Your Benefits: Time Off Work
The university’s leave year cycle runs from September to August. This period applies to the following leave banks:
- Vacation/Paid Leave
- Sick Leave
- Holiday
All leave balances rollover or reset at the beginning of each leave year (September). Rollover balances allowed will be covered in each respective leave section of the handbook.
Because we recognize the importance of vacation time in providing the opportunity for rest, recreation, and renewal physically, emotionally and spiritually, Andrews University provides annual, paid vacations to its benefit eligible staff. Vacation/paid leave time provides a continuity of income during periods of absence for vacation or personal time off. Employees are encouraged to take vacation appropriate to their accrual levels, and supervisors should work with employees to ensure vacation time is not lost in the annual rollover. Leave accrual and usage will be recorded as hours.
Accrual
For each hour reported (work or leave time), hours will be accrued into the vacation/paid leave bank. Time begins to accrue on the first day of employment. Time accrues into the bank only on the first 80 hours of paid time in a two-week pay period.
The calculation of the accrual rate for the bank is based on an individual’s length of service in the denomination and relevant work experience. Maximum annual accrual is the total annual vacation days multiplied by average daily hours worked in a week. Hourly rate accrual is the maximum annual accrual hours divided by the total hours worked for the year.
Note: below is based on an 8-hour per day schedule:
| Years of Service | Vacation Days | Maximum Hours Accrual | Hourly Rate of Accrual |
| 1 – 4 | 10 | 80 hours | 0.0384615 |
| 5 – 9 | 15 | 120 hours | 0.0576923 |
| > 9 | 20 | 160 hours | 0.0769231 |
Usage and reporting
Vacation scheduling should be approved, by the supervisor, a minimum of one month ahead of time. Though the organization will try to grant all reasonable requests, it is within the supervisor’s discretion to request the employee to take another time because of scheduling needs. No vacation time will be authorized for periods during required employee training such as the Employee Institute. All employees are expected to attend these events.
Hourly staff: time in the bank may only be used when the employee is off duty during his/her normal working hours (vacation or personal time). The employee may not use paid leave time in a week that would bring their total reported hours (work plus leave time) more than the total budgeted hours for the week, unless prior authorization from their supervisor is obtained. The amount of accrued time available in the paid leave bank appears on the employee timesheet. No leave time may be claimed more than the balance displayed on the timesheet.
Salaried staff: while the payroll system will be accruing vacation on a bi-weekly basis, the responsibility for accounting for its use will be the employee’s, via monthly leave reporting on the employee self-service website, to be approved by the supervisor. For time taken but not reported, it will be the supervisor’s responsibility to make the needed adjustments to the employee’s reported time taken.
Employees will be permitted to carry a negative balance of up to 80 hours (two weeks/10 days) in the event that sufficient vacation time has not been accrued to take an extended vacation. However, should an employee have a negative balance at the end of their employment relationship, the difference will be reconciled by using the last paycheck(s) to reimburse the University for the advanced vacation pay.
Any related leave banks must be exhausted before any consideration of taking unpaid leave.
Rollover
At the end of August, if there are any unused leave hours, up to two weeks of that time (80 hours for full-time, prorated for part-time) will automatically roll over into the next leave year (September-August).
Transfer or Termination
Employees transferring to another position will maintain their leave balance, although the reporting method may differ (if transferring between hourly/salaried).
When an employee ends employment, including upon retirement, the remaining unused leave time will be paid out, generally on the last paycheck. At that time a taxable supplemental pay equivalent to the employer retirement contribution of the leave bank balance will also be paid out.
Administrative Level
Administrative staff that are half-time or more appointment at the level of President, Chief Academic Officer, Vice President, Associate/Assistant Vice President, Dean, and Associate Dean are eligible for an annual four-week vacation. This employee group will not track their vacation time but are expected to manage their vacation time together with their work responsibilities. Also, a leave payout is not applicable upon transition to (promotion) or termination from this appointment level. To assist employees transitioning from the administrative level to another salaried staff position, two weeks of vacation will be granted as a starting leave balance.
