Administrative & Professional Faculty Handbook: Leave Benefits

LEAVE BENEFITS

A&P faculty must track A&P Faculty Leave taken using MyMadison, where employees can add or edit leave requests or view leave balances.

Full-time A&P faculty members receive 24 days (192 hours) of A&P Faculty Leave per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30), to be taken for any purpose with the approval of your supervisor. A&P faculty members may carryover up to fifteen days (120 hours) of leave from one fiscal year to the next. Those with contracts of less than 12-months or those hired during the academic year receive a prorated amount of leave. Upon leaving state service, A&P faculty with 10 or more years of state service are paid for unused leave.

Also see A&P Faculty Leave Frequently Asked Questions and Leave Types for Full-Time Faculty.

Bereavement Leave

All A&P faculty will have three days (24 hours) of bereavement leave available for each leave year (January 10 – January 9) as needed. The leave can be taken by an employee to grieve the loss of an immediate family member (defined as spouse, child, or parent), prepare for and attend their funeral, and/or attend to any other immediate post-death matters.

Bereavement Leave can be taken in any increment, the minimum being .25 hour, and must be approved by a supervisor.  To use the Bereavement leave select “BL TAKEN” from the drop down menu in MyMadison.

Civil and Work-Related Leave DHRM Policy 4.05

Civil and work-related leave may be granted to serve on a jury, appear in court as a witness under subpoena, or to attempt resolution of work-related problems. Civil and work-related leave may also be taken when testing and/or interviewing for other state positions. Reasonable travel time may be included. If use of this leave for interviewing becomes excessive, it may be restricted. Supervisor advance approval is required for civil and work-related leave. Written verification may be required. Court documentation is required when serving on a jury or appearing in court as a witness.

Compensatory Leave

A&P faculty members are considered exempt from the overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and are not eligible for compensatory leave, except for hours worked (up to eight hours) on a scheduled holiday or inclement weather day. 

Additional information may be found in DHRM Policy 3.10-Compensatory Leave or JMU Policy 1303-Provisions for Granting Overtime and Compensatory Leave.

Educational Leave DHRM Policy 4.15

Educational leave may be provided at the discretion of the university. It is limited to 12 months and may be granted with full, partial, or no pay for the purpose of allowing employees time to further their education through a course of study related to their work or that of the university.

Faculty Sickness and Disability Program (FSDP)

Refer to the Disability Benefits section of the handbook.

Faculty Family Leave (FFL)

As part of the Faculty Sickness and Disability Program (FSDP), all full-time faculty members receive 12 weeks (480 hours) of Faculty Family Leave (FFL) per leave year (January 10 – January 9) to care for an ill or injured immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) or other qualifying circumstance, provided all Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) eligibility requirements are met. FFL hours reset at the beginning of each leave year.  FFL hours are entered and tracked by Human Resources and reflected in MyMadison and Manager Self-Service.

The Parental Leave benefit will run concurrently with Faculty Family Leave.

Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) JMU Policy 1308

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires the university to provide eligible employees unpaid job-protected leave for the:

• 12 workweeks/480 work hours of leave in a 12-month calendar year January 10 – January 9 for:
  • The birth and care of a newborn child within one year of birth;
  • The legal placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care within one year of placement;
  • The care of an immediate family member (defined as spouse, child or parent) with a serious health condition;
  • The employee's own serious health condition, including an on-the-job injury or occupational disease covered by Workers' Compensation, which causes the employee to be unable to perform the essential functions of his/her job;
  • A child, spouse or parent being on active duty or having been notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the Armed Forces. Leave may be used for any "qualifying exigency" arising out of the service member's current tour of active duty or because the service member is notified of an impending call to duty in support of a contingency operation.
• 26 workweeks/1,040 work hours of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin.

To be eligible for job-protected leave, employees must have been employed at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period prior to the leave request.

