The University of Memphis

Sick Leave Banks - Faculty and Non-Faculty

POLICIES

Participation in the faculty or non-faculty sick leave bank is available to regular full-time and regular part-time employees whether serving in an academic, fiscal, or modified fiscal year appointment (MODFY). 

Membership is based on date of receipt of enrollment forms, and employees may enroll at any time provided they have sufficient sick leave hours to cover the initial assessment. Employees who elect to participate in a bank shall initially be assessed 22.5 sick leave hours or the equivalent hours for employees on part-time or non-standard work schedules. Confirmation of enrollment and assessment will be sent to each employee.

Enrollment forms should be submitted to the Benefits Office in Human Resources.

• Faculty Sick Bank Enrollment Form        http://bf.memphis.edu/hr/forms/fslbenroll.pdf
• Non-Faculty Sick Bank Enrollment Form   http://bf.memphis.edu/hr/forms/nfslbenroll.pdf

The President shall appoint five sick leave bank trustees for each bank. At least three of the appointees to the Faculty Sick Leave Bank shall be faculty who devote a majority of their time to classroom instruction.  The remaining trustees may be members of the administrative staff. At least three of the appointees to the Non-Faculty Sick Leave Bank shall be non-exempt employees. The remaining trustees may be exempt employees.

In each bank, two trustees will be appointed for one year, two trustees for two years, and one trustee for three years. Trustees shall be eligible for reappointment. The President shall immediately fill any vacancy resulting from expiration of a term, discontinuation of employment, retirement, death, resignation, or removal by the President of a trustee from the trustee role. All actions by the trustees shall require three affirmative votes. 

The trustees for each bank shall: 

• Meet and elect a chairperson from the trustees.   
• Be responsible for preparation of the sick leave bank plan for operation. The plan is subject to the president's review to ensure its compliance with these guidelines, Board policy, appropriate record keeping and accounting principles, and statutory provisions. 
• Adopt reasonable rules for the assessment of sick leave hours by participants in order to maintain an adequate reserve of usable days for bank members. 
• Administer the bank and approve or reject requests for withdrawal of leave from the bank. The request for bank leave must be submitted through the Benefits Office in Human Resources to the trustees. The employee should notify his/her supervisor or department head that bank leave has been requested. 
• The trustees shall approve or reject all requests for bank sick leave within five business days of receipt of the request. The operation of the bank shall exist separately from the regular sick leave accrued to an individual's personal account with respect to approvals and appeals; the decisions of the trustees shall not be appealed beyond that body.
• Formal minutes shall be made of the sick leave bank trustee meetings and shall be maintained as a part of the official bank records. All records and official forms of the sick leave bank and minutes of the trustee meetings shall be maintained in the Benefits Office in Human Resources. All records shall be subject to audit by appropriate state officials.        

The plan of operation prepared by the trustees of each bank shall include but not be limited to the following provisions:    

• An employee must have been a member of the bank for 30 calendar days prior to applying for withdrawal of sick leave bank hours.  
• Sick leave bank hours will not be granted to new members the first 12 months of membership if the leave is for absence due to a pre-existing illness or condition.     
• An employee must exhaust all accumulated sick leave and annual leave, if applicable, prior to receiving bank sick leave.       
• Bank sick leave shall not be used for elective surgery, illness or death of any member of the individual's family, or during any period when the individual is receiving disability benefits or Board of Claims (Workers' Compensation) benefits.       
• A restriction will be established on the number of hours that may be withdrawn by an individual bank member on account of one illness, particularly an illness known at the time he or she elected to join the bank. Initial grants of bank sick leave to individual bank members shall not exceed the hourly equivalent of 20 consecutive days for which the applicant would have otherwise lost pay. Subsequent grants of bank sick leave shall not exceed the hourly equivalent of 60 days in any fiscal year, or 90 days for any one illness, or recurring diagnosed illness, or accident.    
• When a bank member is physically or mentally unable to apply for bank sick leave, the immediate next-of-kin may make a request for bank sick leave on his or her behalf. If there is no next-of-kin available, this request may be made by the legally appointed guardian or conservator or an individual acting under valid power of attorney.       
• At any time, the trustees may request from a bank member a  physician's statement certifying the illness or condition of the  member requesting bank leave. Refusal to submit the certification will result in denial of the request for bank sick leave.   
• A bank member shall lose the right to request bank sick leave upon termination of employment, retirement, cancellation of bank membership, refusal or inability to honor the trustees' assessments, and/or going on leave of absence in a non-pay status for reasons other than illness, injury, or disability.       
• A bank member may cancel his or her membership at any time upon written notification to the Benefits Office in Human Resources. Assessed sick leave days shall be nonrefundable upon such cancellation and nontransferable upon transfer to another Tennessee Board of Regents institution or area school.       
• Employees who are granted bank sick leave shall continue to accrue sick leave and annual leave, if applicable, and  service credit for retirement and longevity purposes during the time they are on bank sick leave. Also, they will receive credit for any holidays that may occur during the bank sick leave period.   
• Use of sick bank time will be granted only for circumstances that sick leave ordinarily would be granted by the University. Sick bank time may not be used for purposes inconsistent with being on sick leave, i.e., recreation, vacation, etc. Violations may result in the voiding of previously granted sick bank time at the trustees' sole discretion.     
• Grants of bank sick leave shall not be contingent upon repayment of hours used or waiver of other employment benefits or rights.      
• An annual enrollment period shall be established by the trustees. The trustees shall notify all eligible employees of their eligibility status and the dates of the enrollment period. Enrollment forms and copies of the plan and its regulations shall also be made available at this time.      
• All completed official forms shall be forwarded to the Benefits Office in Human Resouces for action.  

The following provision was added by the Non-Faculty Sick Leave Bank trustees to help ensure adequate balances for continued bank operation and to protect the bank from possible abuse. 

An employee must exhaust all accumulated sick leave and annual leave before receiving bank sick leave, and sick leave bank time will not commence until the 6th working day after personal leave has been exhausted. This 5-day waiting period must be met only once for each illness or recurring diagnosed illness or accident. 

Faculty Sick Bank Enrollment Form        http://bf.memphis.edu/hr/forms/fslbenroll.pdf

Non-Faculty Sick Bank Enrollment Form   http://bf.memphis.edu/hr/forms/nfslbenroll.pdf

Faculty sick leave bank             http://www.tbr.edu/policies/default.aspx?id=1756

Non-Faculty sick leave bank     http://www.tbr.edu/policies/default.aspx?id=1758