Leave Accruals

Leave which is accrued on a pay period basis (for NTP and Classified staff), is not actually 'earned' until the end of the pay period. One cannot use the accrued hours in advance of the end of the period. In other words, one earns the bi-weekly accrual by working all the days in the pay period, or by covering those days with leave already on the books at the beginning of the period. The only exceptions to this are in the areas of half-pay and termination payouts.

Sick Leave
All bargaining units have Sick Leave in the event of personal or family illness, but amount and conditions for use are function of contract.

In general sick leave may not be utilized in conjunction with holidays or vacations unless validated by a physician's statement or unless a known condition exists. Sick leave is not a payout item at point of resignation, and may not be "liquidated" immediately prior to termination. The College always has the right to require validation of sick leave use, but will almost always do so when sick leave is being used at a rate which exceeds accrual, or when sick leave is used to extend a break in schedule.

Any planned medical leave, such as for surgery or childbirth, needs to be arranged with the supervisor and the Office of Human Resources in advance and be documented by physician's certification of need and projected dates of absence. See FMLA.

Sick leave at ½ pay is a form of short-term disability insurance available upon exhaustion of sick leave for NTP and Classified staff.

An additional sick leave benefit which is becoming more recognized and important is the use of accrued sick leave to fund health insurance coverage in retirement. While contractual provisions differ with respect to options and contribution, the basic principle for all employees is that the college converts sick leave time on the books at point of retirement to a dollar amount based on salary at that time. An employee then decides how much to leave for health insurance payment of take in cash depending up on the contractual options available. For certain long-servicing employees who are leaving employment but not retiring there are also cash payments for unused sick leave. These are increasingly important benefits which should encourage maintenance of the largest possible sick leave balance.

Personal Leave is available to all categories of employee but amount and conditions of use are a function of contract. In general personal leave may not be utilized in blocks of days unless the employee is prepared to document that its use was actually for personal business which could not be otherwise accomplished. As with sick leave, it is not to be used to extend holiday or vacation periods. Personal leave is not a payout item at point of termination.

Vacation Leave or Annual Leave is accorded to both NTP and Classified staffs and the amount of accrual differs with bargaining unit and longevity.

Sabbatical Leave is available to both Faculty and NTP employees. Request forms may be found on the Office of Human Resources website.

Bereavement Leave is available to NTP and Classified staff in the event of a death in the immediate family. Employees with faculty rank utilize Personal Leave for this purpose.