Northern Arizona University will advance sick leave to faculty and staff if they are without any paid leave time balance and need to stay home due to illness.
The temporary new policy was adopted to address the anticipated impact of the H1N1 virus, commonly called the swine flu. The Centers for Disease Control guidelines say that sick individuals should not go to work or expose others until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (temperature less than 100 degrees) without the use of fever-reducing medications.
This program is available to all benefit eligible employees. It allows employees to use sick leave accruals from their future earned sick leave accruals of seven days (based on FTE; i.e. 56 hours for full-time employees).
Eligibility for advancement of earned sick leave accruals includes:
- Employees must have exhausted all sick leave accruals, vacation accruals and compensatory time (non-exempts).
- Reason for absence must satisfy NAU Personnel Policy #4.03 (sick leave).
- Advanced sick leave accruals will be deducted from the employee’s sick leave accrual balance at the end of the program (which is likely to be in the spring) and in subsequent pay periods until the full amount is collected.
- Employees also will be required to pay back the equivalent dollar amount for any advanced sick leave accrual balance outstanding upon separation from employment with NAU.
This program is being implemented to provide comprehensive options to minimize the spread of H1N1, and provide pay continuity to employees with no paid leave available to them. Visit hr.nau.edu/m/content/view/1105/ for information that addresses common workplace questions for H1N1 virus. This site also outlines other options for supervisors and employees in managing employee absences during this situation.
Any employee wishing to explore this option should contact Human Resources at (928) 523-2223. For the latest information on flu, visitnau.edu/flu.