POLICY STATEMENT #18

ANNUAL AND SICK LEAVE FOR FACULTY MEMBERS

Policy

Faculty members earn annual leave and sick leave according to whether the appointment is as a nine-month faculty member or a twelve-month faculty member.

1.     Nine-month faculty members earn no annual leave and no sick leave.

2.    Twelve-month faculty members earn twenty-four days of annual leave per year. They earn sick leave in accordance with the provisions of the State Personnel Manual. Part-time permanent twelve-month faculty members earn annual leave and sick leave on a pro rata basis.

The maximum number of unused days of annual leave that may be accrued and carried forward from one year to the next shall be thirty days (240 hours). A faculty member who has accrued unused annual leave as of the date of discontinuation of employment shall be paid for such unused annual leave, subject to the prescribed maximum of thirty days. Faculty members converting from leave-earning to non-leave-earning status (twelve-month to nine-month employment) may, at that time and at their option, be paid for their unused annual leave subject to the limitation that total entitlement to payments for unused annual leave to a faculty member during any period of continuous service to UNC Charlotte shall not exceed 30 days (240 hours) of leave.

Faculty members (and any other employees) are not entitled to payment for unused sick leave upon discontinuation of employment. Faculty members converting from leave-earning to non-leave-earning status shall have their accrued unused sick leave reinstated upon return to leave-earning status or upon application for retirement from the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System of North Carolina (TSERS). Faculty members (and other employees) who are members of TSERS are credited with one month of service credit for each twenty days of unused sick leave, or any portion thereof, upon retirement.

3.     Permanent faculty employment is employment with permanent tenure, or for a stated definite term of one academic year or more. An academic year is the nine-month period from mid-August through mid-May of the following calendar year.

4.     Postdoctoral fellows earn no annual leave and no sick leave.  (See Policy Statement #108, “Employment of Postdoctoral Fellows.”)

Responsibilities

1.     Each faculty member entitled to annual or vacation leave and sick leave is responsible for properly submitting leave requests to the appropriate administrator (usually the department chair). Although annual leave accrues automatically, the administrator has the responsibility to decide when such leave may be taken. Administrators and faculty members should work together to schedule leave for the most advantageous time for the activity and the individual. As with annual leave, sick leave accrues automatically but is approved by the administrator. It is the administrator’s responsibility to determine that the faculty member’s use of sick leave is appropriate.

2.     Annual leave and sick leave must be accounted for on the forms provided by the Financial Services Department. A report of accrued leave is provided each department/office monthly by the Payroll Office of the Financial Services Department.

3.     The Benefits Office of the Department of Human Resources determines eligibility for leave entitlements and coordinates the determination of leave accrual rates.

(Initially approved November 6, 1981; revised March 31, 1989; revised December 7, 1990; revised April 28, 1997; revised February 26, 2001; revised September 28, 2001.)