Full-time employees on Salary Schedule D shall earn sick leave at a rate of seven hours per month of qualifying employment to a maximum of 63 hours during the academic year (fall and spring semesters) and up to a maximum of 21 hours during the summer term, depending on faculty load. Each full-time employee on Salary Schedule B, C, and E shall earn sick leave at a rate of eight hours per month and up to a maximum of 96 hours per leave year.
Salary Schedule H employees shall receive sick leave under the same terms and conditions as other eligible employees, except that monthly-earned sick leave will be as follows: four hours for employees working 20-24 hours, five hours for employees working 25-29 hours, six hours for employees working 30-34 hours, and seven hours for employees working 35-39 hours.
An employee must be in paid status for one-half of the workdays in the month of employment to accrue a day of sick leave, except those absent for Family and Medical Leave purposes, as designed by the President.
Unused sick leave is carried forward at the end of each leave year. There is currently no maximum on the number of sick leave days that may be accrued. Sick leave is not paid upon separation of employment. For purposes of applying accrued sick leave as credit for retirement purposes, an employee is limited to the amount allowed by law and the Teachers’ Retirement System guidelines. Sick leave may be utilized during the employment period. However, sick leave may not be utilized to extend the employment period.
Sick leave is defined as the absence from duty by an employee as a result of any of the following:
- personal illness or doctor's quarantine;
- pregnancy or maternity leave;
- medical examinations and appointments;
- personal injury which incapacitates the employee:
- attendance upon an ill member of the employee's immediate family (parent, spouse, child, foster child currently in the care and custody of the employee, sibling, or an individual with a close personal tie);
- death in the family of the employee (parent, spouse, child, sibling, parent-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew, niece, grandchild, grandparent, uncle, or aunt); or
- death, injury, or sickness of another person who has unusually strong personal ties to the employee, limited to a person standing in loco parentis, where unusually strong personal ties exist due to an employee’s having been supported or educated by a person; father-in-law; mother-in-law; son-in-law; daughter-in-law; brother-in-law; sister-in-law; nephew; niece; grandchild; grandparents; aunt; or uncle.
Sick leave earned while employed by an Alabama public school system, higher education public institution in Alabama, or the Alabama Community College System may be transferred for use at NACC in accordance with Alabama Code Section 16-1-18.1.
The President or the immediate supervisor of an employee may ask that the employee provide a medical certification by a licensed healthcare provider at the expense of the employee. After three consecutive absences due to illness or after five occurrences due to illness within a 30 calendar-day period, the President or designee may require that an employee furnish a medical certificate by a licensed healthcare provider. This is to be done at the expense of the employee. The designee or a supervisor must consult with the President or Human Resources Director before requesting medical certifications from an employee. When medical certifications are required, requests for sick leave may be denied if the medical certification is not provided.
The Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) allows accrued, unused sick leave at the time an employee retires to be applied toward retirement credit. However, the number of sick leave days applied to retirement credit cannot exceed the number of months the employee has worked. See the Teachers’ Retirement System Member Handbook published on the TRS website for conversion information.
Upon the death of an employee in active service, 100 percent of the member’s accrued and unused sick leave will be paid to the beneficiary or estate (Act # 98-385, Section 13. Effective Date, October 1, 1998). The Business Office should be contacted in these instances for instructions on how to request this benefit.