Administrative and Professional Handbook

Time off From Work

The University administers holiday and vacation policies based on the academic year, which is from September 1 through August 31.

Holidays and Personal Holidays

Scheduled University Holidays
There are usually 14 scheduled University holidays in each academic year. The current holiday schedule is usually posted in your office. If not, you may obtain a copy from your Human Resources Officer. Part time employees are entitled to holidays that fall on days they are normally scheduled to work.

Personal Holidays
In addition to scheduled holidays, full-time employees are entitled to two personal holidays during the academic year. Part-time employees are entitled to an equivalent number of part-time days, depending on their schedule. These may be scheduled at a time convenient to you, your office, and the University, with the prior approval of the person to whom you report.

New Employees: The number of personal holidays to which you are entitled during your first academic year of employment depends on when you began working at NYU.

Personal holidays may be used during the 6 months probationary period or later, but cannot be carried over from one academic year to the next. If you leave the University, the privilege of using personal holidays expires two weeks prior to your separation date.

Religious Holidays
You may take off time for religious holidays not included in the official University schedule with the permission of the person to whom you report. Such time off must either be covered by a personal holiday or a vacation day if you are entitled to one at the time, or taken without pay.

Vacation

All permanent administrative and professional staff accumulate vacation time for each completed month of employment.
New Employees: If you began work on or before the 15th of the month, you accumulate vacation time for that month. If you began work after the 15th, your vacation accumulation begins the following month.

Annual Vacation Entitlement
Full-time employees with less than 15 years of continuous service receive 22 vacation days per year (4.4 weeks), which is credited at the rate of 1.83 days per month.

Full-time employees with 15 years of continuous service or more receive 25 vacation days per year (5 weeks), which is credited at the rate of 2.08 days per month (effective September 1, 1999).
You will be credited the 2.08 rate for the entire academic year in which you reach your 15 years of service.

Part-time employees receive vacation at a rate proportional to the number of hours worked per week. To compute your vacation entitlement, multiply the number of hours you are scheduled to work per week by 4.4 (the number of weeks’ vacation entitlement for full-time employees). This gives annual vacation accumulation in hours.

Scheduling Vacation Time
Note for New Employees: You may take vacation time after you have passed your six month probationary period. At that time, you are given credit for the vacation time you have accumulated during your first six months.

All vacation must be scheduled in advance and requires the approval of the person to whom you report. Within this restriction, the following policies apply:

• With the approval of the person to whom you report, you may take your accumulated vacation days at any time during the year. However, the usual vacation period is June 1 through September 15. On June 1, you are advanced credit for June, July, and August so that you may use the balance of your vacation entitlement for that academic year during the summer.
• You may carry unused vacation days into the next academic year, but should use them by April 1.
• With special advance permission, it is possible to carry up to half of your total annual vacation entitlement beyond April 1 of the next academic year. Requests must be submitted before April 1, through your Human Resources Officer to the Vice President for Human Resources. All such days carried from the previous academic year must be taken by August 31.
• If you have less than 15 years of service, at no time may you have a total accumulation (past and current year) of more than 33 days of vacation.
• If you have 15 or more years of service, at no time may you have a total accumulation (past and current year) of more than 37.5 days of vacation.

Vacation Upon Separation
If you have given the required one-month notice when resigning from the University, you will be paid for your unused vacation accumulation.

Paid Sick Days and Disability Pay

Eligibility
Paid sick days are granted to permanent employees in order to insure continuity of income when the employee is absent due to verifiable disability, including maternity disability. Each year, you may use up to six days of your paid sick time when necessary for the care of your sick child or the child of your registered domestic partner. Three of these six days may also be used when necessary to care for a sick spouse, registered domestic partner, parent, sibling, parent-in-law, grandchild or grandparent. Waiting periods and allowances are described below.

The University administers paid sick days based on the employee's anniversary year.

Note: If the absence is due to injury on the job, see Workers’ Compensation.

Full-Time Employees

New Hires: If you are a permanent, full-time employee and began work on or before the 15th day of the month, you will receive credit for one paid sick day at the end of that month. Sick days thereafter are accrued at the rate of one day per completed full calendar month of service, until you have worked at the University for one full year.

After One or More Years of Employment: The number of paid sick days available to you increases with the length of employment, as shown below.

