Leave

The below information is taken from the University's policy on Leave (4.0121P).

Documentation requirement: In order to approve bereavement leave, a copy of the obituary, the funeral program or the bereavement leave request form must be submitted with the online request. Failure to provide the required documentation will cause the employee's annual leave to be used in lieu of bereavement leave.

Bereavement leave provides up to three days, paid time off, upon the death of a family member or relative. A family member or relative is defined as:

• Employee's spouse
• Employee's parents
• Employee's children and children's spouses
• Employee's grandparents
• Employee's grandchildren
• Employee's siblings and the sibling's spouses
• Employee's aunt, uncle, niece, nephew and first cousin
• Employee's spouse's parents
• Employee's spouse's children
• Employee's spouse's siblings
• Employee's spouse's grandparents
• Employee's domestic partner or fiance

The below information is taken from the University's policy on Hours of Work (4.0120P).

• Overtime compensatory leave is provided in lieu of payment for overtime for nonexempt support staff employees at the rate of one and one half times the total hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.
• Employees must use accrued compensatory leave prior to using other types of leave.
• The University may elect to pay an employee for a part or all accrued special compensatory leave at any time.
• There are several circumstances in which an employee may be paid out for unused compensatory leave. Refer to the leave payouts page for more information.

The Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") provides eligible employees up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

• For incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care, or childbirth;
• Placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care, and to care for the employee's newly adopted child or a child newly placed in the foster care of the employee.
• To care for the employee's family member with a serious health condition.
• The employee's serious health condition.

All employees are eligible, including OPS employees, who have worked at least 12 months (these need not have been consecutive) and who have worked at least 1250 hours in the 12 months prior to the leave. Faculty, Administrative, and Support employees may use paid leave for an FMLA event and such shall be counted toward the entitlement.

Please review the FMLA Poster for more information. Please contact the Office of Human Resources at (904) 620-2903 for an appointment to meet with a benefits representative.

• The personal holiday is only available to support staff employees.
• The employee must successfully complete their initial probationary period.
• One personal holiday is given each fiscal year. Note: The fiscal year begins on July 1 of the current year, and ends on June 30 of the following year.
• The personal holiday must be used by June 20 in 2025

The below information is taken from the University's policy on Leave (4.0121P).

• Sick leave is accrued and credited to your sick leave balance each pay period. 
• Sick leave must be accrued before it may be used.
• Faculty, administrative and support staff earn four hours of sick leave each pay period.
• There is no maximum accrual limit for sick leave.
• Sick leave may be used for the following circumstances:
  • The employee's personal injury or illness which prevents the employee from performing his or her assigned duties
  • Appointments with health care providers
  • The injury, illness, or appointments with health care providers of an employee's family member or members.
   
• An employee may be required to provide medical documentation to support the use of sick leave.
• The employee must notify his or her appropriate supervisor the first day of absence due to injury or illness.
• An employee with at least 10 years of State service will be paid one-fourth of the employee's remaining sick leave balance upon separation, up to a maximum of 480 hours paid.
• Employees may only use the amount of leave necessary to bring their total hours for the work week up to their contracted hours.

* The sick leave earning rates listed are for full-time (1.0 FTE) employees working 80 biweekly hours. The sick leave earning rate will be different for part-time employees and employees that do not work their entire biweekly hours. Contact the Office of Human Resources at (904) 620-2903 for more information on part-time sick leave accrual rates.

There are ten designated University holidays:

• New Year's Day
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Memorial Day
• Juneteenth
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Veteran's Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Friday after Thanksgiving
• Christmas Day

Visit the calendars page to see the dates for the University holidays for the current year. Faculty, administrative and support staff employees are paid for the designated University holidays. In order to receive pay for a University holiday, an employee must be at work or use paid leave the day before the University holiday. If an employee is not at work, and does not use paid leave, the day before a University holiday, the employee will not be paid for that University holiday. 

Additional holidays may be announced by the University President during the year. Any additional holidays will be added to the University holiday calendar.