Active Employees

For the purposes of promoting education in Georgia and supplementing work life balance, each full time, regular employee is eligible for up to eight (8) paid hours of Education Support Leave per calendar year. Such leave is in addition to, and not charged against, an employee’s other leave. 

Any full time, regular employee of the University System of Georgia, may request to use and be considered for education support leave. This leave will be available to all eligible employees, both parents of students and non-parents, and may be considered for activities supporting public, private, and home school achievement.

Only activities directly related to student achievement and academic support will qualify for education support leave. Such activities may range from early care and learning through higher education.

Activities that promote education in Georgia may include, but are not limited to, some of the following:

• Attend Parent/Teacher conferences
• Participate in classroom activities, such as reading to a class or presenting on career day
• Tutor students without receiving compensation
• Proctor examinations
• Attend award and recognition ceremonies or graduation exercises
• Participate in field day activities or chaperone field trips
• Attend open house functions

Use of Leave:

• Education support leave may not be utilized by the employee for themselves or for their spouse.
• Employees must not receive pay for services they perform while using education support leave.
• Supervisors may approve or deny requests for education support leave based on operational needs, or other reasons, such as conduct, attendance, or unsatisfactory work performance.
• Use of education support leave for any political purpose or agenda is prohibited.
• Education support leave does not accumulate, and unused leave does not rollover into subsequent calendar years. Rather, eligible employees may use education support leave for qualifying absences that occur during their regular scheduled work hours, up to a total of 8 hours in any calendar year.

Employees can use no more than 8 paid hours of education support leave in a calendar year regardless of transfer from one USG institution or office to another. Education support leave carries no cash value if unused. There will be no payout for unused education support leave upon termination.

This policy may also be found on the University System of Georgia website  at  http://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#

Emergency Paid Sick Leave

The new law entitles any employee, regardless of the length of service, to emergency paid sick leave if the employee is unable to work or telework in connection with COVID-19 if the employee is:

1. Subject to a federal, state or local quarantine or isolation order (see Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition below);
2. Advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine;
3. Experiencing symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis;
4. Caring for an individual who is subject to (1) or (2);
5. Caring for a son or daughter whose school or childcare provider is closed or unavailable; or
6. Experiencing any similar condition specified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Expanded Family and Medical Leave

The new law provides FMLA coverage for employees with at least 30 days of service who are caring for a son or daughter under 18 years of age whose school or childcare provider is closed or unavailable due to the COVID-19 coronavirus public health emergency.

• The law does not add an additional 12 weeks onto the existing 12 weeks of FMLA leave.
• The first two weeks of leave under this provision are unpaid, but employees may use emergency paid sick leave for the first two weeks. The remaining 10 weeks must be paid. That pay is to be at least two-thirds of the employee’s regular pay rate but capped at $200 per day and an aggregate total of $10,000.

Employee Rights: Families First Coronavirus Act

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave each year. The employee must be employed for at least one year and have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months. Employees may request FMLA for the following events:

• Birth of a child
• Adoption of a child
• Serious health condition of the employee, the employee’s child, spouse, or parent
• Any period of incapacity or treatment connected with inpatient hospital care, hospice or residential medical care facility;
• Any period of incapacity sporadic absences from work, school, or other regular daily activities that also involves continuing treatment by a health care provider; or,
• Continuing treatment by a health care provider for a chronic or long-term health condition that is incurable or so serious that if not treated, would likely result in a period of incapacity; and for prenatal care.

On January 28, President Bush signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 (NDAA), Public Law 110-181. Section 585(a) of the NDAA amended the FMLA to provide eligible employees working for covered employers two important new leave rights related to military service:

New Leave Entitlement. An eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a covered service member who is recovering from a serious illness or injury sustained in the line of duty on active duty is entitled to up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for the service member. This provision became effective immediately upon enactment. This military caregiver leave is available during “a single 12-month period” during which an eligible employee is entitled to a combined total of 26 weeks of all types of FMLA leave.

