4-OP-C-7-E2 Sick Leave Pool | Policies and Procedures

Responsible Executive: Finance and Administration

Approving Official: Vice President for Finance & Administration

Effective Date: November 21, 2019

Last Revision Date: January 1, 2014, November 22, 2019

OVERVIEW

Florida State University Regulation FSU-4.064 establishes a plan allowing participating employees in a sick leave earning position to have sick leave available for use upon the depletion of their personally accrued sick, annual, personal holiday, and compensatory leave consistent with Florida Statutes Chapter 110.121.

SPECIFIC AUTHORITY

BOG Regulation 1.001(5)(a)
Florida State University Regulation FSU-4.064

OBJECTIVE

To establish a procedure outlining the requirements to join the Sick Leave Pool and to establish the proper procedures to request the use of Sick Leave that is available to the employee through the Sick Leave Pool.

PROCEDURES

Membership and Participation
1. An employee must meet one of the following requirements (a or b) to be eligible for membership in the Sick Leave Pool:
  1. Be a University employee:
    1. In a sick leave earning position, regardless of FTE; and
    2. Have completed one year of continuous employment with the University prior to participation in the Sick Leave Pool; and
    3. Have a minimum of 72 hours of sick leave accumulated at the time of the application to participate in the Sick Leave Pool; and
    4. Have an average sick leave usage of less than 9 days per year during employment with the University; or
  2. Be a University employee transferring without any break in service from another State of Florida agency or university where the employee was a Sick Leave Pool member and have 8 hours of sick leave for donation to the Sick Leave Pool.
2. To apply for membership in the Sick Leave Pool, an employee must complete The Florida State University Sick Leave Pool Membership Application and return it to the Sick Leave Pool Administrator according to one of the following:
  1. During the Annual Open Enrollment period or any special enrollment period held by the University.
  2. Within thirty (30) calendar days of completing one (1) year of continuous service with the University. An employee who fails to submit an application within this time period must wait until the next Sick Leave Pool open enrollment period to request membership.
  3. An employee transferring from another State of Florida agency or university where they were a Sick Leave Pool member must submit The Florida State University Sick Leave Pool Membership Application within thirty (30) calendar days of employment with the University. Otherwise, the employee must meet the requirements as if a new member during an appropriate enrollment period.
  4. An employee who has separated from the University and is rehired may submit The Florida State University Sick Leave Pool Membership Application within thirty (30) calendar days of completing one (1) year of continuous service as if a new member.
3. The employee's completed application is forwarded to the Sick Leave Pool Committee by the Pool Administrator for evaluation. The Committee makes the decision for eligibility based upon the employee meeting the established requirements for membership into the Pool. If the application is for a family member of one of the Sick Leave Pool Committee members creating a conflict of interest, the Chief Human Resources Officer or designee shall act for the Committee member.
4. An employee approved to be a member of the Sick Leave Pool (including transfers from other State agencies or universities) will automatically have the initial eight (8) hours deducted from his/her sick leave balance by the Pool Administrator.
5. Members of the Pool will be required to donate an additional eight (8) hours to the Sick Leave Pool when the Pool balance falls below 240 hours.
6. A participating employee may withdraw from the Sick Leave Pool at any time by submitting a Sick Leave Pool Membership Termination form to the Pool Administrator. Employees will not be refunded any hours donated to the Pool upon withdrawal.
7. A participating employee may donate up to 40 hours of their sick leave to the Sick Leave Pool upon his/her retirement or separation from the University. The deduction will be made prior to the calculation of any sick leave payout for which the employee may be eligible.
8. Upon retirement or separation from the University, membership in the Sick Leave Pool will be terminated and the employee will not be refunded any hours donated to the Pool.
Applying for Sick Leave Pool Hours
1. A participating employee may request hours from the Sick Leave Pool for catastrophic/serious personal illness, accident, or injury or combination of conditions which has a major impact on life-functions.
2. The employee must complete and submit to the Pool Administrator the Sick Leave Pool Physician’s Report and Request to Use Hours application.
  1. The application requesting hours from the Sick Leave Pool contains three (3) sections, one (1) to be completed by the employee, one (1) by the employee's physician, and one by the employee's department.
  2. Generally, the application for leave should be received by the Pool Administrator one week prior to the need for sick leave from the Pool.
  3. All requests for hours from the Sick Leave Pool are reviewed and approved or denied by the Sick Leave Pool Committee. If the request is for a family member of one of the Sick Leave Pool Committee members creating a conflict of interest, the Chief Human Resources Officer or designee shall act for the Committee member.
  4. Participation in the Sick Leave Pool does not guarantee that hours may be withdrawn from the Sick Leave Pool. The University through the sick leave pool committee reserves the right to deny a request for Sick Leave Pool benefits when the application for benefits or medical verification is incomplete, or the request does not conform to the Sick Leave Pool usage policy.
3. A participating employee may be eligible for a maximum of 480 hours of sick leave from the Sick Leave Pool within a twelve (12) month period and a lifetime maximum of 960 hours during their employment with The Florida State University according to the following:
  1. Sick leave hours from the Sick Leave Pool will be granted in accordance with the employee's FTE.