VACATION LEAVE-FACULTY 4:4-110
Each 12-month faculty member is eligible for an annual four-week vacation. Ten-month faculty members may take time off during semester breaks and between May 31 – August, no other vacation time is provided for this faculty category. A vacation week is equivalent to five working days. Faculty members should work in advance with their chair/supervisor regarding their itinerary and how they may be contacted in an emergency when traveling away from the campus.
Vacation time should be taken annually. This time is not formally tracked by Human Resources, and any remaining unused time does not accumulate or carry forward to future years. Any remaining vacation time at the time of the faculty’s termination of employment will not be paid out. No vacation time will be authorized for periods during required employee training such as the Employee and/or Faculty Institutes. All employees are expected to attend these events.
The number of paid holidays granted in any one year is listed in policy # 4:4-125. Leave beyond the paid holidays is treated as a part of the annual vacation. During the breaks between academic terms (other than paid holidays), 12-month faculty not on vacation are to engage in professional work.
The university provides a sick leave policy that complies with the State of Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA). This policy provides paid time off for both benefit and non-benefit eligible employees who are physically working in Michigan, with no waiting period for its usage. This leave is not applicable for those paid under worker’s compensation.
Accrual
For benefit-eligible employees, this short-term sink bank accrues at the rate of 1.154 hours for every 30 hours reported (0.0384615/hour for each hour reported). This is approximately 10 days a year. For each hour reported (work or leave time), sick leave will be accrued into the sick leave bank. Additional leave coverage through the university provided short-term disability and/or the extended sick leave benefits is available for extended medical events.
Non-benefit eligible employees (adjuncts, hourly under half-time, temporary, and student employees) accrue sick leave at the rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked (0.0331731/hour worked). This employee classification is limited to 72 hours of sick leave usage in a leave year.
Usage
Employees may use sick leave time for situations such as:
- The employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of the employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or preventative medical care for the employee.
- For the employee’s family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of the employee’s family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or preventative medical care for a family member of the employee.
- If the employee or the employee’s family member is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault, for medical care or psychological or other counseling for physical or psychological injury or disability; to obtain services from a victim services organization; to relocate due to domestic violence or sexual assault; to obtain legal services; or to participate in any civil or criminal proceedings related to or resulting from the domestic violence or sexual assault.
- For meetings at a child’s school or place of care related to the child’s health or disability, or the effects of domestic violence or sexual assault on the child; or
- For closure of the employee’s place of business by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; for an employee’s need to care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; or when it has been determined by the health authorities having jurisdiction or by a health care provider that the employee’s or employee’s family member’s presence in the community would jeopardize the health of others because of the employee’s or family member’s exposure to a communicable disease, whether or not the employee or family member has actually contracted the communicable disease.
Employees are expected to return to work as soon as they can resume their duties. In some instances, this may require reasonable accommodation on the part of the University to support the temporary incapacity of the employee. This will be arranged, where possible, by department heads. The date of return to work may be set on the advice of the attending physician whose counsel may be sought at any time with consent of the employee while the sick leave bank is being used.
Reporting
The request for planned extended sick leave should be made to the Benefits Office at least 7 days before it is to begin, unless circumstances would not permit, in which case the request must be made as soon as it is practical—usually 1-2 business days. No advance notice is required when the reason for the leave is unforeseen.
Employees requesting sick leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) policy # 4:4-140 are required to submit the FMLA request form and other documentation as described under the FMLA policy.
The reporting of sick leave time differs between hourly (non-exempt) and salaried (exempt) employees.
Hourly employees: report use of sick leave through the online timesheet system (minimum of 1-minute increment). The sick time reported will be paid together with work time, if any, on the scheduled pay day. Supervisors must review sick leave time reported on the timesheet to ensure it is during the employee’s normal work time for that position.
Salaried employees: when sick time is used, it will be the employee’s responsibility to report the sick time used via the employee self-service website, to be approved by the supervisor. For time taken but not reported, it will be the supervisor’s responsibility to make the needed adjustments to the employee’s reported time taken.
Rollover
At the end of the leave year, up to 80 hours of unused sick leave time will roll over into the next leave year for benefit eligible employees; up to 72 hours of sick leave time will rollover for non-benefit eligible employees.
