Paid Leaves of Absence

Holidays

Only benefit eligible employees receive paid holidays. The following holidays are recognized by Kenyon College as paid holidays:

Birthday (Floating)
Memorial Day
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
New Year's Eve
New Year's Day
Independence Day
Labor Day (Floating)
Thanksgiving Day
Friday following Thanksgiving Day

Holiday Policies

You may take time off to observe your religious holidays. If available, a full day of unused personal leave or a vacation day may be used for this purpose, otherwise the time off is without pay. You must notify your supervisor in advance.

We schedule national holidays on the day designated by common business practice.

In order to qualify for holiday pay, you must work the scheduled workday immediately before and after the holiday. Only excused absences will be considered exceptions to this policy; the use of a sick or family illness day should be supported with a Physician's statement. The statement should be sent to the Office of Human Resources.

Labor Day, although a calendar holiday, is a Floating holiday (not a college-designated holiday) due to classes being in session. Benefit-eligible employees who must work on Labor Day may take a day off with pay at a future date during the same fiscal year. Working on Labor Day does not qualify for double-time pay (see "Work Performed on College Holidays or Sundays" in the "Wage and Salary Policy" section of this Handbook for more information.)

The Birthday (Floating) Holiday is to be taken within the current fiscal year in which your birthday falls. (Example: your birthday is May 5, 2016; you are eligible to take this day off or a different day off with pay as a floating holiday during the 2015-16 fiscal year.) Working on your birthday does not qualify for double-time pay.

You are not eligible to receive holiday pay when you are on an unpaid leave of absence.

Vacations

Vacation is a time for you to rest, relax, and pursue special interests. Kenyon College has provided paid vacation as one of the many ways in which we show our appreciation for your loyalty and continued service.

Only regular benefit eligible employees receive a paid vacation. You are not eligible for paid vacation if you work less than 1,000 hours per year or are a temporary employee.

Amount of Vacation

Amount of Vacation - Non-exempt Personnel

Paid vacations are based on the employee's anniversary date. During a year of service employees earn vacation which they may schedule during the following year.

After one year of eligible employment, ten working days of vacation are granted. In the first year of employment only, employees can choose to take five of those ten days after they have been with the College for six months. If they choose to do so, they will have five remaining days to use during the twelve months between their first and second anniversaries. Employees who are benefits-eligible but part-time (working at least 1,000 hours but less than 1,820 hours during a twelve-month period) will have these days pro-rated on the basis of their hours worked in relation to a full-time schedule. A non-exempt employee who separates from employment at Kenyon and who has not yet completed one full year of service will not receive any vacation upon termination.

After two through ten years of eligible employment, fifteen days of vacation are granted.

After eleven years of eligible employment, fifteen working days plus one day for each year completed over ten years, up to a maximum of twenty-five days.

Amount of Vacation - Exempt Personnel

Twenty-two working days of vacation are awarded to exempt employees at the beginning of each fiscal year, i.e., July 1. At the beginning of the academic year following the 10-year anniversary of employment, an additional day of vacation will be granted for each year over ten, to a maximum of twenty-five days. Employees who are benefits-eligible but part-time (working at least 1,000 hours but less than 1,820 hours during a twelve-month period) will have these days pro-rated on the basis of their hours worked in relation to a full-time schedule.

While exempt staff do not have an annual SPF (sick, personal, family) leave allotment, it is understood that an occasional absence for illness will not result in the required use of vacation time, except in the case of FMLA leave (any paid leave such as vacation must be used concurrently with FMLA leave.)

Revised April, 2018

Vacation Policies

Every effort will be made to grant you your vacation at the time you desire. However, vacations cannot interfere with your department's operation and therefore must be arranged with the supervisor's approval. If any conflicts arise in requests for vacation time, preference will be given to the employee with the most seniority. Supervisors should schedule vacations to insure that all employees in their departments are able to use their full yearly allotments.

No cash allowance will be made for unused vacations. A maximum of 5 days of unused vacation may be carried over to a subsequent year.

Vacations cannot be scheduled for less than one-half of your normal working day.

If a College-paid holiday falls during your scheduled vacation period, you will receive an additional day of vacation or holiday pay, whichever you prefer.

Accumulation Rights

A maximum of 5 days of vacation time may be carried over and accumulated in a subsequent calendar year. Exceptions to this policy may be made in unusual circumstances, each case to be considered separately by management.

Funeral (Bereavement) Leave

If an employee's child, spouse, parents, stepparents, sibling, mother or father-in-law should die, the employee can take up to five (5) working days off without loss of pay.