New Qualifying Reason for Leave. Eligible employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave because of “any qualifying exigency” arising out of the fact that the spouse, son, daughter, or parent of the employee is on active duty, or has been notified of an impending call to active duty status, in support of a contingency operation. By the terms of the statute, this provision requires the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations defining “any qualifying exigency.” In the interim, employers are encouraged to provide this type of leave to qualifying employees.

Handle life’s challenges

If you are enrolled in the long-term disability plan, EmployeeConnect Services, your free and confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can help you with the challenges of life, including work, family, money, relationships and more. The EAP is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Please view the Flyer on the Employee Assistance Program for a detailed list of qualified services

Forms and Policies

Employee Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act

FMLA Policy

Steps to Request FMLA in OneUSG Connect

Healthcare Provider Certification Form – For Employee

Healthcare Provider Certification Form – For Family Member

For more information, visit: https://www.usg.edu/hr/benefits/fmla

The Military Family Leave Provisions under the Family and Medical Leave Act

The Shared Sick Leave Program provides a means for University employees to donate paid sick leave to a shared leave pool to be used by fellow University employees who while on an approved leave of absence experience a serious health condition or whose immediate family member experiences a serious health condition (as defined by FMLA) that requires the employee’s absence from work for a period of time longer than the amount of sick and annual leave available to the employee.

Shared Sick Leave Program Information and Forms

• Shared Sick Leave Program FAQs
• Shared Sick Leave Member Donation Form
• Shared Sick Leave Request Form
• Shared Sick Leave Membership Termination Form

Participation

All employees of the University who earn or accrue annual and/or sick leave are eligible to participate. Participation in the Shared Sick Leave Program is voluntary. A minimum donation of 8 hours is required to become a member of the Shared Leave pool.

• Employees receiving compensation from shared sick leave will continue to accrue annual and sick leave during their absence as long as they are paid at least one half of their monthly salary. Accrued annual and sick leave will be applied before Shared Leave.
• A shared leave recipient cannot receive shared sick leave along with other short term or long term income protection benefits (such as STD, LTD, Workers Compensation, SSI, etc.)
• Participation eligibility shall cease upon employment termination (including retirement). Separating employees may not donate any additional unused sick leave hours to the pool at the time of separation

 Definitions

Employee means any employee of the University who earns or accrues annual or sick leave as a benefit of his/her employment by the University, including part-time employees, whose leave transfer amounts will be pro-rated based on their percent time worked at Georgia State University during either the past twelve months or their entire time in service at Georgia State University, whichever term of service is shorter.

Immediate Family Member means

• Spouse:
  • The employee’s legal husband or wife.
• Parent:
  • A biological parent of the employee.
  • An individual who stands or stood “in loco parentis” to an employee by providing primary day-to-day care and financial support when the employee was a child.
  • Coverage does not include parents-in-law.
• Child:
  • The employee’s biological son or daughter under the age of 18.
  • A legally adopted son or daughter under the age of 18.
  • A foster child, stepchild or ward under the age of 18, legally placed with the employee.
  • Any such child over the age of 18 if the child is incapable of self-care due to a mental or physical disability.
    • “Incapable of self-care” means requiring active assistance or supervision to provide daily self-care in three or more basic or instrumental “activities of daily living,” such as grooming & hygiene, bathing, dressing, eating, cooking, taking public transportation, etc.
    • A “mental or physical disability” is one that substantially limits one or more major life functions as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Leave Donor means an employee making a voluntary, written request for irrevocable transfer of sick leave to the Shared Leave pool. Once leave has been transferred to the leave pool, it may not be used by the donor for any other benefit purposes.

Leave Recipient means a current employee who has completed the provisional employment period and who has been approved to receive leave from the leave pool. The recipient may use Shared Leave for any qualifying purpose which meets the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) definition of a serious health condition. Shared Leave may be used for the employee or the care of an employee’s immediate family member, which requires an employee’s absence from duty for a period of time longer than the amount of sick and annual leave available to the employee.

Physician means a health care professional licensed by his/her respective state.

Serious Medical Condition means a condition as defined by the Employee Rights and Responsibilities Under The Family and Medical Leave Act.

Shared Leave pool means accumulated sick leave donated by employees for use in accordance with this program.