Transfer or Termination
Time in the sick leave bank may not be transferred to the vacation/paid leave bank under any circumstances.
Employees transferring to another position or classification maintain all accrued hours and continue accruing hours.
Employees separated from employment for 2 months or less maintain all accrued sick time earned prior to the separation, will begin accruing additional hours upon reemployment, and may use any accrued hours. Employees separated from employment for more than 2 months lose all accrued, unused earned sick time.
Sick leave time may not be claimed/used after the last day of work, nor may the hours remaining in the bank be paid in cash at any time.
The university provides paid extended sick leave benefits for benefit eligible employee. This leave is not applicable for those paid under worker’s compensation.
Extended sick leave is designed to supplement an employee's income after short-term disability benefits are paid, if applicable, and all appropriate leave time has been used. This benefit aims to maintain the employee's regular compensation during an extended medical event, subject to submission and approval of appropriate documentation.
Usage
The extended sick leave is intended to be used when an employee will require a prolonged/extended absence from work beyond 7 consecutive days, or requires intermittent time off on an extended basis, due to a medical event/serious health condition covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of the employee or an immediate family member (defined as a spouse, child, or parent).
Loading
After the short-term disability or Family Medical Leave Act approval, the calculated hours needed to supplement the employee’s compensation for the duration of the medical event will be loaded into the employee’s extended sick leave bank.
Reporting
While the employee is out on the approved extended sick leave, they must report the appropriate time usage of this leave on the timesheet (biweekly for hourly employees) or in the leave report (monthly for salaried employees). At the end of the extended sick leave period, this bank should be fully exhausted. In the event that not all hours are exhausted, the bank will be zeroed out. At no point may hours be transferred to another leave bank or paid out to the employee in excess of their reported usage.
FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT (FMLA) 4:4-120
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. Employees are eligible for FMLA if they have worked (excludes all paid leave) for at least 12 months and at least 1,250 hours during that 12-month period before the start of the requested FMLA. Under the Act, the leave period will be up to 12 weeks per year or up to 26 weeks for Military Caregiver. The Act may entitle you to take the leave for the following reasons:
- The birth and care of your child;
- The placement of a child with you for adoption or foster care;
- The care of your spouse, child, or parent suffering from a "serious health condition";
- Your inability to perform the functions of your job duties because of your serious health condition.
- For qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on active duty or call to active duty status as a member of the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation.
Employees may be covered concurrently by the short-term disability (STD) benefits and/or paid sick leave policies of the University during their family/medical leave. The use of paid benefits will not extend the duration of family medical leave. Time off on worker’s compensation is counted towards the employee’s 12-week FMLA period.
Where both spouses are employed by the University the leave will be a total of 12 weeks for both spouses, unless the leave is for the serious illness of the employee or a child.
To obtain the benefit of FMLA protection, the FMLA request form should be submitted at least 7 days before it is to begin, unless circumstances would not permit, in which case the request must be made as soon as it is practical—usually 1-2 business days. No advance notice is required when the reason for the leave is unforeseen.
When required, the employee must submit an FMLA medical certification supporting the medical event to maintain salary continuation. Failure to provide a complete and sufficient medical certification within 15 calendar days may result in a denial of your FMLA request.
The employee requesting leave is required to submit a timely, complete, and sufficient medical certification to support a request for FMLA leave due to their own serious health condition.
Leaves that are taken on an intermittent basis should be planned so as to result in the least possible disruption to your work schedule. FMLA under an approved reduced work schedule arrangement for an exempt employee will not affect their FLSA status.
During the term of your leave you will be entitled to your regular benefits, except service credit which will not accrue during any unpaid portion. You will be required to continue payment of premiums to maintain your elected benefits.
Upon your return to work following the leave you will be reinstated to your job, or if that is not possible, to an equivalent job. If you fail to return to work at the end of your certified FMLA period, it would be considered as job abandonment. You must supply a return to work note from your health care provider before resuming work, or an extension to your FMLA period, if that is necessary and applicable.
The full policy under the Family and Medical Leave Act is available to all employees and by reference is a part of this policy. That policy and application for the leave is available in Human Resources and at the website listed below.
