SICK LEAVE POOL PLAN

Please view the FAU  Sick Leave Pool Policy  for more details regarding this benefit.

Purpose of Plan:

The Sick Leave Pool is a benefit extended to all full and part-time employees with a minimum of one year of continuous service at Florida Atlantic University and a minimum of 64 sick leave hours. Employees must meet specific eligibility requirements and donate 16 hours from their personal sick leave balance. Membership in the Pool allows participating employees to apply for up to a maximum of 480 sick leave hours for serious or catastrophic personal illness or injury, when they have exhausted all their leave hours, within a 12-month period.

Eligibility in the Pool

• Must be a *full or *part-time employee with one or more years of continuous leave-earning state employment and a minimum of 64 unused sick leave hours at the time of application.

If any of the eligibility requirements are not met, the application will be denied. No employee shall be unreasonably denied membership in the Pool.

*Full or part-time employees shall mean individuals employed on a non-temp annual or academic year contract or on an approved sabbatical or leave of absence with pay. OPS employment type is ineligible for the Sick Leave Pool benefit.

Participation in the Pool

Participation in the Sick Leave Pool is voluntary and must be elected.  Eligible employees can apply for the Sick Leave Pool via workday:

1. From the Workday home page, search for the  CREATE REQUEST
2. Next to ‘Request Type’, type in “Sick Leave Pool Form” and click  OK.
3. Fill out and answer ALL required fields, then hit  SUBMIT.

Upon completion of one year of Continuous Service at FAU, eligible employees will receive a Sick Leave Notification in their FAU work email notifying them of their eligibility. Eligible employees must apply within 30 calendar days from their date of eligibility in order for their Sick Leave Pool membership to be effective the 1^st  of the month following enrollment.

Eligible employees will have another opportunity to enroll in the Sick Leave Pool during the annual Open Enrollment period. The annual Open Enrollment period begins in October and continues for 60 calendar days. Eligible employees will receive a Sick Leave Notification containing the Open Enrollment dates and instructions on how to enroll.

Employees who have their application for membership rejected may reapply during the next Open Enrollment period. The Sick Leave Pool eligibility requirements must be met in order for employees to be approved during the Open Enrollment period.

After the eligible employees’ Sick Leave Pool membership has been approved, 16 hours of unused Sick Leave is deducted from their account and added to the Pool.

Requesting Sick Leave Pool Hours

Participating employees who have depleted all of their accrued Sick, Annual, and Compensatory Leave hours may request hours from the Sick Leave Pool. Employees can request to use of Sick Leave Pool hours by completing the   Application for Sick Leave Pool Hours  form and the Attending Physician's Statement form.

A maximum of 160 Sick Leave Pool hours (20 workdays) may be granted per request. A participating employee may be approved for up to 480 Sick Leave Pool hours (60 workdays) during a 12-month period. Sick Leave Pool hours will be pro-rated for part-time employees.

Sick Leave Pool hours are granted only for employees’ serious or catastrophic illness or injury. This would include serious or catastrophic disabilities that are the result of pregnancy, childbirth, or surgery. Uncomplicated pregnancy and recovery from childbirth is not included.

Participation in the Sick Leave Pool does not guarantee hours may be withdrawn from the Pool. All requests for sick leave pool hours will include a review of the employee’s past sick leave usage and must be approved by the Committee. The request must meet the established criteria of the Sick Leave Pool usage. Please see the  Sick Leave Pool Policy  for more information regarding the criteria.

1. Please send your  Application for Sick Leave Pool Hours and the Attending Physician's Statement form to Employee Relations, at  emprels@fau.edu.
   
   

Returning to Work

When a participating employee using Sick Leave Pool hours has been certified as able to return to work, or otherwise assigned work-related duties, the payment of Sick Leave Pool hours will cease. Any unused Sick Leave Pools hours will be returned to the Pool.

If an employee is paid using Sick Leave Pool hours after they have been certified to return to work, or otherwise declared able to perform his/her assigned duties, all such hours will be repaid to the Pool from the employee’s individual sick leave account. The employee will not be allowed to use his/her annual sick leave hours until the amount owed to the Pool has been repaid.

Participating employees are responsible for informing Employee Relations of their ability to return to work or assigned work-related duties within five days of the occurrence.

Termination from the Pool

Membership in the Pool can be terminated under the following conditions:

1. Participating employees may cancel their membership in the Pool at any time by notifying the Sick Leave Pool Administrator/Employee Relations in writing. The cancellation notice should include the effective date of the cancellation.
2. Participating employees who retire, transfer, terminate, or are terminated from the University employment shall be terminated from the Pool, effective on the date of the personnel action.
3. Participating employees who are found to be abusing the Pool may be terminated from the Pool.
4. Participating employees who terminate from the Pool and owe sick leave hours to the Pool will have those hours deducted from their individual sick leave balance if such hours are accrued and available.

Any sick leave contributed to the Pool by a participating employee will be forfeited upon the employee’s cancellation of membership in the Pool, retirement, resignation, or termination from the University.