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All full time benefited employees accrue paid sick leave at a rate of 8 hours per calendar month of service.  Benefited part time employees accrue at an equivalent ratio to their percentage of employment (i.e. - half time employees accrue at half the rate of full time employees). There is no limit to the amount of sick time that an employee may accrue and carry into the next calendar year. 

An employee must be hired on or before the 15th of the month to accrue leave for that month. 

An employee must have worked through the 15th of the month or have returned from Leave by the 15th of the month in order to accrue leave for that month. Sick Leave is accrued on the last working day of the month.

Use of accrued sick leave may be granted at the discretion of the university and upon approval of an immediate supervisor for any of the following reasons:

• Illness or injury of the employee
• Medical or dental treatment or consultation
• Quarantine due to a contagious illness in the employee's household
• Illness, injury, or death in the employee's immediate family which requires the employee's presence. This ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ policy defines immediate family member as spouse, child, or parent.

Use of paid sick leave should be reported to Payroll via . In all cases, a day of sick leave will be computed for purposes of pay and time on the basis of the employee's regular work day.

If sick leave is claimed for a continuous period in excess of five working days, a Leave of Absence must be requested and approved through HR and a physician's statement must be obtained to permit further claim of sick leave with pay. A physician’s release to work will also be required upon your return.

Unused sick leave is forfeited upon termination except where allowed to be used towards retirement calculations (TRS participants only).

University System of Georgia (USG) institutions are authorized to establish policies through which employees may voluntarily donate unused sick leave to a pool for possible use by another institutional employee who is experiencing a serious health condition or whose immediate family member is experiencing a serious health condition and who has used all of their accumulated paid leave. Shared Sick Leave Policy

You are required to use your sick leave accruals while out on a medical leave of absence. If you have short term disability coverage, you must freeze your paid sick time while being paid disability.  Once short term disability is exhausted and you are still out on leave, you can start being paid sick time.  Once sick is exhausted, you may elect to use vacation hours. Hours will be utilized in whole day increments. 

If you participate in the Donated Sick Leave Program you will not be considered to receive a donation until all of your own paid leave time has been exhausted and you do not have any Short Term Disability benefits. 

Full time benefited employees working in positions that require 12 month work commitment accrue vacation leave as follows:

Benefited part time employees accrue at an equivalent ratio to their percentage of employment (i.e. - half time employees accrue at half the rate of full time employees). Administrative Officers and Faculty accrue 14 hours per month regardless of years of service. Vacation hours may only be carried over each January 1 at a maximum of 360 hours.

Except for unseen emergencies, vacation hours should be scheduled as far in advance as possible. Requests to use vacation hours must be approved by the employee's immediate supervisor. Use of paid vacation hours should be reported to Payroll via  whenever applicable or otherwise via Leave Request/Report Form. A terminating employee will be compensated for unused vacation hours up to a maximum of 360 hours.

Employees transferring to ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ from another USG Institution may transfer and/or be compensated for unused vacation hours per BOR policy. No break in service may occur to be eligible to transfer unused vacation hours.

Employees transferring to ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ from a State Agency may transfer a maximum of ninety-six (96) hours of sick leave. To be eligible, the employee must have no more than a 30-calendar-day break in service. Written verification of the employee’s sick leave balance from the State Agency must be received by ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ in order to process the transfer of accrued sick time. Vacation Leave time is not allowed to be transferred from a State Agency to ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ.

To supplement work-life balance options for University System of Georgia employees, each fulltime, regular employee of the USG shall be eligible for up to eight hours of paid leave per calendar year for the purpose of promoting education in this state as authorized by O.C.G.A. § 45-20-32. Only activities directly related to student achievement and academic support will qualify for education support leave. Education support leave is not charged against any other leave. Education support leave does not accumulate or roll over and is not paid – out upon change of employment status. 

Vacation and Annual Leave

A regular employee, as defined in the , who works one-half time or more shall earn paid vacation/annual leave. A full-time regular employee shall be entitled to vacation/annual leave earned at the rate of:

1. One and one-fourth working days per month (10 hours) for each of the first five years of continuous employment.
   
   
2. One and one-half working days per month (12 hours) for each of the next five years of continuous employment.
   
   
3. One and three-fourths working days per month (14 hours) for each year after the completion of ten years of continuous employment.

The accrual rate of vacation/annual leave for an hourly employee will be based upon his/her standard work commitment. The use of approved vacation/annual leave shall be recorded on institutional leave records.

A regular employee who works one-half time or more but less than full-time shall accrue vacation/annual leave prorated on the basis of full-time employment. An employee who is employed less than one-half time shall not be eligible to accrue vacation/annual leave.

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Temporary Employee

A temporary employee, as defined in the , is not eligible to accrue vacation/annual leave.

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Faculty and Administrative Officers 

A member of the faculty and an administrative officer are defined in .

A full-time faculty member employed on a 12-month or fiscal year basis shall be entitled to vacation/annual leave earned at the rate of one and three-fourths working days (14 hours) per month. All working days during the fiscal year shall be counted. Absences during academic calendar breaks shall be recorded as vacation. All vacation days shall be recorded on institutional leave records.

A full-time administrative officer employed on a 12-month or fiscal year basis shall be entitled to vacation/annual leave earned at the rate of one and three-fourths working days (14 hours) per month. The use of approved vacation/annual leave shall be recorded on institutional leave records.

The accrual rate of vacation/annual leave for a faculty member or for an administrative officer will be based upon his/her contractual work commitment.

A faculty member who changes from a fiscal year contract to an academic year contract shall be paid his/her unused, accrued vacation/annual leave subject to the 45-day (360-hour) maximum payment restriction upon termination of the fiscal year contract.

A faculty member employed on an academic year (9- to 10-month) basis does not earn vacation/annual leave. An academic year contracted faculty member who teaches during Maymester and/or summer semester will not be eligible to accrue vacation/annual leave for such service.

Vacation/annual leave shall be accrued based on the initial employment date of an employee. A new hire must be employed on or before the fifteenth of a month to qualify for accrual of vacation/annual leave for that month.

Vacation/annual leave shall be taken at times mutually acceptable to the employee and his/her supervisor; provided, however, that a University System institution may, on not more than five days, require the use of vacation/annual leave during periods in which all or substantially all of the institution’s facilities are closed because classes are not offered.

On December 31 of each calendar year, each employee’s leave record shall be adjusted to reflect no more than 45 days (360 hours) of accrued vacation/annual leave.

All unused, accrued vacation/annual leave, not to exceed 45 days (360 hours), shall be paid to an employee upon his/her termination from employment. An employee who terminates on or after the fifteenth of a month shall accrue vacation/annual leave for that month.

Upon a move between USG institutions with no break in service, an employee must transfer all accrued vacation/annual leave up to 20 days (160 hours). For employees with accrued vacation/annual leave of greater than 20 days (160 hours), an employee may elect one of the following options:

1. Transfer of the total accrued vacation balance, not to exceed 45 days (360 hours); or,
2. Payment by the institution from which the employee is moving of accrued vacation leave in excess of 20 days (160 hours). The total accrued vacation leave for which the employee may be paid shall not exceed 25 days (200 hours).