06:10:11 Faculty Sick Leave Bank

Purpose

To provide regulatory guidance for a faculty sick leave bank, for eligible faculty members, to provide emergency sick leave to members of the bank who have suffered an unplanned personal illness, injury, disability or quarantine and who have exhausted their personal sick and annual leave.

Policy

I. Establishment

The faculty sick leave bank is established in accordance with TBR Guideline P-060 and pursuant to a petition submitted to the president and signed by 20 regular full-time employees holding faculty rank.

II. Eligibility

Participation in the faculty sick leave bank is available to full-time and regular part-time employees who hold faculty rank whether serving in an academic or fiscal year appointment. To be eligible to enroll, an employee must have enough accumulated sick leave for the initial assessment. Employees with pre-existing illnesses or injuries are eligible for enrollment, but will be restricted to a maximum number of hours that can be withdrawn due to reoccurrence of a pre-existing condition.

III. Administration

The faculty sick leave bank shall be administered by five trustees appointed by the president of Walters State Community College. The trustees shall prepare a plan of operation subject to approval of the president. The plan shall be in compliance with TBR Guideline P-060, TBR Policy, institution policy, appropriate recordkeeping and accounting principles and statutory provisions.

IV. Trustees

The five trustees shall consist of a minimum of three faculty who devote a majority of their time to classroom instruction. The remaining trustees may be members of the administrative staff. Initial appointments are made as follows: two trustees will serve for one year, two trustees for two years and one trustee for three years. Current trustees are eligible for reappointment. Any vacancy resulting from expiration of a term, discontinuation of employment, retirement, death, resignation, or removal by the president of a trustee from the trustee role shall be filled immediately by appointment by the president. A chairperson shall be elected by the trustees for a term determined by the trustees. Upon expiration of the chairperson’s term, an election will be held to elect a new chairperson. A chairperson may be reelected.

The trustees shall approve or reject requests for withdrawal of leave from the bank. They shall adopt reasonable rules for assessment of sick leave hours in order to maintain an adequate reserve of sick leave hours for bank members. The reserve shall only be established through the assessment of bank membership and shall maintain a positive balance at all times.

All actions by the trustees require three affirmative votes for approval.

V. Sick Leave Bank Plan of Operation

The plan of operation includes the following provisions:

1. An employee must have been a member of the bank for 30 calendar days prior to applying or withdrawal of bank sick leave. All withdrawal requests shall be routed via the appropriate administrative supervisor and the Human Resources Department prior to submission to the Board of Trustees. In addition, a physician’s statement must accompany the request and must include the following information:
    
   1. nature and cause of disability
       
   2. the expected duration
       
   3. prognosis and opinion as to ability to return to work
       
   4. date when first diagnosed and/or treated
       

Refusal to submit the physician’s statement will result in denial of the request for bank sick leave. The trustees reserve the right to require an independent medical opinion from a physician of their choosing. All costs of such medical opinions will be the responsibility of the bank member. Every effort will be made to insure confidentiality relative to medical forms.
 

2. A bank member’s sick leave (and annual leave, if applicable), must be exhausted prior to receiving bank sick leave.
    
3. Approved bank sick leave will run concurrently with FMLA leave for an eligible employee who has not already exhausted the 12-workweek entitlement.
    
4. Bank sick leave shall not be used for:
    
   1. elective surgery
       
   2. worker compensation claims
       
   3. illness or death of any member of the individual’s family
       
   4. a period during when the individual is receiving disability benefits from social security or a state-sponsored retirement plan or Board of Claims benefit.
       
   5. pregnancy, unless it is accompanied by medical complications that incapacitates the faculty member and prevents her from working.
       
5. Initial grants of bank sick leave to individual bank members shall not exceed the hourly equivalent of 20 consecutive work days (150.0 hours). Total grants of bank sick leave shall not exceed the hourly equivalent of 60 days (450.0 hours) in any plan year. The maximum number of bank sick leave hours a member may receive for any one illness, recurring diagnosed illness, or accident is the hourly equivalent of 90 work days (675.0 hours).
    
6. A bank member may be eligible to receive sick leave that has been donated by other employees if he or she has made application for bank sick leave and the necessity for bank leave is substantiated by the trustees. Should bank sick leave be denied, the bank member shall be eligible to receive donations from other employees as provided in TBR Policy 5:01:01:15 Transfer of Sick Leave Between Employees.
    
