Paid Medical Absence

Eligibility for Paid Medical Absence

Benefits-eligible employees, as defined in Policy 7.7 Employee Classifications, are eligible to receive regular pay during medical absences based on medical hours accrued.

• Full-time benefits-eligible employees will accrue one day of medical absence time for each month of service completed.
• Benefits eligible employees in the categories of partial year full-time, partial year part-time, and part-time employees will receive prorated medical absence with pay in proportion to scheduled work time.
• Unused medical days will be accumulated and carried forward from year to year, up to the maximum accumulation of ninety (90) days.
• Upon termination of employment, unused medical days will not be paid out.
• Medical days accrued by one employee may not be loaned or given to another employee.

Use of Paid Medical Absence

Illness or Injury of Employee

Accrued medical days may be used for hospitalization, illnesses which confine employee to home, incapacitation due to accident, and medical, optical and dental examination and treatments

Disease or Illness of Immediate Family Member

"Immediate family" is defined for purposes of this section as a spouse, mother, father, dependent son or daughter, dependent stepchild or other dependent family member.

• When a member of the employee's immediate family contracts a contagious disease, exposure to which might jeopardize the health of other employees if the worker reported for duty, accrued medical days may be used. This decision will be made by the immediate supervisor based on medical information supplied by the employee, including a physician's recommendation.
• Employees may use accrued medical days to take care of a legitimate medical need of a member of the immediate family. Interpretations or decisions concerning this policy will be made by the immediate supervisor in consultation with the Department of Human Resources.

Death of a Family Member

Refer to Staff Bereavement Policy 7.18 for information regarding the use of accrued medical days in the event of the death of a family member.

Reporting Paid Medical Absence

Records of paid medical absence time will be maintained by the Payroll Department, based on data furnished by each department in the University's timekeeping system.

• It is the responsibility of the employee to report all time off accurately and in a timely manner.
• The University may request from a Physician or Licensed Practitioner, or appropriate qualified provider of health care, verification of the reason for the absence.

Exceptions to this policy can be made only by written request to the appropriate Vice President, who will make the decision and forward the approved request to the Department of Human Resources.