Paid sick days are not cumulative from year to year. Sick days do not accrue when you are not actively at work (see also Conditions Applicable to Sick Days below).

How to calculate sick days available at the beginning of an illness after 1 year of employment:

1. Determine the maximum allowance based on the preceding chart.
2. Subtract from this maximum the number of sick days used in the 12 months prior to the onset of the current illness.

Part-Time Employees

If you are a regular employee who works part-time, you are entitled to a pro-rated sick leave based on the number of hours you are scheduled to work each week. (Eligibility for sick days follows the same guidelines as for full-time employees, as described above.) Use the formula below to determine the number of paid sick hours available to a part-time employee.
1. Multiply by seven the number of sick days to which you would be entitled if you worked full-time. This converts days to hours.
2. Divide the number of hours you work each week by 35 (a full time week) to determine what fraction of a full-time week you work.
3. Multiply the answer from step 1 by the answer from step 2 to determine the maximum number of sick hours currently available.

Example: Assume you have 2 years of service and work 25 hours per week

• 1. 7 X 40 sick days = 280 hours
• 2. 25 / 35 = .7142
• 3. 280 * .7142 = 200 hours

Conditions Applicable to Sick Days

1. You must notify your supervisor (or someone designated by your supervisor) early in the workday whenever you will be out because of illness or disability.
2. Sick pay will be given only for days already earned. If you are out on a paid or unpaid leave of absence, you do not continue to accrue sick pay time until you are actively back at work. Once you are actively back at work, you will begin to accrue additional sick time. However, this new time cannot be used to pay for unpaid time from a former leave.
3. Sick days may be used only for absence due to illness or disability. Your supervisor may require medical verification for any absence.
4. Sick days may not be used during a vacation.
5. If a holiday occurs while you are receiving paid sick days, you will be paid for the holiday in place of a sick day.
6. If your illness/disability has lasted 8 or more consecutive calendar days, and the disability is not work related, the University requires a New York State Disability Insurance form because NYU sick leave benefits are integrated with New York State Disability benefits. See Illness or Disability of Eight or More Calendar Days. Note: if the disability is work-related, see Workers’ Compensation. If your illness leave is subject to the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you will be asked to have you and your physician complete an FMLA Certification Form which will be given to you by your supervisor or Human Resources Officer at the start of your sick leave.
7. An employee may be disciplined or dismissed for abuse of the sick leave benefit or excessive loss of time.

Illness or Disability of Eight or More Consecutive Calendar Days

Work-Related Disability: Employees who are ill or disabled due to work-related illness or injury are covered by Workers’ Compensation.

Disability (Not Work-Related): This includes maternity disability. First, based on your doctor’s report that you are unable to work, you may take the NYU sick days to which you are entitled at full pay. On the eighth consecutive calendar day of your disability you will be mailed a New York State Disability form (DB-450). You must fill this out and return it to the Benefits Office, even if you believe you have enough sick days to cover the duration of your disability. This form verifies your eligibility for NYU paid sick days, and will enable you to receive New York State disability payments if you deplete your paid sick days. (Consult the chart for the maximum number of sick days to which you are entitled.)

If you have used all of your sick days but your health care provider says you are still unable to work, you may receive partial salary replacement benefits through New York State Disability Insurance. As long as you are still disabled you can receive these benefits for a period of up to 26 weeks beginning on the eighth calendar day of your illness/disability. If you received full sick pay from NYU for any portion of this 26-week period, you will only receive New York State Disability benefits during the remainder of the 26-week period. In no case may you receive NYU sick days and New York State Disability benefits at the same time.

If you have exhausted your NYU paid sick days, you can apply for an unpaid leave of absence to protect your NYU employment and benefits.

Use of Vacation Pay During Illness

If you have exhausted your paid sick days and have been placed on an unpaid leave of absence, you may apply to use your accrued vacation time to supplement the partial salary replacement that you receive directly from New York State Disability Insurance. Using your accrued vacation time is not required; it is voluntary on your part.

Eligibility:

• You must have completed at least six (6) months of continuous employment in a regular position.
• You may use vacation pay for absence after the first seven (7) continuous calendar days of disability. You must exhaust your University sick pay first.
• The illness/disability must be certified by New York State Disability Insurance.
• You may use any number of vacation days you have accrued but not more than needed to cover the unpaid sick days until your anticipated return to work date (certified by your physician). If you return to work sooner than originally anticipated and you have been paid more vacation days than were needed to cover the unpaid sick time, you must return the pay for those vacation days.

