Faculty Illness

Eligibility: Faculty member

Utilizing Benefit: When a faculty member must be absent due to their own illness during an academic semester, he or she should refer to Section V, "Professional Duties and Responsibilities" of the Policies and Procedures in Regard to Faculty. The Office of Academic Affairs and the department chair will arrange for temporary substitutes to cover teaching responsibilities. The faculty member will continue to receive salary when absent for their own illness. Faculty members will be responsible to pay the employee portion of benefits during an absence due to illness under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Faculty (FMLA) members do not accrue sick and/or vacation leave because faculty salaries are determined by annual academic year contracts.

In addition, each time a faculty member is out ill more than three (3) consecutive days, a written statement from the physician certifying the illness must be submitted to and reviewed by the Chief Human Resources Officer. The employee′s FMLA benefits will begin and the total amount of the employee′s Family and Medical Leave Act FMLA will be reduced by the amount of time he or she is out ill. (Refer to the Family and Medical Leave Act.)

Maximum: The maximum time period for temporary substitutes will be twelve (12) weeks.
 
Leave after Exhaustion of Benefit: Faculty members absent due to extended illness (12 weeks or longer) will be required to notify the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chief Human Resources Officer and request an extended leave of absence one month prior to the end of the first twelve (12) weeks. The faculty member must provide a written statement from a physician certifying medical necessity for the extended leave of absence. The Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chief Human Resources Officer will determine the pay status of that faculty member. Benefits will continue during the extended leave of absence for a maximum of one year and the employee will pay the employee′s portion of the benefits.

The College may require that the eligible faculty member provide status reports to the Chief Human Resources Officer and the Office of Academic Affairs at least every thirty (30) days regarding the employee's condition.

The Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chief Human Resources Officer reserve the right to require a second medical opinion from a College designated physician before approving extended leave benefits. Should the medical opinions of the employee′s physician and the College designated physician concerning the medical necessity of the leave differ, a third physician, chosen mutually by the employee and the College, will be asked to render an opinion. The majority opinion of the three physicians will be binding.

Illness due to pregnancy is treated the same as any other type of illness for the purposes of the Faculty Illness Policy (refer to the Family and Medical Leave Act).