7. When a bank member is physically or mentally unable to apply for bank sick leave, the immediate next-of-kin may make a request for bank sick leave on his or her behalf. If there is no next-of-kin, this request may be made by the legally appointed guardian, conservator or an individual acting under valid power of attorney.
    
8. Grants of bank sick leave shall not be contingent upon repayment of hours used or waiver of other employment benefits or rights.
    
9. A bank member shall lose the right to request bank sick leave upon termination of employment retirement, cancellation of bank membership, refusal to submit a physician’s statement, refusal to honor the trustee’s assessment and upon going on a leave of absence in a non-pay status for reasons other than illness, injury or disability. A bank member’s inability to honor the trustees’ assessment will result in temporary loss of the right to withdraw bank sick leave. This right will be restored upon transfer of the individual’s personal sick leave assessment to the sick leave bank.
    
10. By written notice to the trustees, a member may withdraw from bank participation at any time. Membership withdrawal shall result in forfeiture of all days contributed.
     
11. Assessed sick leave is non-refundable upon cancellation of membership and non-transferable upon transfer to another TBR institution, UT or state agency.
     
12. Employees who are granted bank sick leave shall continue to accrue sick leave and annual leave, if applicable, and receive service credit for retirement and longevity purposes during the time they are on bank sick leave. Also, they will accrue credit for any holidays that may occur during the bank sick leave period.
     
13. The operation of the faculty sick leave bank shall exist separately from the regular sick leave accrued to individual’s personal account with respect to approvals and appeals. The decisions of the trustees shall not be appealable beyond the trustees in compliance with TBR guidelines on faculty sick leave banks.
     
14. All official forms and records pertaining to the sick leave bank and formal minutes of the trustee’s meetings will be maintained in the Human Resources Department. All records shall be subject to audit by appropriate state officials. Every effort will be made to insure confidentiality relative to medical forms.
     
15. Annual enrollment periods will be during the month of September. Enrollment forms and guidelines will be made available to eligible employees.
     
16. The plan year shall be October 1st through September 30th annually.
     
17. All eligible employees who initially elect to join the bank during an annual enrollment period shall be assessed a number of sick leave hours equivalent to three days (22.5 hours) as the initial enrollment assessment. All members shall be assessed the same amount of sick leave hours. The assessment of sick leave shall be deducted from the individual’s accumulated sick leave account.
     
18. Subsequent assessments will be made in order to maintain a minimum balance in the bank’s reserves. This minimum balance is set at 40 days (300.0 hours) and is subject to modification by the trustees. The amount of subsequent assessments will depend upon the balance in the bank’s reserves and the number of members. However, the maximum for any one assessment shall be no more than three days (22.5 hours).
     
19. Upon cancellation of membership, a former member must meet the initial assessment in order to rejoin the bank and may rejoin only during the annual enrollment period.
     
20. A restriction on pre-existing illnesses or injuries limits the number of hours that may be withdrawn for a particular pre-existing condition to the equivalent of 20 days (150.0 hours) for any one pre-existing condition.
     

VI. Procedures

Application to participate in the faculty sick leave bank shall be made on forms prepared and approved by the trustees and filed with the Human Resources Department.

All requests to draw upon the bank must be made upon a Faculty Sick Leave Bank Request form and submitted to the trustees not more than 30 calendar days prior to the first date bank usage is requested. A physician’s statement, including the information specified in subparagraph 1.a. of this plan, must accompany the request form. In extreme and unusual cases exceptions may be approved.

The trustees shall act affirmatively or negatively on all requests within ten calendar days of receipt of the application.

All records of the faculty sick leave bank shall be kept in the Human Resources Department. The trustees shall inform this office of all requests they approve and the amount of additional leave granted the member.

VII. Amendments

Amendments to these guidelines may be made by an affirmative vote of three trustees and approval by the president.

VIII. Dissolution of the Bank

The sick leave bank shall be dissolved if the institution is closed or the bank membership falls below 20 individuals. Upon dissolution for insufficient membership, the total hours on deposit shall be returned to participating members at the time of the dissolution; and credit shall be given to their personal sick leave account in proportion of the number of hours each has been assessed individually. 03/06; 10/13; 05/16