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Human Resources Classified Staff
Policy and Procedures

POLICY

The purpose of sick leave is to provide a continuation of salary or wages to eligible Classified Staff employees whose absences from work meet the requirements of this policy. Sick leave is a privilege and not an earned right.

ELIGIBILITY

Regular Classified Staff employees are eligible and accrue sick leave from the most recent date of hire into a Regular Classified Staff position. Part-Time and Temporary Classified Staff employees are not eligible for sick leave benefits.

ACCRUAL

An eligible Regular Classified Staff employee accrues sick leave at the rate of eight (8) hours for each month of full-time employment, calculated on a biweekly basis. Sick leave hours shall accrue at the rate of 3.69 hours per 80 hour pay period for full-time employees, or .046125 hours for each paid hour up to 80 hours.

Employees shall not accrue sick leave while in an unpaid status or for overtime hours worked.

REQUIREMENTS

Sick Leave - Family and Medical Leave (see Policy 218.0)

During any period of Family and Medical Leave, eligible employees must use accrued sick leave. Employees who are absent from work for more than three (3) consecutive work days due to a qualifying reason under Family and Medical Leave will have the period of absence credited to their Family and Medical Leave entitlement. 

Eligible employees may use sick leave as described below for situations where Family and Medical Leave does not apply.

Sick Leave - Employee Illness/Injury

Eligible employees may be granted sick leave when they are unable to perform duties because of 1) illness, injury, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions or 2) when absent for the purpose of obtaining health-related services not available outside of regular working hours.

Sick Leave - Serious Illness Within an Employee's Immediate Family, Established Household or In Primary Care Situations

An eligible employee may be granted sick leave when absence is the result of serious illness or communicable disease within the employee's immediate family, established household, or in situations which place primary responsibility for care on the employee. For purposes of sick leave usage for an absence not covered under Family and Medical Leave, serious illness means that the employee's presence is required temporarily until other arrangements can be made to provide essential care to a family member who resides at the employee's residence and who is under the care of a physician.

An eligible employee may use sick leave upon death of family members who are not covered under University of Arizona Classified Staff HR Policy 208, Administrative Leave With Pay, #5, Bereavement. Employees may use up to three days of accrued sick leave for this purpose and two additional days to attend or arrange funeral services out-of-state.

Sick Leave - Probationary Regular Classified Staff

A Probationary Regular Classified Staff employee is eligible for sick leave during the initial probationary period under the following conditions:

Sick leave is limited to the amount the employee has earned and shall be recovered from the final paycheck if the employee terminates prior to completion of the probationary period.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

If an authorized holiday falls within a period of absence caused by illness or injury, sick leave shall not be charged.

It is the responsibility of the employee to report medical inability to work before the start of the shift or as soon as possible thereafter.

It is the responsibility of the department head or designee to maintain an accurate record of sick leave for each eligible employee, confirm that the employee has the requested time available, and to ensure accurate designation of sick leave used on the Employee Time Record. Eligible employees who become ill or injured and are confined by a physician during periods of approved vacation may request conversion of that time to sick leave. Department heads are authorized to approve such requests based upon written verification of confinement from the physician.

An employee who has used all available sick hours and remains unable to work may request a leave of absence in accordance with the applicable leave of absence policy.

Employees who are transferred from Regular Classified Staff status to Temporary Classified Staff, Part-Time Classified Staff, student, or other status shall retain their accrued balance of sick leave. This balance shall be available for use upon return to Regular Classified Staff status, provided there has been no break in University service.

No accrued sick leave shall be paid upon separation from University service except upon retirement. As defined by the Arizona State Retirement Program, an employee who has an accumulated balance at the time of retirement of 500 hours or more at time of retirement shall be eligible to apply for cash payout of their sick leave benefit over a 3 year period, in accordance with applicable provisions. (See Policy # 202). The official record of the University for determining sick leave accrual balance is the Central Leave Reporting System.

Sick leave payments to employees concurrently receiving long-term disability payments, Social Security disability payments, and/or worker's compensation payments shall be made only to the extent that the total of all such payments including sick leave does not exceed the employee's regular gross earnings.

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