ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE

Overview

The University counts on all employees to be at work during their regular scheduled work hours.  Employees are the key to fulfilling the University's mission, serving our students, and being available to offer outstanding customer service.  Recognizing that all employees should enjoy occasional time away from work using vacation and holiday time, and that both personal and medical situations may temporarily interfere with an employee's ability to work, the University offers a variety of generous and flexible leave benefits.   Keep in mind that all leave, other than emergencies, must be approved by the supervisor in advance.

The regular workweek for the University is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, but many employees have a schedule with different work hours based on the needs of the department.  Regardless of the specific days and times of an individual work schedule, every employee is expected to work the number of hours in the employee's established workweek unless on approved leave. The minimum workweek is 40 hours for full time employees.  

Full time employees take a lunch period of either one half hour or one hour depending on the employee's assigned work schedule. For each four hours of scheduled work, SP employees may be permitted a 15 minute rest period. A rest period may not be used to arrive to work late, leave work early, extend the lunch period or be combined to form one half hour rest period.

Leave Request

A Leave Request must be completed whenever any employee plans to use leave time. Leave must be approved by the supervisor in advance of taking the leave, except in cases of an unexpected emergency. Leave can be requested at any time via smartphone, iPad, or computer, and will route to the Supervisor for approval.

Types of Leave

The following types of leave are available for FAU employees.

Annual leave offers employees the opportunity to take vacations, enjoy a day off for personal reasons, or supplement other forms of leave. All annual leave must be approved by the employee's supervisor before being used. Full time employees earn annual leave in accordance with the following guidelines unless subject to a college administrative policy as approved by the President or designee. Accrual for part time employees is proportionate to the full time equivalent. Accrual is proportionate to the time in pay status.

* Postdoctoral Fellows: Ten (10) days of annual leave per calendar year, accrued per pay period, which if not used, will be forfeited. In addition, there will be no payout of any unused annual leave at the end of the employment appointment.

Check FAU's policy on  Annual Leave, for additional, specific information.

FAU has a generous sick leave policy allowing full time Faculty, AMP and SP employees to earn 4 hours of sick leave each pay period.  Executive Service employees earn 5 hours of sick leave each pay period. Part time accrual is proportionate to the full time equivalent and accrual is proportionate to the time in pay status.

* Postdoctoral Fellows: Five (5) days of sick leave per calendar year, accrued per pay period, which if not used, will be forfeited. In addition, there will be no payout of any unused sick leave at the end of the employment appointment. All federal or state leave programs provided they meet eligibility requirements.

Employees may use accrued sick leave for the following purposes:

1. The employee's personal illness, injury, exposure to a contagious disease; a disability where the employee is unable to perform assigned duties; or appointments with health care providers.
2. The illness, injury, or appointments with health care providers, of the employee's immediate family.
3. The death of an employee's immediate family member following the use of Bereavement Leave.

Immediate family is defined as spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employee or employee's spouse.

Employees must notify the supervisor of any absence for illness, injury or exposure to a contagious disease at the start of the normal work day. All other absences must be approved in advance.

The supervisor or other appropriate University administrator has the right to require that the employee provide medical documentation to support a medical absence any time that the employee requests a medical absence of three or more days; has already been absent for three or more consecutive days; has been absent three or more days within any thirty day period; or has, within the last year, been disciplined for the excessive use of sick leave. Medical documentation should be submitted to Human Resources and will be maintained to protect the privacy of the employee.

Check FAU's policy on Sick Leave, for additional, specific information

Employees with one or more years of continuous service shall be provided with up to six months unpaid parental leave from the University, during which time the employee may use paid leave, when the employee becomes a biological, adoptive, or foster parent. Parental leave may begin two weeks prior to the expected date of the child's arrival and must be completed no more than 6 months from the date of the child's birth or adoption. FMLA leave, alternatively, must be completed no more than 12 months following the birth or adoption of the child. FMLA leave for the birth or adoption of a child shall run concurrently with any University parental leave, and may not be used to provide an additional period of leave beyond 6 months. In the event that an employee chooses to take available FMLA leave commencing after the first 6 months following the birth or adoption of the child, the University's six month leave policy will not apply.

Parental leave taken under the provisions of FMLA or the University's parental leave policy must be a consecutive period of time, and the employee must provide a minimum of 30 days notice prior to the leave period. Employees on parental leave may use up to six weeks of paid sick leave for the period of leave immediately following the birth of a child. Parental leave beyond the six week period may be covered by other accrued paid leave or remain a period of unpaid leave.

Employees are provided paid leave, not to exceed 40 hours in the workweek, in the following special circumstances.  This special paid leave is not accrued.

• Bereavement Leave 'paid leave up to three days shall be provided to an employee upon the death of a family member. If the leave extends beyond three days, sick leave or another form of accrued leave may be used. Family member is defined as spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employee or employee's spouse.
• Emergency Closing - paid leave shall be provided for official emergency closing of University facilities. Special Compensatory leave shall be provided to SP employees required to perform essential services during the emergency closing. Only employees scheduled to work during the time of the emergency closing shall be provided leave
• Jury Duty - paid leave for jury duty shall not exceed the number of hours in the employee's normal workday. If jury duty does not require absence for the entire workday, the employee shall return to work immediately upon release by the court
• Military Leave - paid and unpaid military leave and re-employment rights shall be provided to employees consistent with Federal and State laws.
• Court Summons - paid leave shall be provided to an employee summoned as a witness in a matter not involving personal interests.
• Voting Leave - The President or designee may provide paid leave up to two hours for voting in public elections, when the normal work schedule prevents the employee from voting.
• Athletic Competition - paid leave for athletic competition in Olympic events may be provided in accordance with State Law.
• Florida    Disaster Volunteers - paid leave may be provided in accordance with State Law.
• Civil Disorder - up to two days of paid leave may be granted for civil disorder or disaster for an employee who is a member of a volunteer emergency response team.

All State holidays shall be observed as official designated University holidays. All employees in established positions, who are in active pay status for that pay period will be paid for all official holidays. Employees on an extended approved leave without pay for medical leave, parental leave, or military leave, will get 8 hours of holiday compensatory leave.

All AMP and SP employees will earn one day of Personal Holiday each fiscal year. The Personal Holiday may not be used in the first thirty (30) days of employment.  The Personal Holiday must be used by June 30 each year or be forfeited. Personal Holidays must be used as a full day, and cannot be taken on an hour for hour basis. Personal Holidays cannot be accrued and unused personal holiday time will not be paid out upon termination of employment.

* Postdoctoral Fellows: Paid Holidays when the University is officially closed.