Paid and Unpaid Leave From Work

Administrative leave with pay shall be granted by the cognizant Vice President with approval of the President for circumstances as determined on a case by case basis.  This leave will be for employees eligible for other types of accrued leave and will be added to the leave reports. 

When administrative leave is approved it may be assigned to be a certain day (similar to holidays) or may be assigned by departments to be used on certain days depending on circumstances and department leave.  Employees should report administrative leave on their monthly leave reports.  Unassigned administrative leave must be coordinated in advance.

Classified staff, Professional staff, and Executive staff accrue annual leave based on the classification, FTE, and the years of service. 

This leave must be requested in advance and approved by the supervisor.  The annual leave is reported on the monthly leave report.   

Employees on less than a 12-month contract, who are eligible to accrue annual leave will have the accruals of the annual leave prorated to coordinate with the percentage of the year an employee works.

After 6 months of employment, an employee can be paid out remaining Annual leave up to 240 hours at time of separation of employment.  Annual leave may not be paid out during employment.

Annual leave cannot be gifted to another employee regardless of circumstance.

Employees are capped each fiscal year at 240 hours.  All hours over 240 will be removed. 

If an employee is authorized by their supervisor to have a negative balance in annual leave, the negative amount must be recovered through the regular accrual process or the employee will be expected to pay back the unearned paid time off when the employee terminates.

Employees of the University who are on "salary contract" for half-time or more and for nine (9) months or more may be granted funeral leave with pay for a period of up to three (3) workdays in the event of a death in the immediate family.

"Immediate family" is defined as one of the following: Spouse or cohabitating partner as defined by Utah law, parents, siblings, children, any level of grandparent, or any level of grandchildren.

Employees should report the bereavement leave on their leave report and provide documentation to HR for reference when the balance is cleared at the end of each fiscal year.

Non-exempt employees (employee who ARE eligible for overtime) are given comp time off in lieu of over time pay.  Comp time is calculated at the overtime rate of 1 and ½ hours of time off for 1 hour of work over 40 hours in a work week. 

Professional and executive staff members are encouraged to be professionally engaged with their respective areas of expertise.

Consultation and other services to persons, firms, institutions, and agencies outside the University may be carried on by professional and executive staff members as long as the performance of such service obligations to the University are subject to the following restrictions:

All personnel of the University holding full-time positions shall give full service to the work of the University during scheduled work periods. Any non-university employment must not interfere with the discharge of the person's full-time service obligations to the University.

Professional and executive staff members are allowed one day a month for either consulting or outside employment, not counting annual leave days, weekends or holidays. Unused consultation time may not be accumulated. The University has no obligation to compensate personnel for authorized consultation time that, for any reason, is not used.  Consulting time should be reported on the monthly leave report.

In emergency situations, the President has the authority to grant special leaves.  When applicable the hours will be added to the leave report balances, usually as Administrative Leave.

Faculty paid time off must be coordinated in advance with their department.  If the paid time off is for a personal medical condition or for care of a family member with a serious health condition, the faculty member should contact HR to apply for FMLA job protection.

FMLA is an unpaid leave to protect an employee’s job and benefits while they have to be away from work for a serious health condition or to care for a family member with a serious health condition.  In conjunction with the University's annual leave, sick leave, leaves of absence for staff, and leaves of absence for faculty policies, employees may use paid time off to receive pay during their time away from work on FMLA. All employees who have worked for the University a minimum of one year and have worked 1,250 hours or over the past 12-month period are eligible.

This is an employer option alternative to layoff when an employee is expected to return to work after a defined amount of time.  The employee still has access to benefits, but the time away is unpaid and the employee would have to pay both the employee and employer portion of the benefits. 

The university has 9 designated holidays and 2 “floating” holidays that are assigned by the president each fiscal year.

The University encourages its employees to fulfill their civic responsibilities when called to serve on juries or required to appear in a court of law as a witness. Non-faculty, salaried employees under regular University appointment for half-time or more and for nine (9) months or more, will be paid during such absence. Employees, who appear in court on their own behalf, or as a defendant in such action, are not entitled to pay during such absences unless annual leave is taken.

Employees should report the jury duty/court leave on their leave report and provide documentation to HR for reference when the balance is cleared at the end of each fiscal year.

Leave without pay may be granted to salaried employees with a full-time equivalent of .75 or greater. Leave without pay may be granted upon the recommendation of the appropriate Department Head, Dean, and the approval of the appropriate Vice President / Provost, President, and Board of Trustees.

Employees may not perform ANY work for the company during this time away, including checking company email or responding to questions from co-workers.

Requests for such leave should be submitted in writing to the appropriate Vice President / Provost, stating the purpose and expected period of absence.  HR will send the request to the president and communicate the approval to all parties.

 POLICY NUMBER: 9.12 
Any Benefit-Eligible Employee who is on an Active Appointment at the time of the leave and who has been employed at the University for six (6) months of continuous employment as a Benefit-Eligible Employee immediately preceding the Qualifying Event; employees whose appointments are less than 12-months must have at least six (6) months continuous employment on an Active Appointment with the University during the 10 months immediately preceding the Qualifying Event is eligible to receive paid Parental Leave.

As specified in the Utah State Code 1959 Annotated, persons of military status employed by the State of Utah are to be granted a maximum of fifteen days leave with pay per year.