US Dept of Labor main FMLA website.
The university offers a short-term disability (STD) plan designed to provide eligible employees, who have been approved for disability benefits, with partial income replacement (for up to 12 weeks) and benefits continuation after a 7-day elimination period.
Employees must submit an STD application to the STD provider for possible qualification of short-term disability coverage, by the first day of the medical event, when possible. If an STD application is not submitted, extended sick leave benefits will be limited.
The schedule of payment for approved STD will be as follows:
Initial sick leave period (elimination period—first 7 consecutive days): employee uses hours from their sick bank and appropriate leave banks, if applicable, to cover their regular compensation.
Beyond the initial sick leave period (max up to 12 weeks after 7-day elimination period): the employee will receive the 60% weekly payment, within plan limits, from the STD provider. Additional coverage to bring to regular compensation will come from the employee’s appropriate leave bank(s) and university provided extended sick leave time, subject to submission and approval of appropriate documentation.
The university offers a long-term disability (LTD) plan designed to provide eligible employees, who have been approved for disability benefits, with partial income replacement, and certain benefits continuation if remain employed, after a 90-day elimination period.
Employees must be on an approved FMLA before applying for LTD and must submit the LTD application to the LTD provider for possible qualification of long-term disability coverage, by day 60. The schedule of payment for approved LTD will be as follows:
Initial sick leave period (elimination period—first 90 days): covered under sick leave, extended sick leave, and short-term disability benefits.
Beyond the initial sick leave period (after 90 days): the employee will receive 66 2/3% of monthly earnings, within plan limits, from the LTD provider.
Designated University holidays are when its normal activities are halted. The University recognizes nine holidays, two of which are observed for a day-and-a-half for a total of ten paid days annually. Holidays which fall on a Saturday will normally be observed on Friday while holidays which fall on Sunday will be observed on Monday. The holidays are:
- New Year's Day
- Martin Luther King's Birthday
- Presidents' Day
- Memorial Day
- Juneteenth
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving (1.5)
- Christmas (1.5)
Employees will be expected to take their holidays at the times mentioned above. Employees should only work on a holiday if explicitly required by their supervisor to maintain essential operations and should take equivalent time off at another time acceptable to their supervisor/department head.
Hourly employees: at least one week before a holiday, the holiday bank will be populated with the holiday time (8 hours for full-time full day holiday, prorated for part-time and half-day holidays) to use and report on the online timesheet. Any unused holiday time at the end of the leave year or upon termination may be paid out or donated to an institutional leave bank to be used as gifted time (see policy # 4:4-135).
Andrews University recognizes that from time to time employees may have a medical event or be affected by a major disaster, resulting in a need for additional time off in excess of their available applicable leave time. To address this need, eligible employees will be allowed to gift accrued paid leave/vacation time from their unused balance to their eligible co-workers in need of additional paid time off, in accordance with the policy outlined below. Employees may also donate unused holiday time to an institutional bank for use in gifting time. This program is strictly voluntary.
Eligibility to Participate
Individuals must be employed by Andrews University in an employee class eligible to accrue vacation/paid leave, in order to be able to gift or receive time. Faculty and administrative salaried staff are not eligible to gift time as their vacation time is not tracked per policy. As non-administrative salaried staff by policy are allowed to overdraw their vacation time by 10 days, gifted time may only be used for major disasters necessitating a negative vacation balance in excess of 10 days.
Eligible Events
Employees who would like to receive gifted leave time from their co-workers must have a situation that meets the following criteria:
- Medical event (FMLA), defined as a medical condition covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), whereby the employee or an immediate family member requires a prolonged/extended absence of the employee from work and will result in a substantial loss of income to the employee due to the exhaustion of all leave time available. An immediate family member is defined as a spouse, child or parent.
- Major disaster, defined as a disaster that has otherwise not created a medical event, whereby an employee is considered to be adversely affected by the severe hardship to the employee or to an immediate family member of the employee that requires the employee to be absent from work and will result in a substantial loss of income to the employee due to the exhaustion of all paid leave/vacation time available.
Gifting Time Guidelines (Donor)
- Gifted time will be withdrawn from the paid leave/vacation bank and not from the long-term sick leave bank.