Donation of Leave

• A minimum donation of 8 sick leave hours (pro-rated for part time employees is required to become a leave pool member. Once an employee has transferred a minimum of 8 hours’ leave into the leave pool, and has become a “member” of the pool, they may voluntarily donate up to a maximum of 80 hours during the annual Open Enrollment period by completing a Shared Sick Leave – Member Donation Form. The donated leave will be transferred to the donated leave pool during the month of January in the upcoming year.

Should the donated leave pool reserve drop to less than 120 hours, the pool will be considered depleted. All donors will, in this situation only, and upon notification of the depleted status of the pool, be automatically charged 8 hours per donor, unless the donor wishes to withdraw from the program. Requests for Shared Leave will be honored in the order in which they are received when the pool is replenished. The automatic charge to replenish the pool may occur only one time per calendar year. Should the pool be depleted a second time in a given calendar year, no further requests for donated leave will be accepted. An employee may opt out of the pool prior to the automatic charge to replenish the pool by returning a completed Shared Sick Leave Program – Membership Termination Form. If an employee opts out of the leave pool, the employee will no longer be eligible to apply for Shared Leave for that year. The employee may re-enroll in a subsequent year at open enrollment for benefits and once again become eligible to apply for Shared Leave the following year.

Eligibility for Benefits

In order to receive Shared Leave, the employee must:

be a member of the leave program, and

• have completed the initial provisional period of employment, and
• provide certification of a serious health condition from a licensed physician, and
• have exhausted all sick and annual leave (or provide credible medical evidence that he or she will have exhausted all sick and annual leave before the medical condition is resolved).

Application for Benefits

• An eligible employee may request Shared Leave by submitting a completed Request for Shared Leave Form along with the applicable Certification of Health Care Provider Form to the Benefits Department.

A potential leave recipient may request up to 160 hours of shared leave at one time (pro-rated for part time employees), and may make up to two additional requests for shared leave within a calendar year, up to a maximum of three requests for a total of 480 hours per year. The requests may be consecutive.

If the employee is not capable of making application on his or her own behalf, a personal representative, having documented power of attorney for the employee, may make written application on behalf of the employee.

Confidentiality

Any medical information provided in conjunction with a shared leave request will remain confidential and will only be shared on a strict need to know basis related solely to the Shared Sick Leave Programs’ administration. Additionally, potential leave recipients, their representative and departmental constituents may not reveal any health information or medical condition as part of their application for shared leave as such communications may violate HIPAA, GINA and other privacy guidelines.

Approval Process

Each request will be reviewed by the program administrator in the Benefits Department. The leave recipient will be notified within 10 working days after the completed request is received that:

• the request has been approved; and
• the date the employee may begin drawing leave from the pool, and
• if the employee has entered the status of leave without pay, the approved shared leave may be substituted retroactively to cover the period of leave without pay.

or

• the request has been denied; and
• the reason for the denial.

Appeal

Requests which have been denied may be appealed in writing to the AVP, Finance and Administration.

Website Address for This Policy

http://www.usg.edu/hr/manual/shared_sick_leave_program

Vacation and sick leave hours are accrued based on the status and duration of employment with Georgia State University.

Administrative Faculty: Twelve-month contract faculty accrue 14 hours vacation per month from the employment date at Georgia State University through the duration of the employment period. Sick leave is accrued at the rate of 8 hours per calendar month.

Academic Faculty: Ten-month contract faculty do not accrue vacation hours. Sick leave is accrued at the rate of 8 hours per calendar month.  For Summer employment, sick leave will be prorated accordingly.

Staff 100% FTE: Regular, full time employees accrue 10 hours vacation per month for the first five years of employment. After the completion of the 5th year of service, vacation will accrue at 12 hours per month, and after the completion of the 10th year of service, vacation will accrue at 14 hours per month. Sick leave is accrued at the rate of 8 hours per calendar month.

Employees working at least one-half time but less than full time earn and accrue vacation and sick time in an equivalent ratio to their percentage of time employed. Temporary employees, including student assistants, graduate assistants, part-time instructors, and regular employees who work less than one-half time do not earn or accrue vacation time or sick leave credit.

Accrued vacation and sick balances are available at OneUSG Connect.