Southern Polytechnic State University
Policy and Procedure Manual
P&P Number:  802.08
Original Date: November 1987
Previous Revisions: April 1997
Approved: August 26, 2002
 
Faculty Sick Leave

Contents This P&P includes the following main sections:
  • Background and Board of Regents’ Policy
  • General Guidelines
  • Reasons for sick leave
  • Reporting of sick leave

Background &
Board Of
Regents’ Policy
The purpose of this P&P is to describe Southern Polytechnic's policy concerning sick leave for faculty members. It is in accordance with Board of Regents’ policy for sick leave, which follows:
(from the USG Academic Affairs Handbook, Section 4.16.02)
The following provisions for the reporting of sick leave shall apply to all full time faculty, employed by institutions of the University System of Georgia, who serve primarily in assignments defined by faculty roles in instruction, research and scholarly activity, and service.
  1. Faculty are responsible for informing their Chair of any illness that prohibits them from meeting their assigned responsibilities in instruction, research, and service.
  2. In reporting sick leave, academic year faculty will report leave based on the number of whole hours sick as defined by the BOR policy 802.08, with a full day being eight (8) hours, a half day being four (4) hours, and less than a half day based on whole hours missed, with a full week being the equivalent of a forty-hour workweek.
  3. Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted to indicate that faculty work on a standardized schedule.

General
Guidelines
  1. Full-time nine-month faculty accrue sick leave at the rate of one day per month of service. They accrue an additional three days if they teach in the summer term.
  2. Faculty members working less than one-half time do not accrue sick leave during the period they are working less than one-half time.
  3. Temporary faculty members do not accrue sick leave.
  4. All faculty working before July 1983 were credited with an initial number of days based on experience.
  5. Since July 1, 1983, sick leave accrual has been added to the initial number of days at the rate of one day per month with no limit to the total amount that can be accrued.
  6. For sick leave absences of one week or less, faculty report all absences that involve missing a teaching assignment or scheduled office hours, as a fraction of an 8-hour workday (see “Reporting of Sick Leave”).
  7. For sick leave absences longer than a week, every day of absence that is an SPSU scheduled work day is reported as 8 hours of sick leave, regardless of whether or not the faculty member has scheduled classes or office hours that day (see “Reporting of Sick Leave”).

Reasons for
Sick Leave
Sick leave may be granted, upon approval of the dean, for any of the following reasons:
  1. Illness or injury to the faculty member
  2. Medical and dental treatment or consultation
  3. Quarantine due to a contagious illness in the faculty member's household
  4. Illness, injury, or death in the faculty member's immediate family, requiring the faculty member's presence
Note:
If sick leave is claimed for a continuous period in excess of one week, a statement from the physician or other health care professional is required to permit further claim of sick leave rights by the faculty member.

Reporting of
Sick Leave
  • Absences of faculty members from campus because of illness are reported to the dean on the Faculty Sick Leave Form before an anticipated sick leave, or immediately upon return to campus in the case of sudden illness.
  • The following applies to sick leave absences longer than a week: every SPSU work day of absence is counted as sick leave for 8 hours a day up to 40 hours a week (assuming a regular work week without official holidays), regardless of whether or not the faculty member is scheduled to teach a class or hold office hours each day.  (If the faculty member returns to work for part of a day during this period, use the table below.)
  • The following applies to sick leave absences of one week or less: absences due to sickness on a day when a faculty member has no teaching assignments or scheduled office hours need not be reported as sick leave.  On days when the faculty member does have teaching or office hours scheduled, absences are reported at a rate of 8 hours per day.  Because faculty members have varying schedules, absences from campus for part of a day will be computed on the basis of the combined number of missed teaching and missed office hours as a percentage of an 8-hour day, as shown in the examples below.
Hours of Teaching and Office Hours Scheduled (for day) Hours of Teaching and Office Hours Missed (for day) Hours of Sick Leave to be Reported (rounded to nearest hour)
3
1
1/3 x 8 = 2.67 (3 hr)
6
3
3/6 x 8 = 4.00 (4 hr)
5
2
2/5 x 8 = 3.20 (3 hr)