Faculty Use of Sick Leave Accruals

Section 23.4(h) of the Agreement between the State of New York and United University Professions states with respect to charges to sick leave accruals that: “when an employee is on sick leave, the employee shall not be required to charge sick leave credit for any day upon which the employee would not have been required to be available to work had the employee not been on sick leave.”

The Policies of the Board of Trustees state in Article XI, Title H, Sec. 2, that an employee’s professional obligation shall include teaching, research, university service, and other duties and responsibilities required of the employee during the term of the employee’s appointment.

Full-time faculty are expected to be available to perform their full professional obligation on a full-time basis, notwithstanding the fact that their physical presence on campus, e.g., teaching, may be on less than a full-time basis.

Accordingly, full-time faculty who are absent by reason of a temporary disability are required to charge sick leave accruals for each day on which they are unavailable to work, i.e., five days in a workweek, and not just on those days they would be required to be present to meet classes.