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Adopted by Faculty Senate 2/12/16; AE 11/23/22 
Approved by the President 4/1/16 

Faculty Absences 

Each institution of the University System of Georgia (USG) is held accountable for the proper reporting and usage of leave. EGSC follows the Board of Regents Policy for leave reporting in letter and in spirit.

The Board of Regents Policy Manual provides: 

8.2.7.2 Sick Leave with Pay 

For all regular full-time USG employees as defined in Section 8.1 of the Policy Manual, sick leave shall be accumulated at the rate of one working day per calendar month of service.

Regular part-time employees working one-half time or more will accumulate sick leave in an equivalent ratio to their percentage of time employed. Sick leave for employees shall be cumulative.

Sick leave may be granted at the discretion of the institution and upon approval by the supervisor for an employee’s absence for any of the following reasons:

        1. Illness or injury of the employee
        2. Medical and dental treatment or consultation
        3. Quarantine due to a contagious illness in the employee’s household
        4. Illness, injury, or death in the employee’s immediate family requiring the employee’s presence

If sick leave is claimed for a continuous period in excess of one week, a physician’s statement is required to permit further claim of sick leave rights by the employee-patient.

A terminating employee shall not accumulate sick leave or be entitled to receive sick pay after the last working day of his/her or her employment.

Upon the movement of an employee among USG institutions, accumulated sick leave will be transferred if there is no actual break in service. (BoR Minutes, 1991-92, pp. 354-355)

The University System of Georgia Academic and Student Affairs Handbook provides:

4.10.1 Interpretation of Sick Leave 

SOURCES: BoR POLICY 8.2.7.2 & 8.2.7.3

The following provisions for the reporting of sick leave shall apply to all full-time faculty on 9 or 10 month contracts, employed by institutions of the USG, who serve primarily in assignments defined by faculty roles in instruction, research and scholarly activity, and service:

        1. Faculty are responsible for informing their immediate supervisors of any illness that prohibits them from meeting their assigned responsibilities.
        2. In reporting sick leave, faculty will report leave based on the number of whole hours sick as defined by the BoR Policy 8.2.7, 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.

Faculty members shall report for each term on the date and time published by the college. Only extreme emergencies are considered as valid excuses for not reporting on time. If a faculty member is unable to report, he or she should notify the appropriate Campus Coordinator and the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student (VPASA) as soon as possible. The VPASA will notify the president.

Academic-year faculty (10-month) may request professional and sick leave. Academic year faculty do not have annual leave. However, twelve-month faculty may request professional, sick, and annual leave. Professional leave is requested through Campus Coordinator.

While faculty should strive to meet with their classes and keep their posted office hours, occasions do arise that make this impossible. In the event faculty must be absent due to any situation mentioned in Board of Regents policy above, they should request sick leave for the absence through the appropriate channels. Anticipated absences, such as scheduled surgeries, should be requested through ADP. Emergency or unanticipated absences should be reported to the Campus Coordinator and reported on the paper Request for Leave Form upon the faculty member’s return to work. If the faculty member accrues more than one week of consecutive absences, he or she is required to submit a medical certification from his or her doctor to the Campus Coordinator (for transmittal to the Office of Human Resources).

When faculty must be away from their duties, they should provide assignments or arrange for classes to be met in some way. The Campus Coordinator should assist the faculty in making sure the classes are met. If faculty teach at one of the College’s external campuses, they are expected to notify the director of that external campus of their absence, as well.

As stated in item 4.9.1.3 of the Academic and Student Handbook of the USG above, “Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted to indicate that faculty work on a standardized schedule.” This lack of a standardized schedule requires some flexibility for the number of hours attributed to sick leave. For example, a faculty member may not be able to meet his or her face-to-face classes or office hours, but he or she may be able to accomplish all duties for any online classes or office hours and should be required to report whole hours for only those duties actually missed. In another example requiring flexibility, faculty who may miss a fifty-minute class due to a doctor’s appointment should report only one whole hour of sick leave rather than a one-half (four hours) day of sick leave. Campus Coordinators should work with faculty in determining the required number of sick leave hours to report. Campus Coordinators shall also report all absences to the VPASA in writing, giving details for the absence.

The Board of Regents Policy Manual provides:

8.2.7.3 Sick Leave without Pay 

Any employee unable to return to work after exhausting all accumulated sick leave and accrued vacation leave may be granted sick leave without pay for a period not to exceed one (1) year. Furthermore, such approved sick leave shall allow the employee the right to elect to continue his or her group insurance benefits, and the institution will continue its share of the cost for such period. All other benefits are prohibited which otherwise would accrue to the employee.

See the EGSC Employee Handbook concerning the process for approval of sick leave without pay (requiring approval of the President, Director of Human Resources, and immediate supervisor) and the process for use of sick leave without pay when FMLA has been exhausted.

Faculty are encouraged to be familiar with all leave policies (including FLMA and Military Leave) of EGSC and the Board of Regents. Further information is available in the Board of Regents Policy Manual, Section 8.2.7, and in the Academic & Student Affairs Handbook of the University System of Georgia, Section 4.9.1., and in the East Georgia State College Employee Handbook (see provisions concerning time away from work).