Policy Title

THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT A CONTRACT BETWEEN EMPLOYEES AND WINTHROP UNIVERSITY, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. THIS DOCUMENT DOES NOT CREATE ANY CONTRACTUAL RIGHTS OR ENTITLEMENTS. WINTHROP UNIVERSITY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REVISE THE CONTENT OF THIS DOCUMENT, IN WHOLE OR IN PART. NO PROMISES OR ASSURANCES, WHETHER WRITTEN OR ORAL, WHICH ARE CONTRARY TO OR INCONSISTENT WITH THE TERMS OF THIS PARAGRAPH CREATE ANY CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT.

A.     Applicability

The provisions set forth below apply to all employees assigned to established classified and unclassified positions.

B.     Jury Duty / Court Leave

1.     Any employee in a permanent position who is summoned as a member of a jury panel shall be granted administrative leave with pay and any jury fees and travel payment shall be retained by the employee. Employees who are summoned to jury duty will be expected to work on any given day only the number of hours that, when added to the hours required in court, equal the normal workday for the employee.

2.     An employee, who is a victim of or witness to a crime and must attend court in relation to the case or in order to obtain an Order of Protection or restraining order, shall receive court leave with pay.

3.     Any employee in a permanent position subpoenaed as a witness shall be entitled to administrative leave with pay. If the employee will not receive any personal gain for the outcome of the litigation, the employee may retain any witness fee and payment for travel expenses. The official subpoena must be submitted to the Office of Human Resources.

4.     Any employee in a permanent position subpoenaed in the line of duty to represent a state agency as a witness or defendant shall not be granted administrative leave with pay and the appearance in such cases shall be considered a part of the employee’s job assignment. The employee shall be reimbursed according to Budget and Control Board regulations for any meals, lodging and travel expenses that may be incurred while serving in this capacity.

5.     The employee must request prior approval for this leave by submitting a copy of the jury duty notice, court hearing notice or subpoena to the supervisor. A copy

of the documentation should be sent to the Office of Human Resources, and the jury duty/court leave should be recorded on the electronic timesheet for non- exempt employees or on the electronic leave report for exempt employees.

6.     In no cases shall administrative leave with pay be granted for court attendance when an employee is engaged in personal litigation (other than as described in section 2.B. above); however, an employee may be granted annual leave or leave without pay when annual leave is not available.

7.     Any day an employee is excused from service on a jury, the employee is expected to return to the job during any period within the employee’s normal work schedule; otherwise, the time the employee is excused from court service will be charged to annual leave, or in the case of illness, to sick leave.

C.     Voting

In most instances, the polls open early enough and/or close late enough to give all employees the opportunity to vote either before reporting to work at the regular time or after getting off work at the end of the day. In the event an employee’s work schedule would preclude having an opportunity to vote, the employee may be granted up to two hours leave with pay for this purpose.

D.    Death in Immediate Family Leave

In the event of a death within an employee’s “immediate family,” the employee may be granted up to three consecutive days of leave with pay. For the purposes of this section, “immediate family” is defined as the spouse, great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, legal guardians, sisters, spouse of sisters, brothers, spouse of brothers, children, spouse of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren of either employee or the spouse.

Among those not included under this policy are aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. The employee is expected to notify the supervisor of the circumstances before taking leave due to a death in the immediate family. The name of the deceased and the relationship to the employee must be indicated in the “notes” section of the electronic timesheet for non-exempt employees or on the electronic leave report for exempt employees.

If the employee needs to be excused from work for more than the three days of leave provided under this policy, the employee may request annual leave (or leave without pay if no annual leave is available.)

E.      Volunteer Blood Drives

At times convenient for the employing department, employees will be permitted to participate in blood drives arranged by the university. However, the university reserves the right to limit the number of employees who may be absent from any given unit or department at any one time and to deny the request when the employee’s absence would place an undue hardship on the department’s operations.

An employee who wishes to make a blood donation that is not in conjunction with a university sponsored blood drove will be excused from work for the time required to make that donation. The employee will be expected to notify the supervisor in advance and to schedule the donation at a time which will not place a strain on the department’s operations.

The university may deny the employee’s request for time to donate if the absence of the employee would create scheduling difficulties in completing assignments within the department or division. The university may request the employee to provide documentation of the donation as a condition of approving the leave request.

F.      Bone Marrow Donors

Permanent employees who work an average of 20 hours or more a week and who seek to undergo medical procedures to donate bone marrow may be granted paid leaves of absence. The combined amount of paid leave may not exceed 40 work hours unless additional time is approved by the President. Leave requests for this purpose must be submitted with written verification by a physician regarding the purpose and amount of time needed for each leave request. If a medical determination finds that the employee does not qualify as a bone marrow donor, the paid leave of absence granted to the employee before that medical determination is not forfeited.

G.    Organ Donor Leave

Employees who wish to be an organ donor and who accrue annual or sick leave as part of their employment are entitled to leaves of absence from their respective duties without loss of pay, time, leave or performance rating for one or more periods not exceeding a total of thirty regularly scheduled workdays in any one calendar year during which they may engage in the donation of their organs.

Saturdays, Sundays and state holidays may not be included in the thirty day total unless the particular Saturday, Sunday or holiday to be included is a regularly scheduled workday for the employee involved.

The employee must present documentation confirming that the employee is a donor from the attending physician of the proposed organ donation to the Office of Human Resources before leave is approved.

H.    Disaster Relief Leave

1.     American Red Cross certified disaster volunteers may use up to ten days of paid leave in a calendar year to participate in specialized disaster relief services with the approval of the President. Official documentation must be provided to the Office of Human Resources from the American Red Cross declaring the need for volunteer for disaster relief services.

2.     Employees who participate in other voluntary disaster relief services must obtain approval from the supervisor and use accrued annual leave.

I.       Military Leave (Also see the Family and Medical Leave Act Policy, Section E, Service member Family and Medical Leave)

1.     Short-Term Military Leave with Pay –An employee of the university who is a member of the SC National guard or a reserve unit of the United States Armed Forces will be entitled to military leave with pay for up to 15 work days in any one calendar year while taking part in training exercises or other duties ordered by the appropriate authority. An employee who is called to active duty to serve during an emergency will be entitled to such leave with pay for up 30 additional working days. Any one calendar year means either a calendar year or, in the case of members required to perform active duty or other duties within or on a fiscal year basis, the fiscal year of the National Guard or reserve component issuing the orders. While on this type of leave, the employee will receive his full regular salary from the university. The employee must request the leave in writing and present appropriate documentation to the supervisor as soon as orders are received.

2.     Long-Term Military Leave without Pay – An employee who enlists or who is drafted for military service in the Armed Forces of the United States will be granted leave without pay for a period of up to five years beginning with the date of induction and ending not more than 90 calendar days after the date of separation from military service. The employee must request the leave in writing and present appropriate documentation to the supervisor as soon as orders are received.

3.     Specific questions about military leave should be directed to the Office of Human Resources.

J.       Administrative Leave

State employees in full-time equivalent (FTE) positions who are physically attacked while in the performance of official duties and suffer bodily harm as a result of the attack must be placed on administrative leave with pay by their employer rather than sick leave. The period of administrative leave for each incident may not exceed 180 calendar days.