Procedure:

• If you wish to use your accrued vacation days to cover sick days for which you have no University paid sick time left, apply to your Human Resources Officer in writing, indicating how many days of your vacation time you are requesting.
• Your Officer will verify the vacation days in your bank and forward your request to the Benefits Office for certification of disability and processing to the Payroll Department.
• You will be sent a special payment of the vacation days you have requested, however, your unpaid leave of absence status will not change until you are certified to return to work.

Illness or Disability of More Than 26 Weeks

If the illness or disability is expected to continue for six months or longer, you may be eligible for benefits through the University’s long term disability plan (TIAA Group Total Disability Plan) and Social Security Disability. See Disability Insurance.

You should apply for TIAA and Social Security disability benefits as soon as you become aware that your disability will extend beyond six months. See also Leave of Absence.

Returning to Work After Eight or More Consecutive Calendar Days

When your health care provider indicates that you are well enough to return to work, you should notify your supervisor immediately of your intention to return, as well as the return date.

If you have been out for illness reasons for eight or more consecutive calendar days, the NYU Benefits Office will mail you an Employee Health Examination Report during your absence. You must have your treating health care provider complete the Employee Health Examination Report. Please review this form carefully. It cites situations when you may be required to make an appointment with the University Health Center for an examination before your return date.

When you have obtained the required clearances, present the Employee Health Examination Report signed by your physician to your HR Officer on the day you wish to return to work. If all documentation is properly completed, your HR Officer will advise you to return to work.

If you are returning after a work-related disability of eight or more days, follow the procedures under Returning to Work Following a Work-Related Disability of Eight or More Days.

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Leave of Absence

A leave of absence is an authorized temporary absence from the payroll. A leave is granted by the University to guarantee you continued employment and to protect certain benefits.

University Leave and FMLA

It is the policy of the University to provide family care and medical leave to eligible employees in accordance with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). In cases where you are eligible for both University leave and FMLA leave, that leave time will run concurrently. In no event would your entitlement be less than what you are eligible for under FMLA. For more information, see Family and Medical Leave.

Illness or Maternity Disability Leave

Illness leave—If your illness, injury, or disability continues after you have exhausted your available paid sick days, you may request to be placed on illness (or maternity disability) leave of absence.

To be eligible for an illness leave of absence, your disability must be covered by New York State Disability or Workers’ Compensation. See Illness or Disability of Eight or More Consecutive Calendar Days.

Normally, you may request an illness leave for up to three months, and apply for an extension of up to three additional months if the disability continues. However, if you are totally and permanently disabled, your total leave may be up to 30 months or until you are eligible for retirement, whichever comes first.

A leave of absence that lasts longer than two weeks requires the advance approval of the Vice President for Human Resources, and your office must report it on a Reemployment/Status Change(s) form.

A leave of two weeks or less may be approved by the person to whom you report.

Maternity Disability Leave: covers disability resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, and/or the recovery period. Typically, for a normal birth with no complications, your health care provider may consider you “disabled” for a week or two before the birth and six weeks postpartum. For a cesarean delivery, the postpartum recovery period will usually be extended to eight weeks. Some or all of this time might be covered by your sick day allowance for the balance, if any, you should request an illness leave of absence.

After you are no longer disabled, you may be able to take paid vacation time and/or unpaid personal leave to care for your newborn, with the agreement of your supervisor. See Personal Leave, Leaves, and Family and Medical Leave.

Personal Leave

You may request a leave of absence of up to three months for personal reasons, including child care for newborn or newly adopted children. This type of leave is granted at the discretion of the person to whom you report, who must obtain the approval of the School/Unit's Human Resources Officer.

If you wish to extend a personal leave beyond three months, the person to whom you report and the School/Unit's Human Resources Officer must again grant their approvals. Be sure to make the request before your current leave expires.

Conditions Applicable to All Leaves

• Failure to return to work on the first working day after your leave of absence expires constitutes grounds for separation on that date.
• If you wish to return to work at the University at any time beyond the first working day after your leave expires, you will be treated as a new applicant and all prior seniority will be lost.
• Working at other employment while on leave constitutes grounds for termination.

See also Family and Medical Leave.

