SUU Seal (for official use only)
Print Friendly and PDF

POLICY #9.10 
SUBJECT: Sick Leave

I. PURPOSE

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

II. REFERENCES

III. DEFINITIONS

  1. Disability: Disability shall mean temporary inability to discharge the duties of employment as a result of mental or physical injury, illness, or incapacity.

IV. POLICY

  1. Sick Leave Benefits, Accruals, and Authorization
    1. Eligibility for sick leave benefits is provided only to non-faculty, salaried employees under regular University appointment for half-time or more and for nine (9) months or more. An employee may use accrued sick leave for personal illness, injury, or incapacity. An employee may also use up to eight (8) days of accrued sick leave for the illness, injury, or incapacity of the employee's spouse, dependent children, parent, and parent-in-law.
    2. Full-time non-faculty, salaried employees under regular University appointment accrue one (1) day (eight [8] hours) per month sick leave for each month so employed and may accrue up to 130 working days (approximately six [6] months). Part-time non-faculty employees accrue a proportionate amount based on percentage of time worked.
    3. Faculty appointments do not accrue sick leave.
    4. Employees on a leave without pay status do not accrue sick leave during this period.
    5. 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.
    6. Employees hired directly from other Utah System of Higher Education institutions or from the USHE System Office will be able to transfer up to a maximum of 130 days or 1,040 hours of their unused sick leave balances to Southern Utah University.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. If the length of the Disability exceeds the employee's sick leave available, the employee may use any accumulated annual leave or go on leave without pay.
    10. An employee who is terminated, resigns, or retires will not be compensated for unused accrued sick leave.
    11. Sick leave shall be authorized by the employee's immediate supervisor. Sick leave taken is recorded to the nearest full hour. At the end of each month, 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 Human Resources Director 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 serious or 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. Non-faculty, salaried employees under regular University appointment who qualify for the accruing and granting of sick leave and for earning and accruing annual leave are eligible to participate in the sick leave conversion program.
    2. Unused sick leave will automatically be converted to annual 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. Net sick leave days (annuals accruals less hours used as of June 30) accumulated during the sick leave year (July 1 through June 30) of up to four (4) days may be converted. This provision is waived if, at the time of conversion, the employee has accumulated a minimum of 26 days of unused sick leave.
      3. The days converted to annual leave may not exceed four (4) days.
      4. Converted sick leave will be managed under the annual leave policy once conversion has taken place. This includes the maximum accrued for annual leave credits carried forward from one period (ending June 30) to the next period (starting July 1) of 30 days.
      5. Eligible employees must submit a request in writing by October 31 in the year of conversion to the Human Resource Office if they do not elect to have sick leave converted to annual leave.

V. RELEVANT FORMS/LINKS

N/A

VI. QUESTIONS/RESPONSIBLE OFFICE

The responsible office for this Policy is the Vice President for Finance and Administration. 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