  2. Leave is granted to the employee from the Sick Leave Pool one (1) month at a time (160 hours for full-time employees). An employee must reapply for leave from the Sick Leave Pool approximately two (2) weeks in advance of each anticipated need for hours by submitting a new Sick Leave Pool Physician’s Report and Request to Use Hours application.
  3. Once the employee has exhausted their 480 hours of sick leave from the Sick Leave Pool within a twelve (12) month period, they are not eligible for any additional sick leave from the Pool for twelve (12) months from the expiration of the last hour granted from the Sick Leave Pool.
4. If an employee returns from leave before exhausting the Sick Leave Pool hours granted, then the remaining hours shall be returned to the Sick Leave Pool. The department must notify the Sick Leave Pool Administrator of the employee’s return and balance of Pool hours.
5. An employee who is on leave without pay for reason other than catastrophic/serious personal illness, accident, or injury shall not be eligible to receive sick leave from the Pool.
6. An employee requesting Sick Leave Pool hours will also be required to contact the FMLA Administrator (Family and Medical Leave Act) to determine their eligibility for FMLA coverage. FMLA and Sick Leave Pool are separately administered and maintained programs. There is no disclosure of information between the two programs. If the employee is participating in both programs simultaneously, he/she may be required to submit similar or duplicate information for both programs.
7. During a catastrophic/serious personal illness, accident, or injury covered by Workers’ Compensation, an eligible employee may request to use sick leave from the Pool in an amount necessary to receive salary payments that will increase the Workers’ Compensation payments to the total salary being received prior to the occurrence of the illness, accident, or injury. In no case shall the employee’s salary and Workers’ Compensation benefits exceed the amount of the employee’s regular salary payments. Under the following conditions, sick leave from the Pool may be used as provided below during an illness, accident or injury covered by Workers’ Compensation:
  1. All other criteria in this policy for the use of sick leave from the Pool must be met;
  2. The employee must not be receiving full pay from the University.
Use of Sick Leave Pool Hours
1. Sick Leave Pool hours shall only be used by a participating employee for the employee’s catastrophic/serious personal illness, accident, or injury or combination of conditions which has a major impact on life-functions. The following occurrences or situations shall not be considered personal illness, accident, or injury for the purpose of this policy and shall not entitle participating employees to draw from the Sick Leave Pool:
  1. Cosmetic surgery, unless such cosmetic surgery results in serious complications or was necessitated by an illness, accident, or injury not excluded under this subsection;
  2. Intentionally self-inflicted injuries, such as resulting from a suicide attempt;
  3. Illness, accident, or injury to a member of the employee’s family.
  4. Pregnancy or recovery from childbirth unless such event results in complications causing a catastrophic or serious personal illness to the employee
  5. Pre-existing conditions unless the requested leave was necessitated by a catastrophic event or accident; and
  6. Any employee postponing or delaying obtaining medical attention (to correct an existing medical problem) in order to make him/her eligible for benefits from the Sick Leave Pool shall be declared ineligible for such benefits
2. Sick Leave Pool hours shall not be used by a participating employee until all the employee’s personally accrued sick, annual, personal holiday and compensatory leave has been used.
3. An employee using hours from the Sick Leave Pool will continue to accrue sick leave and annual leave at their established rate. However, as leave is earned, it must be used prior to the use of any Pool hours.
4. A participating employee who withdraws sick leave hours from the Pool shall not be required to replace those hours unless required to do so because it has been determined that the employee abused the use of sick leave from the Pool.
5. Abuse of the use of sick leave from the pool shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
  1. Misrepresentation of an illness, accident, or injury, or the circumstances surrounding it, in order to receive leave to which the employee is not entitled under the provisions of this policy.
  2. Submission by an employee of medical certification which is from other than a qualified medical practitioner or which misrepresents the nature of the employee’s illness.
6. A member may be expelled from the Sick Leave Pool by the Sick Leave Pool Committee after a determination that the member has abused the use of the Sick Leave Pool. In addition, the employee may be subject to other disciplinary action in accordance with University policy.
7. An employee who abuses Sick Leave Pool hours granted to them as determined by the Sick Leave Pool Committee shall be required to repay all or part of the sick leave hours withdrawn from the Pool by that employee. Hours shall be repaid to the Pool immediately if there is enough sick leave in the employee’s personal balance to cover the total owed to the Pool. If the employee’s personal sick leave balance is not sufficient to repay the Pool, the remainder of the hours owed will be paid each pay period as they are accrued by the employee until all hours owed have been repaid. If the employee terminates from the University before complete repayment of the hours to the Sick Leave Pool, there will be a financial obligation on the part of the employee to repay the value of the remaining hours.
8. The following circumstances will require review by the Sick Leave Pool Committee for continued use of Pool hours:
  1. Use of Sick Leave Pool hours inconsistent with the approved Sick Leave Pool Physician’s Report and Request to Use Hours form.
  2. Earning compensatory leave (straight-time or overtime) or extra pay (straight-time or overtime) while using or maintaining a balance of Sick Leave Pool hours.
  3. Use of administrative leave while using or maintaining a balance of Sick Leave Pool hours.
9. A Telecommuting Agreement with the University will be required for employees who are working remotely while using or maintaining a balance of Sick Leave Pool hours.
10. Employees may not be actively engaged in employment outside the University while using or maintaining a balance of Sick Leave Pool hours.