The 12-week period is calculated starting from the date the employee begins FMLA leave. Eligible employees have the option of using paid leave, as appropriate under each particular leave policy, for absences covered under FMLA. The agency may designate such leave as Family and Medical Leave. If leave is taken under FMLA, the employee has a guaranteed right to return to their prior job, or in unusual cases, a job with equivalent status and pay. Health benefits continue during the leave at the same level and conditions as if the employee had continued to work.

If both parents are married and employed by the university, they are entitled to a total of 12 weeks of leave combined (rather than 12 weeks each) for the birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care, to care for a parent with a serious health condition, and exigency military leave or up to 26 weeks for military caregiver leave.

To take FMLA, 30-days advance notice must be given to the supervisor when it is foreseeable for the birth of a child, placement of a child for adoption or foster care, or for planned medical treatment. When it is not possible to provide advance notice, the employee must notify the supervisor as soon as practical.

Intermittent leave that is medically necessary may be taken without the supervisor's approval for each absence. Proper notice should be provided to the supervisor, even though the supervisor's permission to use leave is not required. Supervisors must approve requests for intermittent leave if used for the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child.

Certification from the family's health care provider must be provided to Human Resources to support FMLA.

For complete information on FMLA, please contact a Benefits Specialist, benefits@jmu.edu, 540-568-3593, or refer to JMU Policy 1308.

Leave of Absence

Employees may be granted a leave of absence with supervisor approval. Requests for leave with/without pay must be presented in writing to your supervisor. A leave without pay may not be granted for more than 12 calendar months, except for extended illness or injury, or for military active duty.

A leave of absence may be granted for:

1. Educational leave (more than the allowable leave with pay)
2. Military leave
3. Medical
4. Personal reasons

Military Leave DHRM Policy 4.50

Members of a military unit, the National Guard, Naval Militia, or Armed Forces Reserves are entitled to 15 workdays of leave per federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) for federally-funded military duty. If the duty is fragmented, the employee is still entitled to 15 workdays of leave per federal fiscal year. A copy of the military orders or other official documentation must accompany the employee's request for military leave. If ordered to duty because of an emergency, the employee must supply supporting documentation upon return to work to verify the use of military leave.

Parental Leave JMU Policy 2108

Eligible full-time, part-time salaried (PTS), and quasi full-time (QNT) faculty members receive eight weeks or 320 hours of paid parental leave to be used within six (6) months of the birth of an infant or adoptive, foster, or custodial placement of a child under the age of eighteen (18). Eligibility determinations are made as of the date that the child is born or placed via adoption or foster or custodial care. Visit the Parental Leave webpage for additional details about this leave type.

Personal Day

An eight-hour personal day is granted by the university to all A&P Faculty on January 10 of every leave year (or the first day of employment for new hires). It is considered an 8-hour floating holiday. The personal leave day must be used in the full eight-hour increment by January 9 of the leave year or will be lost. Unused hours are not paid out upon separation.

Service Recognition Leave (SRL)

A&P Faculty will be awarded 40 hours of Service Recognition Leave upon completion of cumulative state service totaling one year, three years, five years, and every subsequent five-year anniversary.

Upon reaching the cumulative service milestone, the 40 hours of Service Recognition Leave will be credited to the employee’s leave record under Service Recognition Leave. Service Recognition Leave must be used within 12 months from the date awarded.  If hours are not used, they will be lost.

Employees who separate employment within the year of receipt of Service Recognition Leave would be eligible for a leave payout of any unused Service Recognition Leave hours.

Additional information available at DHRM Policy 1.15.

Sick Leave and Family/Personal Leave - Virginia Sickness and Disability Program (VSDP) DHRM Policy 4.57

A&P Faculty who are enrolled in Virginia Sickness and Disability Program (VSDP) are provided sick leave and family/personal leave each leave year (January 10 to January 9) based on months of state service. Sick Leave and Family/Personal leave hours are used to supplement income when applicable during VSDP claims. Sick and Family/Personal leave are not paid out upon separation.

The following charts reflect the accrual rates for sick leave and family/personal leave according to months of state service:

Virginia Sickness and Disability Program (VSDP)

Refer to the Disability Benefits section of the handbook.

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