Benefits During Leaves of Absence

Certain benefits can be continued during a leave, as described below. If you plan to take a leave of absence, it is your responsibility to contact the Benefits Office to arrange for continuation of benefits. For more information, see the corresponding benefits publication or contact the Benefits Office.

Family and Medical Leave

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for specified family and medical reasons. FMLA leave may or may not be covered by paid time off, depending on the circumstances.

The following is a summary of the University’s and your obligations under the FMLA. For further details, including definitions and clarifications under FMLA, consult your Human Resources Officer or the Benefits Office.

Eligibility

To be eligible for FMLA benefits, you must have worked for NYU for a total of 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months.

Leave Entitlement

You may be granted up to a total of 12 work weeks of job protected leave during any 12 month period for one or more of the following reasons: the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child during the first year following birth; for placement with you of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care; to care for an immediate family member (spouse/registered domestic partner, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; to take medical leave when you are unable to work because of your own serious health condition.

Spouses/registered domestic partners employed by the same employer are jointly entitled to a combined total of 12 work weeks of family leave for the birth and care of a newborn child, for placement of a child for adoption or foster care, and to care for a parent who has a serious health condition. Leave for birth and care, or placement for adoption or foster care must conclude within 12 months of the birth or placement.

Serious Health Condition and Certification

Medical certification is required to support the need for FMLA leave due to a serious health condition affecting you or an immediate family member (spouse/registered domestic partner, child, parent).

A “serious health condition,” as defined by FMLA, is explained in the form entitled “Certification of Health Care Provider.” Please see your supervisor, Human Resources Officer, or the Benefits Office for further information. The medical certification should be provided no later than the time the leave begins and must be provided within 15 days after medical certification is requested. (Additional certification may be required at 30 day intervals; a health care provider representing the University may contact your health care provider and the University may require a second exam at its expense.)

Period of Leave

Your maximum entitlement under FMLA is determined at the time you request FMLA eligible leave. The University totals all FMLA leaves taken in the 12 months prior to the start of the leave being requested. Any FMLA time taken during the previous 12 months is subtracted from the maximum 12 week entitlement to determine how much FMLA leave remains to be used going forward.
FMLA leave may be taken intermittently when medically necessary to care for a seriously ill family member or because you are seriously ill and unable to work. If FMLA leave is for birth or adoption/foster care placement, use of intermittent leave is subject to your supervisor's approval.

Pay Policies During FMLA Leave

If you are ill (including maternity disability) and eligible for FMLA leave, you must charge the illness time to accumulated sick days. Your FMLA leave will run concurrent with your paid time off. If sick days are exhausted and you are still ill, the remaining FMLA leave time may be partially covered by New York State Disability benefits. Other FMLA leaves (parental leave following birth or adoption/foster or within first year of birth, leave to care for ill relative) may be covered by your accrued vacation time at your request or may be taken without pay.

Notice

You must provide 30 days’ advance notice of the need for FMLA leave when the need is foreseeable and such notice is practicable. If 30 days’ notice is not practicable, you are expected to give notice to your supervisor within no more than one or two working days after learning of the need for the leave. (Start of leave may be delayed for up to 30 days if you fail to give adequate notice without a reasonable excuse.) Request for FMLA forms are available from your Human Resources Officer.

Benefits During Leave

You do not lose previously accrued benefits during FMLA leave. Rules for accruing vacation days, payment for holidays during leave, etc., are the same for FMLA leave as any other type of leave. See Benefits During Leaves of Absence.

Insurance benefits remain in effect during FMLA leave as they do with any other type of leave. You are required to contact the Benefits Office to make arrangements to pay any employee contributions to insurance plans while on leave.

Return from FMLA Leave

Whenever practicable, you should notify your supervisor two weeks in advance of your intention to return to work. A minimum of two days’ notice of intention to return to work is required.

If you have been out on leave due to a health condition for eight or more consecutive calendar days, you must provide written medical certification from a health care provider that you are fit to return to the job. See Returning to Work After Eight or More Consecutive Calendar Days. The Employee Health Examination Report serves as written medical certification to return to work.

Definitions
Spouse: husband, wife (The University also extends this eligibility to registered domestic partners).

Son or Daughter: a biological, adopted or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward or a child of a person standing in loco parentis, who is either under age 18 or age 18 or older and who is incapable of self care because of a mental or physical disability.

Parent: a biological parent of an employee, legal guardian, or an individual who stands or stood in loco parentis to an employee when the employee was a child. Parents-in-law are excluded.

