Personal Leave

Purpose:
Whether you are sick or planning a family vacation, Converse University offers generous leave benefits to help our employees maintain a healthy balance between work and home life. The University provides Fulltime Employees personal leave, to provide time off for personal sickness, caring for a family member, mental Health & Wellness, in certain inclement weather circumstances beyond university closings, quarantine, bereavement and other unplanned absences.

Policy:
To provide more flexibility with personal leave practices and to encourage employees to take time of this leave is provided to all fulltime and part-time employees.

Eligibility
Full-time administrative and staff employees who are scheduled to work more than 35 hours per week, 12 months per year, are eligible for up to 104 hours of paid personal leave each year.

1. Paid leave is earned on a pro-rata basis for newly hired employees.
2. Personal leave accrues from year to year and may be carried over not to exceed 520 hours (13 weeks)
3. Personal leave should be used for absences such as sick time, funeral leave, doctor’s appointments, child/school-related meetings and other emergencies. This is not to be treated as vacation leave.
4. Notice for the use of emergencies, your supervisor should at least be given at least 24 hours in advance except in the case of unforeseen circumstances when the notice should be given as soon as possible.
5. This benefit is ineligible for payout at the separation of employment and does not count toward years of service for purposes of retirement. Please note all absences are subject to the Absence Reporting and CallIn Requirements guidelines. Absences due to illness of three consecutive days or more will require medical
6. When personal leave is used for sickness/illness, it may be used for:
   1. general illness or injury of an employee or an employee’s Family Member. “Family Member” is defined as the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent (not a parent-in-law). Son or daughter means a biological, adopted, or foster child; a stepchild; a legal ward; or a child of a person standing in loco parentis who is either under age 18 or age 18 or older and incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability. A parent is defined as a biological, adoptive, step or foster father or mother, or any other individual who stood in loco parentis to the employee when he or she was a minor;
   2. care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition, including incapacity due to pregnancy and for prenatal medical care;
   3. a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job, including incapacity due to pregnancy and for prenatal medical care; or
   4. medical or dental appointments;
   5. the birth of a son or daughter or placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption or foster care, and to bond with the newborn or newly-placed child;
   6. an employee's disability not covered under workers’ compensation; and/or self-quarantine/self-isolation when remote alternative options are not available.

Please note: If personal leave is used for approved FMLA, it must be taken concurrently.