Crime Victim Leave
Eligible employees may take time off from work to participate at the prosecuting attorney's request in preparation for or attendance at a criminal justice proceeding. Employees are eligible for leave if the employee is:
- The victim of the crime at issue in the proceedings; or
- The victim's spouse, child by birth or adoption, stepchild, parent, stepparent, or sibling.
Employees are not eligible for leave if the employee is accountable for the crime at issue in the proceedings.
Time off under this policy will be without pay except that exempt employees will not incur any reduction in pay for a partial week's absence for leave to appear as a witness.
Public Official Leave
Employees who are elected or appointed to a public office at the city, county, or state level will be allowed a leave of absence for service in that role. The leave will be unpaid and must not exceed 180 days per year.
Employees must plan to return to work within 10 days following the completion of the service for which leave was granted unless the employee is prevented from doing so by illness or disabling injury. Employees will be required to submit a medical certification verifying the illness or disabling injury.
Upon reinstatement, employees will be restored to their position or to an equivalent position with equivalent pay, with the same seniority, status, compensation, hours, locality, and benefits as existed immediately prior to their leaves of absence for public service.
Maternity Leave
Employees will be provided a leave of absence for a reasonable period of time for pregnancy. The University may require employees to provide a medical certification that states that the employee is not able to perform their employment duties because of their pregnancy.
Upon signifying their intent to return from a pregnancy-related leave, employees will be reinstated to their original job or to an equivalent position with equivalent pay and accumulated seniority, retirement, fringe benefits, and other service credits, unless the University's circumstances have changed such that reinstatement is impossible or unreasonable.
Disabilities caused or contributed by pregnancy and related medical conditions will be treated like other temporary disabilities for all job-related purposes.
Military Leave
In addition to the military leave rights set forth in the National Handbook, Montana employees who are ordered to federally funded military duty, whether voluntary or involuntary, are also entitled under Montana law to all of the employment and reemployment rights and benefits provided under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and other applicable federal laws.
Employees who are members of Montana's national guard or who are members of the national guard of another state and employed in Montana are entitled to a leave of absence during a period of voluntary or involuntary state military duty or full-time National Guard duty. "State military duty" includes a duty performed by a member, including active operations or administrative functions, exercises, training, coordination, or planning that is conducted for the purposes of preparing the Montana National Guard for active duty. It also includes the time period, if any, required pursuant to a licensed physician's certification to recover from an illness or injury incurred while performing military duty.
Leave under this policy will be unpaid except that employees may elect to use any accrued vacation, annual leave, paid military leave, or compensatory leave. For employees who were probationary employees when ordered to state military duty, the University may require them to resume their probationary period from the date the leave of absence for state military duty began.
Employees returning from leave will be reinstated to employment with the same seniority, status, and pay they would have had absent the leave, except under any of the following conditions:
- The employee is no longer qualified to perform the duties of the position because of a physical or mental disability.
- The employee's position was temporary, and the temporary employment period has expired during the leave.
- The employee's request to return to work was not done in a timely manner.
- The University's circumstances have changed so significantly that the employee's continued employment cannot reasonably be expected.
- The employee did not inform the employer at the time of hire that the employee was a member of the state's organized militia or the national guard of another state.
- The employee enlisted in the state's organized militia or another state's national guard during employment and did not inform the employer of the enlistment; or
- The employee's reinstatement would cause the University undue hardship.
Unless there are extenuating circumstances that prevent timely reporting to work, through no fault of the returning employee, employees must notify the University of their intent to return to employment following military service in accordance with the following timing requirements:
- For individuals whose period of service was less than 30 days or was for the purpose of an examination to determine the person's fitness to perform service in the uniformed services, not later than the beginning of the first full regularly scheduled work period on the first calendar day following the completion of the period of service, safe transport to the individual's residence and an additional eight-hour period;
- For individuals whose period of service was 30 to 180 days, not later than 14 days after completion of the period of service; and
- For individuals whose period of service in the uniformed service was for more than 180 days, not later than 90 days after the completion of the period of service.
Exceptions to the above timing requirements will apply when providing notice is either impossible or unreasonable through no fault of the person. In those cases, notice must be provided as soon as possible.
Employees who have coverage under the University's health insurance plan will be able to continue such coverage while on military leave so long as they continue to make payments for their contribution to the coverage costs. Employees whose service qualifies them for coverage under the State of Montana's health insurance plan as an employee of the Department of Military Affairs may be required to pay up to 102 percent of the full premium for continued coverage.
When employees who choose to not remain covered under the University's health plan return to employment, they can resume coverage under the plan without being deemed to have a break in service for purposes of the plan.
Upon reemployment, employees will be entitled to receive creditable service for the period of military leave for purposes of any University-provided pension plan. When employees elect to receive credit and make up any employee contributions required to accrue benefits under any University pension plan, the University will pay the amount of its contribution for the period of state military duty.