- The gifting and receipt of paid time off is on an hourly basis, converted by taking into account the differences in pay. (For example, one employee earns $20 an hour and gifts one hour of time to an employee that earns $10 an hour. The receiving employee would receive two hours of gifted time.)
- The maximum time that an employee may gift in a benefit year (July – June) is 40 hours in total (prorated for less than full-time/100% appointment employees)
- At the time that the gift is processed, the withdrawal may not cause the paid-leave/vacation bank to fall below 56 hours.
- Employees cannot borrow against future or the accrual on the current pay period’s paid leave/vacation time to gift time.
- Employees who are currently on an approved leave of absence cannot gift time.
- All prior months’ leave reports, for salaried employees, must be approved.
- Gifts of time are received on a first come, first give basis. Gifts will be declined when the receiving employee reaches the lower of the total time necessary to cover the unpaid portion of their time off for the eligible event, or their maximum receipt amount for the benefit year (see below).
- Gifted time is not considered charitable contributions for income tax purposes.
Receiving Gifted Time Guidelines (Recipient)
- Gifted time will go into a separate leave bank that may not be used until all other appropriate leave banks are exhausted.
- Gifted time may only be used for time off related to the approved request and its usage will not accrue additional leave time.
- The maximum time that an employee may receive in a benefit year (July – June) is 160 hours in total (prorated for less than full-time/100% appointment employees).
- Gifted time can be used either on a continuous or an intermittent basis, as long as it is for the same approved event.
- Gifted time cannot be cashed out or converted to other types of leave.
- Employees covered by or eligible for long-term disability or worker’s compensation are not eligible to receive gifted time.
- Nothing in this policy will be construed to limit or extend the maximum allowable absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Leaves of absence are to be considered as an exception. A personal leave of absence is authorized time off without pay or benefits. After you have worked as a regular full-time employee for at least one year, a request for a personal leave of absence may be granted upon the recommendation of the department head and the appropriate vice president.
Personal leaves of absence of up to one month for a staff member may be granted by the department head or supervisor, and the appropriate vice president. All leaves of absence must be approved by the above and HR.
You must complete a leave of absence application and submit it to Benefits in the Office of Human Resource, who will determine your eligibility prior to approval, and administer the leave of absence once it has been approved. You should plan to request a personal leave of absence only under very unusual circumstances, and, when possible, four months before the leave is to begin.
University policies regarding a personal leave of absence are as follows:
- Wages are not paid during the employee's absence.
- Vacation and sick time will not accrue.
- No benefits will be available, nor will service credit accrue.
- The staff employee may be reinstated to his/her former position if it is available at the time of the reinstatement request. If the employee's department is not able to keep the position available, effort will be made to place the employee in a similar position. The University cannot guarantee the same duties or rate of pay. If no such position is available, or if the employee declines the alternate position or is not selected as the most qualified candidate, then the employee will be subject to dismissal of employment.
- Accrued vacation time must be used before a leave of absence begins.
- Extensions of a leave of absence must be approved in writing prior to the end of the employee's original leave. These will be granted in the same manner as the original leave. Failure to return after the expiration of the leave of absence will be treated as a resignation.
Andrews believes in the value of family and the importance of taking time to grieve together. Under this policy, benefit eligible employees will be allowed to take time off due to the death of a family member. In addition to bereavement leave, an employee may, with his/her supervisors’ approval, use any available paid leave/vacation time for supplementary time off. Hourly rated employees should request bereavement (funeral) leave on the timeclock.
Paid bereavement leave will be granted as follows:
- Three days in the event of the death of your spouse, (step)child, (step)parent, (step)brother/sister, mother/father-in-law, son/daughter-in-law, or grandchild.
- One and a half day in the event of the death of your brother/sister-in-law, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, or grandparent.
All eligible voters are urged to vote on election day. Voting after working hours is suggested in order to have minimal impact on your work area and job duties.
You will be paid for the hours lost during your regular work-week while you serve on jury duty or during jury selection. For hourly employees such time should be reported on the Time Manager's Website.
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- Phone: 269-471-3302
- Email: hr@andrews.edu