Paid Sick and Exigency Leave
RVU provides paid sick leave to all eligible employees for periods of temporary absence as explained below.
- Accrual
- Full-time employees accrue sick leave at 3.69 hours per pay period up to a maximum of 480 hours.
- Part-time employees who work twenty (20) hours or more per week accrue 1.84 hours per pay period up to a maximum of 240 hours.
- Part-time employees who work less than twenty (20) hours per week accrue 1 hour for every 30 hours worked up to a maximum of 48 hours.
- Using Sick Leave
Paid sick leave may be used if an employee:- has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition that prevents them from working.
- needs to get preventive medical care or to get a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of any mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition.
- needs to care for a family member who has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition or who needs to get preventive medical care or to get a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of any mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition.
- the employee or the employee’s family member having been a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or criminal harassment and needing leave for related medical attention, mental health care, or other counseling, victim services (including legal services), or relocation.
- due to a public health emergency, a public official having closed either (A) the employee’s place of business, or (B) the school or place of care of the employee’s child, requiring the employee needing to be absent from work to care for the child.
- needs to care for a family member whose school or place of care has been closed due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event that results in the closure of the family member's school or place of care.
- needs to grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial, or deal with financial and legal matters that arise after the death of a family member; or
- needs to evacuate the employee's place of residence due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event that results in the need to evacuate the employee's residence.
Employees begin accruing sick time upon hire and may begin using their sick leave as it is accrued.
It is the employee's responsibility to notify their supervisor each day at the beginning of their shift when they cannot come to work because of an illness, injury, medical care, domestic violence, care for family whose school has been closed, evacuation of residence, or bereavement. Also, employees must inform their supervisor when they expect to return to work. In the event an employee is absent for four or more workdays, medical or legal certification is required.
If employees have an extended illness, accumulated sick time currently provides pay while they are away from work. Unused sick hours are carried over from year to year up to the maximum allowed. Employees will not accrue additional sick time until their balance falls below the maximum accrual.
- Sick Pay
Because paid sick time is accumulated to be used if employees are personally sick or injured; they will not receive extra pay or extra time off for unused sick time. Paid sick time will not be used in the calculation of overtime. Should an employee’s hours change from full-time to part-time, their maximum accrual will also be modified according to the number of hours they are expected to work. Unused sick leave benefits will not be paid to employees if their work hours are reduced while they are employed, or upon the termination of employment.
Employers shall not retaliate against an employee for requesting or using paid sick leave.
Additional rules will apply in the case of a public health emergency.
Jury Duty Leave
The University encourages all employees to fulfill their civic responsibilities and to respond to jury service summons or subpoenas, attend court for prospective jury service, or serve as a juror. Under no circumstances will employees be deprived of any benefits of employment, terminated, threatened, harassed, or coerced because they request or take leave in accordance with this policy.
Employees will receive their regular compensation for the first three days of jury duty if they were scheduled to work and they provide confirmation of juror service. Beginning the fourth day and thereafter, employees, as jurors, are paid $50.00 per day by the State of Colorado for state district or county court jury duty. For jury duty in excess of three days, employees receive the difference between jury duty pay and their regular pay up to a maximum of ten days (80 hours). This includes part-time, casual, and temporary employees, so long as their employment hours can be determined by a schedule, custom, or practice established during the three-month period preceding jury service. Any additional 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 due to jury duty.
Employees seeking compensation for jury duty leave must provide a juror service certificate from the court as soon as practical. The University will compensate the employee in accordance with this policy within 30 days of receiving the service certificate.
Employees should provide their supervisor with notice of any jury summons or subpoena within a reasonable amount of time after receipt and before their appearance is required.
Domestic Abuse Leave
Employees subject to domestic abuse may be eligible for a leave of absence. Please see the Human Resources Department for more information.
Crime Victim Leave
Employees may take time off from work for the purpose of responding to a subpoena to testify in a criminal proceeding or to participate in the preparation of a criminal proceeding, if:
- The employee is a victim of the crime at issue in the proceeding.
- The employee is the crime victim's spouse, child by birth or adoption, stepchild, parent, stepparent, sibling, legal guardian, or significant other (i.e., someone in a family-type living arrangement who would constitute the spouse or partner of the victim if they were married); or
- The victim is deceased or incapacitated, and the employee is the victim's spouse, partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, significant other, or other lawful representative.
Employees who are in custody for a crime, accused of a crime, or otherwise accountable for a crime, are not eligible for time off under this policy.
Leave under this policy will be unpaid except that exempt employees will not incur any reduction in pay for a partial week absence due to witness duty.
FAMLI Participation
FAMLI benefits provide partial income protection for eligible employees who are temporarily unable to work due to their own or a family member’s qualifying medical or legal reason, specifically, for the care of a newborn, adopted child, or fostered child; to care for a family member with a serious health condition; for the employee’s own serious health condition; for qualifying military exigency leave; or to address safety needs or the impact of domestic violence and/or sexual assault. FAMLI provides up to 12 weeks of partially paid leave or up to 16 weeks under certain circumstances related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Contributions to the FAMLI fund are a shared responsibility between the employer and the employee. Therefore, as a participating employer, the University remits the full 0.9% of employee's wages to the FAMLI fund in accordance with the law and regulations, half of which is a payroll deduction of 0.45% from employees earned wages deducted from each paycheck, with the University contributing the other half (0.45% of wages) on employees' behalf. For more information about this important state-facilitated program, including eligibility, required documentation, and process, please see famli.colorado.gov.
University policy permits employees to “substitute” (run concurrently) an employee’s accrued paid leave (e.g., sick or vacation) while on paid FAMLI leave if the employee elects to do so to reach 100% of their wages. For more information about this aspect of FAMLI leave, please contact Payroll.
Where applicable, FAMLI benefits will run concurrently with FMLA.
Family Care Act Leave
Employees who are eligible for leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and who are in registered domestic partnerships or civil unions may take leave in accordance with the FMLA to care for their domestic or civil union partners with a serious health condition. A serious health condition has the same meaning as reflected in the University's National Family and Medical Leave policy.
Employees seeking leave under this policy must comply with the eligibility, notice, certification, and other requirements set forth in the Family and Medical Leave policy contained in the National Handbook and will be required to provide reasonable documentation of a family relationship.
Where applicable, Family Care Act leave and FMLA leave will run concurrently.
For further information or to request leave under this policy, contact Human Resources.