Leave Benefits for Faculty

Academic administrators, 12-month faculty and 9-month faculty

All full-time 12-month administrative and professional employees who hold faculty rank are entitled to paid vacation and sick leave benefits described in this policy. The 12-month academic employees include executive/administrative, deans, academic department heads, and other administrative and professional employees. Leave benefits take effect at the time an employee is appointed to an eligible 12-month position. Generally, a 12-month academic appointment coincides with the fiscal year (July 1 to June 30).

Additionally, effective August 1, 2016, 9-month faculty (including 9-month clinical faculty) will be considered “full-time employees” who are eligible to accrue paid sick leave under this Section 7.5.

Vacation leave accrual and use

Full-time 12-month administrative and professional employees who hold faculty rank will accrue leave with a minimum of 80 hours paid time in a pay period.
Vacation time will accrue at a rate of 13.34 hours per pay period or 160 hours per year (20 days). Such employees accrue vacation monthly and may carry days forward from one (1) month to the next.
The maximum amount of vacation that can be carried forward from one fiscal year to the next cannot exceed two times the employee's annual allowance.
Any amount of leave over the maximum accumulation of two times the annual allowance is lost at the end of the fiscal year (June 30) in which the maximum accumulation amount has been reached.
Vacation may be taken only after time is accrued and recorded at the end of each month. It cannot be taken before it is accrued or in anticipation of it being recorded at the end of the month. Vacations may be taken as weekly periods, individual days, or in half-day increments as long as the period chosen meets with departmental approval and there is a sufficient leave balance available.
Nine-month faculty (including 9-month clinical faculty) do not accrue vacation time under this Section 7.5.

Sick leave accrual and use

Sick leave accrues at the rate of eight (8) hours per pay period (1 day) for full-time, 12-month employees.
Faculty members with appointments of less than 12 months (e.g., 9-month positions) will accrue sick leave on a basis prorated to full-time, 12-month appointments (e.g., 72 hours, or 9 days, per year for 9-month appointments).
There is no limit on the number of earned sick leave days that may be accrued or carried forward.
This system allows employees the opportunity to accumulate a substantial amount of paid sick leave in the event of an accident or long-term illness.
Employees will accrue leave with a minimum of 80 hours paid time in a pay period.
Employees who terminate employment or retire will accrue sick leave in the month of termination/retirement/leave provided that they have worked 80 hours in that pay period.
Sick leave may be taken as leave accrues for employee illness or injury which renders the employee incapable of performing the duties of the position and for preventative medical and dental care.
Sick leave may also be used to provide care to the employee's spouse, sponsored dependent, child(ren), parents, mother-in-law, father-in-law, or other family members who require the employee's personal care and attention due to illness, injury, childbirth, or adoption (in a manner consistent with Section 7.7 of the Employee Handbook).
Sick leave may be taken only after time is accrued and recorded at the end of each month. It cannot be taken before it is accrued or in anticipation of it being recorded at the end of the month.
Up to three days of sick leave per calendar year may be granted for any reason deemed important to an employee and is referred to as personal leave. This leave does not accumulate from one calendar year to the next.
If personal leave is not taken in any given year, it is accumulated as sick leave. Personal leave must be taken in a full-day increment. Any portion of a day will count as one (1) day of personal leave.
Employees who are off work due to a work-related injury or illness (i.e., one for which the employee has filed a workers' compensation claim) will not accrue any sick leave if they do not have 80 hours paid time during each pay period that they are off work.

Long-term paid sick leave for faculty

Springfield, Mountain Grove and West Plains campuses

All full-time faculty, including both clinical faculty and instructors, are eligible for up to one semester of paid sick leave, contingent upon recommendation by the faculty member’s department head and college dean, and approval by the provost (Springfield) or chancellor (West Plains).

For information regarding the procedure for requesting this benefit, please refer to the office of the provost website (for Springfield and Mountain Grove campuses), or the academic affairs website (for the West Plains campus).

In the event that a semester of paid sick leave is granted to a faculty member, the faculty member’s accrued, unused sick leave (up to the total number of hours of the granted leave of absence) will be applied against the period of absence.

Using sick leave to care for someone else

Faculty members may also use sick leave due to an illness or injury of the employee’s spouse, sponsored dependent, child(ren), parents, mother-in-law, father-in-law, or other family members who require the employee’s personal care and attention.

In exceptional circumstances, a faculty member may also be granted up to one (1) semester of paid sick leave in order to provide care to a family member who requires the faculty member’s personal care and attention due to illness, injury, childbirth or adoption. A proposal for such exceptional leave must be made by the college dean (Springfield and Mountain Grove campuses) or the dean of academic affairs (West Plains campus), who should give due consideration to the fiscal constraints of the college and the staffing needs of the department.

To facilitate fair and consistent application, such proposals may be reviewed by a standing committee, who will in turn make recommendations to the provost or chancellor. Ultimately, all requests for exceptional leave must be approved by the provost or chancellor, whose determination is final.