I. Amount Earned
A. A full-time employee (including full-time probationary employee) working or on paid leave for one-half or more of the regularly scheduled workdays in any month shall earn eight (8) sick leave hours per month (ninety-six (96) sick leave hours per year for twelve (12) month employees).
B. A permanent part-time employee (including a part-time probationary employee) shall earn sick leave on a pro rata basis if s/he works one half or more of the scheduled work days in as a month. The leave shall be computed on a percentage or total amount earned by a full-time employee.
C. Unused sick leave may be used for credit towards retirement under the policies and regulations of the North Carolina Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System.
II. Advancement
The College may advance sick leave not to exceed the amount of sick leave an employee can earn during the current fiscal year. Such sick leave advancement must be approved in advance by the President and will only be used in extraordinary situations.
III. Verification
The College may require a statement from a medical provider or other acceptable proof that the employee was unable to work for one of the accepted uses listed in Section IV.
IV. Accepted Uses
Sick leave may only be used for the following reasons:
A. Illness or injury of the employee or the employee’s immediate family. For purposes of this Policy, “immediate family” means the employee’s spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild. This also includes all step, half, and in-law relationships;
B. Bereavement Leave;
C. Medical appointments for an employee or the employee’s immediate family;
D. Quarantine due to a contagious disease in the employee’s immediate family living in the same house;
E. The actual period of temporary disability due to childbearing and/or recovery therefrom or for the care of the mother or newborn during the mother’s temporary disability.
V. Other Procedures
A. Leave Charges
All sick leave shall be taken in one half hour increments. Only scheduled work hours shall be charged in calculating the amount of sick leave taken. Saturdays and Sundays are charged only if they are scheduled workdays.
Earned compensatory time must be used before using sick leave.
B. Transfer of Leave
An employee who transferred from a North Carolina public K-12 school, North Carolina community college, a UNC System University, or a state agency (“public employers”) to the College shall be credited with any sick leave which s/he had at the end of employment with the public employer provided that his/her employment
was continuous.
C. Separation
When an employee separates from College employment, the College shall not pay the employee for any accrued, unused sick leave. Sick leave must first be exhausted before going on leave without pay or extended illness. While an employee is exhausting sick leave, s/he earns all benefits for which s/he is entitled.
If an employee separates from College employment and is overdrawn on sick leave, the College shall make deductions from the employee’s final pay check. All deductions shall be made in one half hour increments. As consideration for providing sick leave, employees voluntarily agree to such deductions from their final pay check.
D. Reinstatement of Sick Leave
Employees separated from College employment for reasons unrelated to disciplinary reasons shall be credited with all accrued, unused sick leave at the time of their separation if reinstated within one year from the date of separation.
E. Record keeping
The College shall maintain annual records for sick leave earned and taken for each employee. The College shall retain all sick leave records of all separated employees for a period of at least five (5) years from the date of separation.
Adopted: May 8, 2019