 

1. Certification of such entitlement must be received from the previous employer if other than the new employer;
2. If the employee has had interim employment with the System or any other agency of the State of Tennessee of less than one year, he or she shall not be disqualified from receiving credit for sick leave to which he or she is otherwise entitled.
    

Notwithstanding the above paragraph, if any state employee or teacher employed by a local school board in Tennessee leaves the employment of the state or of that board in good standing and becomes a full-time employee within six months of the date of termination, the employee shall immediately be credited with all sick leave to which he or she was entitled at the time of the previous termination.

Employees who are members of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System who terminate due to retirement shall have all unused accumulated sick leave credited toward retirement service. Optional Retirement Program (ORP) member employees who terminate due to retirement shall have all unused accumulated sick leave credited toward retirement service for insurance purposes only. 11/08; 10/13; 01/15; 05/16