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UW/UWPOA Contract (Effective 7/1/07 - 6/30/09)
Article 9 Sick Leave

9.1 Sick Leave – Accrual. (1) Full-time classified employees shall accrue eight hours of sick leave credit for each month of completed classified service. Paid sick leave may not be used in advance of accrual.

(2) Employees working less than a full-time schedule shall accrue sick leave credit on the same prorated basis that their employment schedule bears to a full-time schedule.

(3) Sick leave credits shall not accrue during a leave of absence without pay which exceeds ten working days in any calendar month.

9.2 Sick Leave – Use. (1) Sick leave shall be allowed an employee under the following conditions:

  1. Because of and during illness, disability or injury which has incapacitated the employee from performing required duties.
  2. By reason of exposure of the employee to a contagious disease during such period as attendance on duty would jeopardize the health of fellow employees or the public.
  3. To care for a spouse, parent, parent-in-law, or grandparent of the employee who has a serious health condition or emergency health condition,
  4. Except as provided in subsection (1)(c) of this section, because of emergencies caused by serious illness or injury of a family member that require the presence of the employee to provide immediate necessary care of the patient or to make arrangements for extended care. The personnel officer may authorize sick leave use as provided in this subsection for other than family members. The applicability of “emergency,” “necessary care” and “extended care” shall be made by the personnel officer.
  5. To care for the employee’s child under the age of eighteen with a health condition that requires treatment or supervision, or to make arrangements for extended care.
  6. Because of illness or injury of a family member who is a person of disability and requires the employee’s presence to provide short-term care of to make arrangements for extended care.
  7. To provide emergency child care for the employee’s child. Such use of sick leave is limited to three days in any calendar year, unless extended by the personnel officer.
  8. Because of a family member’s death that requires the assistance of the employee in making arrangements for interment of the deceased.
  9. For personal medical, dental, or optical appointments or for family members’ appointments when the presence of the employee is required, if arranged in advance with the employing official or designee.

(2) Sick leave may be granted for condolence or bereavement.

9.3 Sick Leave – Reporting Verification. (1) Employees shall report illness or disability to the immediate supervisor at the beginning of any period of sick leave and daily thereafter unless prearranged.

(2) Upon returning to work, the employee may be required by the employing official to submit a written statement or medical certificate explaining the nature of the disability.

9.4 Bereavement Leave. Paid leave in addition to that as provided in 10.1 shall be granted for bereavement as follows:

Three days of bereavement leave shall be granted for each death of a family member or household member (defined as persons who reside in the same home who have reciprocal duties to and do provide financial support for one another but does not include persons sharing the same general house when the living style is primarily that of a dormitory or commune).

9.5 Parental Leave. (1) Parental leave shall be granted to a permanent employee because of the birth of a child of the employee and in order to provide care, or because of the placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care.

  1. Parental leave shall not total more than four months, including any portion covered by Family and Medical Leave Act, unless additional time is granted by the employer.
  2. Requests for up to four months of parental leave may be denied on the basis of operational necessity.
  3. Parental leave must be taken during the first year following the child’s birth or placement of the child with the employee for adoption or foster care.

(2) The employee shall submit a written request for parental leave to the employing official or designee and must receive the approval of both the employing official and the personnel officer.

  1. The employee shall provide not less than thirty days notice, except that if the child’s birth or placement requires leave to begin in less than thirty days, the employee shall provide notice as is practicable.
  2. Within ten working days of the receipt of the request for leave not covered by FMLA, the institution shall provide the employee with a written response and, if the leave is denied, rationale supporting the operational necessity.

(3) Parental leave may be a combination of vacation leave, personal holiday, compensatory time, sick leave, and leave of absence without pay. The combination and use of paid and unpaid leave during a parental leave shall be per choice of the employee.

(4) If necessary due to continued approved parental leave, the employee shall be allowed to use eight hours per month of the accrued paid leave identified in subsection (4) of this section for up to four months, including the twelve workweeks provided by FMLA during a parental leave of absence without pay to provide for continuation of benefits as provided by the public employee benefits board. The employer shall designate on which day of each month the eight hours paid leave will be used.

(5) A total of 12 work weeks of appropriate paid leave or leave without pay in a 12-month period for an eligible employee may be designated under the Family and Medical Leave Act for parental leave or serious health condition or a combination of both. An eligible employee for Family and Medical Leave Act is an employee who has worked for the state for 12 months for at least 1,250 hours and who is the parent of a newborn, adopted, or foster child.

9.6 Worker's Compensation – Leave. (1) Employees who suffer a work related injury or illness that is compensable under the state workers’ compensation law may select time loss compensation exclusively, leave payment exclusively or a combination of time loss compensation and accrued paid leave.

(2) Employees taking sick leave during a period in which they receive workers’ compensation under the industrial insurance provisions for a work related illness or injury shall receive fully sick leave pay, less any industrial insurance payments for time loss during the sick leave period.

  1. Until eligibility for workers’ compensation is determined by the department of labor and industries, the employer may pay full sick leave, provided that the employee shall return any overpayment when the salary adjustment is determined.
  2. Sick leave hours charged to an employee who receives workers’ compensation, as a result of the time loss shall be proportionate to that portion of the employee’s salary paid by the institution during the claim period.

(3) During a period when an employee receives pay for vacation leave, compensatory time off or holidays and also receives workers’ compensation for time loss, he/she is entitled to both payments without any deduction for the industrial insurance payment.

(4) When an employee receives workers’ compensation payment for time loss and is on leave without pay, no deductions will be made for the industrial insurance payment.

(5) An employee who sustains an industrial injury, accident or illness, arising from employment shall, upon written request and proof of continuing disability, be granted leave of absence without pay for up to six months without loss of layoff seniority or change in annual increment date. Leave without pay exceeding six months without loss of layoff seniority or change in annual increment date may be granted at the option of the employing institution.

9.7 Sick Leave – Compensation for. (1) Employees shall be eligible to receive monetary compensation for accrued sick leave as follows:

  1. In January of each year, and at no other time, an employee whose year-end sick leave balance exceeds 480 hours may choose to convert sick leave hours earned in the previous calendar year minus those used during the year to monetary compensation.
    1. No sick leave hours may be converted which would reduce the calendar year-end balance below 480 hours.
    2. Monetary compensation for converted hours shall be paid at the rate of 25% and shall be based upon the employee’s current salary.
    3. All converted hours will be deducted from the employee’s sick leave balance.
    4. Hours which are accrued, donated, and returned from the shared leave program in the same calendar year, may be included in the converted hours for monetary compensation.
  2. Employees who separate from state service on or after September 1, 1979, due to retirement or death shall be compensated for their unused sick leave accumulation at the rate of 25%. Compensation shall be based upon the employee’s salary at the time of separation. The 25% will be put into the employee’s VEBA. For the purpose of this subsection, retirement shall not include “vested out-of-service” employees who leave funds on deposit with the retirement system.

(2) Compensation for unused sick leave shall not be used in computing the retirement allowance; therefore no contributions are to be made to the retirement system for such payments, nor shall such payments be reported as compensation.

(3) An employee who separates from the classified service for any reason other than retirement or death shall not be paid for accrued sick leave.

9.8 Sick Leave – Former Employees. (1) Former state employees who are reemployed within three years of separation shall have their former sick leave balance restored.

(2) Upon subsequent retirement or death of a retired state employee who has returned to state service, only that unused sick leave accrued since the original retirement minus that taken within the same period may be compensated; this restriction shall not apply to other returning employees.