SEC meeting summary, Jan. 16: Unwritten leave policy explained
By: Michelle Rachal
January 26th, 2007
At its Jan. 16 meeting, the Staff Employees’ Council decided to consider drafting a formal request to Human Resources to amend the current vacation/sick leave policies, allowing annual leave to be converted to sick leave should an employee suffer an accident or become ill during scheduled vacation time.
Leslie Nady of Business Center North, Human Resources was invited to speak at the January meeting.
She came to clarify for us the “no change” leave policy long enforced by BCN. This policy states that anyone who has begun their scheduled annual leave cannot change it to sick leave regardless of circumstances.
Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of this policy as it is not part of written University policy.
When someone contacts BCN for an explanation of the leave policy, he is given this statement:
“If while out on annual leave, a classified employee becomes ill or injured they remain on annual leave for the duration of the request. Annual leave can not be converted to sick leave after the annual leave has commenced, unless the injury or illness falls under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. If the time requested off as annual leave is completed, and the injury or illness still exists, a request for sick leave may be submitted.”
Leslie also explained that this policy is only now being taught in the training that all leave keepers are required to take.
Several council members expressed concern that this policy is too harsh and it should be reconsidered by BCN. According to Leslie, the policy is in place due to abuse by some employees. SEC president Bill Oberding suggested that a committee be formed to consider each request for a change of leave based on individual circumstances. That way the decision is not left up to department supervisors who may or may not approve the change depending upon their relationship with the employee.
SEC members want to make sure that the leave policy is fairly applied to all employees, not just those fortunate enough to have understanding supervisors.
At the next meeting (date to be announced), council members will consider drafting a formal resolution to present to BCN. All classified employees are encouraged to voice their opinions to their council representatives. Find your representative and contact info on our website, or you can comment on this post directly by registering and logging in to Our Workplace. For instructions on how to register, visit the Comments Policy page.
The next SEC meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 13 from 1 p.m. to until 3 p.m. in the Journalism building, Room 304.
Michelle Rachal, Staff Employees’ Council public relations director, can be reached at rachal@unr.edu
To comment on this story, please leave a reply below.
3 comments on “SEC meeting summary, Jan. 16: Unwritten leave policy explained”
01
As being part of the human race, we all have our own individual ideas of honesty, integrity and consideration of self and others. Even when committees are formed to make judgment calls on the behalf of others there still will never be fairness and equality for one and all.
It is my belief that the current regulations should remain in effect and only if the employee seeks medical attention from a qualified physician/medical center etc. and provides documentation of such service, then the supervisor/HR and/or a committee can reverse the annual leave to sick leave. Otherwise abuse of the system will be uncontrollable.
Then I also have to wonder what medical background will each of the committee members have that would provide them with the insight and knowledge to state that an employee was medically ill and their annual leave should be changed to sick leave.
Thanks and that is one person’s opinion and there will be many other that differ in some way or another.
02
Is there anyway that employees can read responses/comments that have been submitted?
Thanks
2-7486
03
Hi! Yes, you can read all responses/comments that are posted to Our Workplace as soon as they are approved. All comments will be approved unless they violate our Comments Policy, which you can find at this url: http://workplace.unr.edu/comments-policy/
For comments sent directly to the Staff Employees’ Council, you will need to contact them.
Thanks for your input!
Melanie Robbins,
Editor
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