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Bonding Leave

The University provides employees who are parents of a newborn child, a newly adopted child or the sponsor of a new foster care placement with paid leave to allow for a period of bonding with the child. This policy includes parents in same-sex relationships.

Eligibility

Code 100 employees who have completed two (2) years of full-time service (excluding any leaves) prior to birth, adoption or placement of foster care children.

Effective date of policy

December 1, 2004.

Benefit

When the employee is the PRIMARY caregiver, he/she is entitled to up to six (6) weeks of bonding leave at full pay immediately following the birth, adoption or placement of a foster child. (See below for coordination with temporary maternity disability.)

A parent who is NOT the primary caregiver is entitled to one week of bonding leave at full pay following the birth, adoption or placement of a foster child.

Where both parents are NYU employees eligible under this policy, only one parent may be designated as the primary caregiver at a given time. The maximum bonding leave benefit for both parents is six (6) weeks combined including primary and non-primary leave.

The period of bonding leave must immediately follow the either the birth and disability period or the adoption/foster care placement date.

An employee is entitled to a maximum of one (1) bonding leave in a twelve (12) month period.

"Parent" includes: (1) the biological parent; (2) adoptive parent; (3) foster care parent; (4) any employee who is legally responsible for a minor child as defined in this policy.

Coordination of bonding leave and maternity disability leave

Childbirth and recovery from childbirth are treated as temporary disabilities. Accordingly, an employee would first be entitled to sick pay pursuant to University policy. Once an employee's sick pay is exhausted, the employee would be entitled to New York State Disability benefits for any remaining period of disability. An employee may, if she elects, use accrued vacation pay or bonding leave pay to supplement NYS Disability benefits, which are less than full pay. (For use of vacation pay, see A&P Handbook: Paid Sick Days and Disability. For use of bonding leave pay, see below.)

Once the period of temporary maternity disability is over, an employee, if she is the primary care giver, may have up to a maximum of 6 weeks of bonding leave provided that the bonding leave, when added to the period of maternity disability that immediately follows the birth, may not bring the total to more than 12 weeks. For example, if the post-birth disability period is 6 weeks, then the bonding leave may be another 6 weeks, bringing the total to 12 weeks. If the post-birth disability period is 8 weeks, the bonding leave may be another 4 weeks, for a maximum 12 week combination of post-birth disability and bonding leave.

If the employee does not have enough sick pay to cover the post-birth disability period, she may elect to use all or part of her bonding leave pay to supplement New York State Disability benefits, which are less than full pay. The actual amount of bonding leave the employee has available will be determined as described in the examples above and may not exceed six (6) weeks.

University Leave and FMLA

The University provides medical leave and family care leave to eligible employees in accordance with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ("FMLA"). If an employee is eligible for FMLA leave, that leave runs concurrently with the periods of University sick and disability leave and paid bonding leave. In no event will an employee's entitlement to leave be less than what employees are eligible for under FMLA. (See A&P Handbook: Family and Medical Leave)

An employee wishing to apply for paid bonding leave must complete a Bonding Leave Application for the leave and an FMLA application.

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Additional Time Off

Jury Duty
While you are on jury duty you will receive full University pay. You are expected to come to work on any full or partial days you are released from jury duty. You must give the person to whom you report a copy of your subpoena. If your call to jury duty conflicts with the needs of your office, the person to whom you report can write a letter requesting that your service be postponed. You will be granted released time necessary to report to the courthouse to reschedule your jury duty service. If you are paid by the state or federal court for jury service, you are required to reimburse NYU for the full amount paid (less travel expenses).

Military Encampment
If you are required to serve military encampment duty you will be granted up to two weeks off (10 working days) with pay. Time used for military encampment duty will not be charged against vacation. You must present a copy of your military encampment orders to the person to whom you report. If your military duty is for a longer period of time, you may be entitled to a longer period of unpaid leave in accordance with applicable law.

Death in the Family (Bereavement Pay)
You may take three (3) paid days off after the death of a spouse, registered domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law, legal guardian, brother, sister, child, or grandparent. Any of these days may be postponed for up to two (2) weeks from the date of the death, if necessary, in order for you to attend the funeral. In addition, you may take one (1) paid day off to attend the funeral of a close relative other than those listed above. Note: Proof of death may be required.

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