402.1 Eligibility
Regular, full-time and part-time benefits-eligible employees are eligible to accrue sick leave hours. Full-time employees accrue 8 hours of sick leave per month.
Sick leave may be granted at the discretion of the institution and upon approval by the supervisor for an employee’s absence for any of the following reasons:
- Illness or injury of the employee;
- Medical and dental treatment or consultation;
- Quarantine due to a contagious illness in the employee’s household; or
- Illness, injury, or death in the employee’s immediate family (spouse, children, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, grandchild, in-laws in the same categories, or an individual who stood in loco parentis for the employee or for whom the employee stood in loco parentis), requiring the employee’s presence.
Employees, who work at least 30 hours a week are allowed to use five (5) days of accrued sick leave to care for an immediate family member. Employees are not to perform University related tasks while on sick leave.
402.2 Annual Allowance and Accumulation
For all benefits eligible, full-time employees, sick leave shall be accumulated at the rate of eight hours per day per calendar month of service.
Benefits eligible will accumulate sick leave in an equivalent ratio to their percentage of time employed. Sick leave for employees shall be cumulative.
402.3 Reporting Absences Due to Illness
Employees are expected to report all absences due to illness or injury directly to their supervisors or department heads as soon as possible and should indicate probable length of absence so that schedule adjustments may be made. All leave must be entered into ADP e-Time or amended on historical edits for processing and input.
402.4 Licensed Physician’s Statement
If an employee is out of work due to illness or care of an ill relative for more than five (5) consecutive business days, a physician’s statement is required covering the dates of absence upon return to work. Under some circumstances, supervisors may require an employee to provide a physician’s statement for sick leave absences for less than five (5) days.
402.5 Return to Work Certification
Return to Work Certification may be requested from employees who have been on sick leave. Work Certifications may also be requested of employees returning from FMLA leave.
402.6 Shared Sick Leave Program
The purpose of the Shared Sick Leave Program is to provide a means for University employees to voluntarily donate paid sick leave to a leave pool. The pool of donated leave is available to be used by fellow University employees who are eligible for and require leave while experiencing a serious health condition themselves or for the care of an employee’s immediate family member with a serious health condition.
Enrollment in the Shared Sick Leave pool is allowed only during the open enrollment period established by the Board of Regents during the months of October and November of each year or during a special enrollment period added upon depletion of Georgia State University’s shared leave pool. The amount of leave that can be donated by a participant per enrollment period is 80 hours. Employees will be given the opportunity to donate a specified number of hours of sick leave in increments of eight (8) hours from their sick leave accounts to the Shared Leave pool by completing a Donor Transfer Certification Form at: https://hr.gsu.edu/service-centers/benefits/active-employees/#4
An employee who donates must retain a minimum of forty (40) hours of personal sick leave upon donations. If an employee is currently participating in the Donated Leave Program, you are a participant in the Shared Sick Leave Program and re-enrollment is not needed. If you are a member and would like to donate hours to the pool, please complete a Shared Sick-Leave Member Donation Form.
If an employee is not a member and would like to join the program, the employee should read the eligibility rules for the program and send a completed Shared Sick-Leave Enrollment Form to HR-Benefits. Forms may be faxed to the HR Office at 404-413-3314.
Should the Shared Leave pool drop less than 120 hours, the pool will be considered depleted. All donors will, in this situation only, and upon notification of the depleted status of the pool, automatically are charged eight (8) hours per donor, unless the donor wishes to withdraw from the program. The automatic charge may only occur one time per calendar year. Should the pool be depleted a second time, in a given calendar year, no further requests for Shared Leave will be accepted.
402.6a Eligibility for Shared Sick Leave Program Benefit
In order to be eligible to receive Shared Leave, the employee must:
- be a member of the leave pool, and
- have completed the initial provisional period of employment, and
- provide certification from a licensed physician of a serious health condition for the employee or an employee’s immediate family member, and
- have exhausted all sick and annual leave (or provide credible evidence that he or she will have exhausted all sick and annual leave before the medical condition is resolved).
Requests to receive donated leave will be reviewed and approved by HR-Benefits. For more information, go to: https://hr.gsu.edu/service-centers/benefits/active-employees/#4
402.7 Sick Leave without Pay
Any employee unable to return to work after exhausting all accumulated sick leave and accrued vacation leave may request sick leave without pay for a period not to exceed one year. This additional sick leave without pay may be granted at the discretion of the department.
If additional sick leave is approved by the department, the employee will have the option to continue his or her group insurance benefits while on sick leave. The institution will continue to pay its share of the cost for such period, but the employee must continue to pay his or her share of premiums.
Upon return from approved, unpaid sick leave, the employee will be restored to his or her original position, or to an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other employment terms and conditions. Georgia State University cannot guarantee that an employee will be returned to his or her original job. Should an employee be unable to return to work after being granted sick leave without pay for one year, the employee will be terminated.
402.8 Terminating Sick Leave
A terminating employee shall not be paid for any sick leave earned but not taken. However, employees retiring may use accumulated sick leave to earn additional creditable service time with Teachers Retirement System of Georgia (TRS).
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