An employee may be absent one day without loss of pay when her or his grandparent or brother or sister-in-law dies.

Paid time under this policy is given over and above any time allowed and earned under our Personal Leave policy.

Kenyon recognizes that a family death is very stressful and emotional and estate needs vary from family to family. An employee may find that she or he needs additional time away from work. If this need should arise, a non-exempt employee may use a portion of his or her accumulated SPF days. The maximum number of days that can be drawn from the employee's accumulated SPF time will be equal to the number of allotted bereavement days, i.e., five accumulated days for the death of a spouse, domestic partner or child, etc., and one accumulated day for the death of a grandparent, etc.

If the employee does not have accumulated SPF days, they may choose to use current SPF or vacation days. If none of these options is possible, an employee may request up to five days leave of absence without pay. The supervisor can verbally approve the requested leave and then notify the Office of Human Resources of the employee's absence.

Jury Duty

It is your civic duty as a citizen to report for jury duty whenever called. If you are called for jury duty, we will permit you to take the necessary time off and we wish to help you avoid any financial loss because of such service. Therefore, it is College policy that employees will be excused for jury duty without payroll deduction or charge against vacation or SPF leave.

Upon receiving a notice for jury duty, you must provide your supervisor and the Office of Human Resources with a copy of the notice as soon as possible.

On any day or half-day you are not required to serve, you will be expected to return to work. In order to receive jury duty pay, you must present a statement of jury service and pay to the Office of Human Resources and your supervisor. This document is issued by the court.

Parental Leave

The College provides a paid parental leave to benefit eligible employees. Paid parental leave may begin upon the birth or adoption of a child(ren) of the employee, or, if before the birth or adoption, will begin when deemed medically necessary by a physician. The College should be notified as soon as possible of the employee's need for a parental leave and of the specific period during which the employee expects to be absent.

A parental leave for up to six weeks may be taken with no loss of salary or benefits. Implicit in the granting of the leave is the employee's intent to return to Kenyon after the leave has ended. If the employee does not return to Kenyon after the end of the six week leave, or voluntarily leaves our employ in the first 60 days after returning, the salary paid to the employee during the six week leave will become due and payable to Kenyon College by the employee.

Only one paid parental leave may be taken in any twelve-month period. In the event that both parents are Kenyon employees working in the same department or performing critical duties that overlap, we reserve the right to coordinate the timing of the second leave to best serve the needs of the College.

The scheduling of an unpaid leave of absence, in conjunction with a parental leave, will fall under the provisions of the FMLA leave and/or the College's policy on leave without pay. Scheduling vacation time, in conjunction with a parental leave, will fall under the provisions of the College's policy on vacations.

Sick, Personal and Family Leave (SPF)

Annual. At the beginning of each fiscal year, from July 1 through June 30, full-time (35 hours per week) benefit eligible, non-exempt employees are given fourteen (14) days to cover absences due to their own illness/injury, the illness/injury of an immediate family member, or for other personal reasons. Employees who are benefits-eligible but part-time (working at least 1,000 hours but less than 1,820 hours during a twelve-month period) will have these days pro-rated on the basis of their hours worked in relation to a full-time schedule. New benefit-eligible employees hired after the beginning of the fiscal year will be granted SPF leave on a pro-rated basis.

Employees using SPF leave due to illness/injury (the illness/injury of the employee or the illness/injury of the employee’s immediate family member) must notify their supervisor as soon as possible but in no case after the beginning of their scheduled workday. Employees using SPF leave for scheduled medical appointments (physicians, dentists, etc.) should notify the supervisor at least one day in advance of the requested leave. Employees using SPF leave for other personal reasons must obtain supervisor approval in advance. Providing as much notice as possible to the immediate supervisor when SPF leave is needed is an expected courtesy.

For absences of one-half (.50) day or less, employees may choose to make up the time within the same work week rather than using SPF leave. For absences of over three (3) consecutive working days due to illness/injury of the employee or the employee’s immediate family member, the absence should be substantiated by a physician’s statement. If an absence exceeds three (3) consecutive days and is due to a “serious health condition” of the employee or the employee’s immediate family member (as defined under the Family/Medical Leave policy) the absence must also be approved under that policy.
If an employee exhausts all current and accumulated SPF leave, they may be required to use available vacation leave to cover the absence rather than taking unpaid leave.

Please see “Work Schedule, Absence or Tardiness” and “Family/Medical Leave of Absence” sections of this Handbook for further information on this topic.