A copy of the orders requiring the attendance of a faculty member or non-faculty salaried employee, under regular University appointment, for military leave shall be attached to the leave plan.

At the end of the military leave, a certificate of attendance shall be forwarded to the Human Resources Office. Military leave shall be authorized by the employee’s immediate supervisor. At the end of each month, the employee enters Military leave on the leave report.

If additional time off is needed for assigned military duties, the employee may use available annual leave.

When an employee is hired on a less than 12-month contract, they accrue "non-contract time off.” The time is intended to be used while the employee is not performing any work duties due to scheduled academic breaks, however, depending on the workflow and needs of a department, an employee may arrange to use their non-contract time for paid-time off during the academic year and then work during the academic break.

Non-contract time is front-loaded in the leave report; however, it is an accrued benefit.  An employee who has only worked 6 months of the fiscal year would normally only be allowed to use 1/2 of their non-contact time. 

If a supervisor approves the employee using non-contract time, prior to accruing the non-contract time, and the employee ends employment with a deficit in non-contract time, the employee may owe back wages for time not worked.  Conversely, if an employee ends their employment with non-contract time accrued and not used, the non-contract time accrued will be paid out.  For example, if an employee works ½ of the fiscal year, they may cash out up to ½ of the non-contract time not used prior to ending employment.

Employees on less than a 12-month contract, who are eligible to accrue other time off, will have the accruals of the other paid time off prorated to coordinate with the percentage of the year in contract.

Head Start teaching staff employees do not accrue ANNUAL LEAVE; rather, those working a minimum of nine (9) months per year, will earn six (6) days of PERSONAL LEAVE which must be used during that same year. PERSONAL LEAVE days are to be arranged in advance and to be authorized by the employee’s immediate supervisor. PERSONAL LEAVE will not be carried over from year to year. SICK LEAVE will apply to Head Start teaching staff employees as it does to other similar University employees.

Sabbatical Leave is available for Faculty members who meet certain eligibility requirements and receive approval from the department Chair, Provost, President, and Board of Trustees.  A sabbatical leave means a leave of absence with compensation for one year or a fraction thereof as determined by the President of the University and the Board of Trustees.

SUU makes a limited number of sabbatical leaves available to qualified faculty members each year. Contingent on funding, qualified faculty in good standing may receive a sabbatical leave to provide time and resources to revitalize themselves through scholarship, writing, or professional/artistic development. Faculty may also use a sabbatical leave for completing a terminal degree.

Eligibility for sick leave benefits is provided only to non-faculty, salaried employees under regular University appointment for half-time or more and for nine (9) months or more.

An employee may use accrued sick leave for personal illness, injury, or incapacity. An employee may also use up to 8 days of accrued sick leave for the illness, injury, or incapacity of the employee’s spouse, dependent children, parent, and parent-in-law.

Full-time non-faculty, salaried employees under regular University appointment accrue one (1) day (eight hours) per month sick leave for each month so employed and may accrue up to 130 working days (approximately six (6) months). Part-time non-faculty employees accrue a proportionate amount based on the percentage of time worked.

Employees on less than a 12-month contract, who are eligible to accrue other time off, the accruals of the other paid time off will be prorated to coordinate with the percentage of the year an employee works.

Sick leave should be entered on the leave report each month. 

Sick leave is capped at 1080 hours.  All hours over 1080 will be removed each year. 

Sick leave cannot be gifted to another employee regardless of circumstance.

Sick leave will not be paid out when an employee leaves the company.

In the event an employee uses more sick leave than they have available, the negative balance will pull from the available annual leave balance. 

If an employee has more than 3 consecutive days away from work for illness or care of an ill family member, the employee may qualify for FMLA and should contact HR for information.

Sick leave conversion to annual leave is available when employees have over 184 hours of sick leave and meet other conditions.  Up to 32 hours of sick leave can be converted to annual leave depending on the individual use of sick leave and other conditions.

After all accrued sick leave and earned vacation have been exhausted, extended sick leave for the employee may be authorized by the President.  Such extension shall not exceed 90 days for the employee.

It shall be the responsibility of the employee to request extended sick leave by submitting a formal, written application to the Human Resources Director wherein both the term of the requested extension and the reasons for the request are explained in detail.

Special leaves with pay may be granted to professional and executive staff salaried employees under regular University appointment who work at least seventy-five percent (75%) of a fiscal year. This could mean an individual who works full time (40 hours per week) for nine (9) months or individuals who work a combination of these circumstances. Leaves with pay may be granted upon the recommendation of the appropriate Department Head or Dean, and the approval of the appropriate Vice President / Provost, President, and the Board of Trustees.

Special leaves with pay are not employee benefits but rather programs for professional development and advanced degree completion which benefit the entire educational institution and are granted by the University in consideration thereof.

The circumstances of the pay may vary based on the terms and conditions of the reason for leave.

Finances often limit the number of leaves that can be granted. Final approval of leave and determination of compensation will be made by the President of the University and the Board of Trustees. Applications will be reviewed by the President’s Council and approved by the President and Board of Trustees using the following guidelines; purpose for which leave is requested, value of leave to both the individual and the institution, longevity, and any other criterion judged to be relevant.

The University encourages all employees to vote in official elections. For this purpose, all employees may be granted, upon request, up to one (1) hour off work to vote. Employees shall coordinate and obtain approval for this time off with their immediate supervisor.