(SPF) Sick, Personal, and Family Leave Donation and Acceptance Policy

(Applies to Non-Exempt, Non-Union Employees Only)

Program Guidelines

This policy outlines two options for non-exempt, non-union employees to donate or receive SPF leave days to or from other non-exempt employees. These options are Person-To-Person or by using the Community Leave Bank. Requesting a donation of SPF leave, either Person-To-Person or from the Community Leave Bank should only occur in the case of the employee’s own serious illness or injury or that of their immediate family as defined under the Family/Medical Leave Policy. Donating or receiving a donation of SPF leave days is restricted to those employees who have a minimum of three years of service. (Requests for exceptions to the minimum service requirement will follow the approval and appeal process as outlined below.) This policy addresses only the donation or receipt of additional paid sick leave. Policies regarding eligibility for or the use of sick, personal or family leave are covered under the SPF and FMLA sections of this Handbook.

All donated or received SPF leave days must be approved by both the donating and receiving employee’s supervisor and the Office of Human Resources. The decision to approve or deny will be made in three (3) business days. The Director of Human Resources and/or the Vice President for Finance hold the option to deny the donation or receipt of SPF leave. The requestor may appeal a denial to the President’s Chief of Staff. Decisions made at that level are final. Each approved or denied donation and/or receipt of SPF leave days will be documented in the donor and recipient’s personnel file and SPF leave balances will be adjusted accordingly.

An employee may donate a minimum of one (1) day up to a maximum of ten (10) SPF leave days per fiscal year; either donating Person-To-Person or to the Community Leave Bank. A donor must have a minimum of fourteen (14) accumulated SPF leave days to be permitted to donate (e.g. a person with 15 accumulated SPF leave days may donate only 1 day). This restriction is to assure donor’s potential needed time off can be covered. A recipient may receive a maximum of ten (10) days of donated SPF leave in any one fiscal year either from Person-To-Person donations or from the Community Leave Bank. SPF Leave must be donated/received in full day increments (i.e., 7 hours per day.)

Person-To-Person

An employee (recipient) may ask for gifts of SPF leave days from another employee (donor) provided the program guidelines detailed above are followed. To request and document the donation and receipt of Person-To-Person SPF leave days, use this form (also located on the Forms section of the Human Resources website.)

The Community Leave Bank

The Community Leave Bank is a pool of SPF leave days available to be requested by employees who feel uncomfortable asking their colleagues under the Person-To-Person process for time donations or who wish to keep their needs private.

An employee may donate to or request a donation of SPF leave days from the Bank as long as the program guidelines are followed. To donate to or request a donation of SPF leave from the Bank use this form (also located in the Forms section of the Human Resources website.)

The Office of Human Resources will track approved donations and withdrawals from the Community Leave Bank and will keep a running balance of available SPF days in the Bank. If the Community Leave Bank is depleted, requests for donations of SPF leave from the Bank cannot be approved.

New policy July 2018

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Accumulated SPF Leave

Unused portions of the annual SPF leave allotment for non-exempt employees can be accumulated up to a maximum of one hundred thirty (130) days at any one time. Accumulated SPF leave may be used when annual SPF leave is exhausted and may only be used due to the illness/injury of the employee or the illness/injury of the employee’s immediate family member. Employees are encouraged to accumulate SPF leave for the purpose of covering these types of extended absences.

For absences of over three (3) consecutive working days due to the illness/injury of the employee, the absence should be substantiated by a physician’s statement. If an absence exceeds three (3) consecutive days and is due to the employee’s “serious health condition” (as defined under the Family/Medical Leave policy) the absence must also be approved under that policy.

Using Accumulated SPF leave for absences due the illness/injury of the employee’s immediate family member must be due to the “serious health condition” of that immediate family member (as defined under the Family/Medical Leave policy) and approved under that policy.

Benefit-eligible employees working less than full-time will have all paid leave, including accumulated SPF leave, pro-rated according to their schedules.

When an eligible non-exempt employee retires at age fifty-nine and one-half (59 ½) or later, they shall, at the discretion of the College, be paid for unused accumulated SPF leave up to a maximum of thirty (30) days provided the employee has accumulated enough unused SPF leave for the total amount of paid; PLUS one (1) day ) SPF leave for each year of service, OR; the employee may request to use the same amount of unused SPF leave as paid absences for consecutive work days immediately prior to the retirement day. The method used shall be at the discretion of the College.

Unused or accumulated SPF leave is not paid to the employee when that employee resigns from or is terminated by the College.