Adopted by President’s Cabinet 3-26-19

Benefitted employees transferring from a state of Georgia agency with no more than a thirty calendar day break in service can transfer up to a maximum of 96 hours of sick leave to EGSC.

The College’s sick leave policy allows salary to be continued for all employees working one-half time or more who are incapacitated by illness or injury. Employees should realize that sick leave is a privilege. It is not meant to be used simply to take additional time off the job. Abuse of this privilege is a serious offense and will be considered just grounds for termination.

Employees should notify their supervisor immediately if they are ill and unable to report to work. Employees who fail to notify their supervisor may have the absence charged against their annual leave or it may be considered as leave without pay, depending upon the supervisor’s recommendation after consultation with Human Resources. Employees suspected of abusing the sick leave privilege may be required to support each absence by a physician’s statement prior to having it charged to sick leave.

Regular employees who work full-time shall earn and accrue sick leave at the rate of one working day (8 hours) per calendar month of service. Regular part-time employees working one-half time or more will accumulate sick leave in an equivalent ratio to their percentage of time employed.

Sick leave for new employees (biweekly or monthly) or terminating employees is prorated at the end of the first or last month of employment based upon the number of days worked in the first or final month as a percentage of the total working days in that month. There is no maximum to the amount of sick leave that an employee may accumulate. Sick leave may be granted at the discretion of the college and upon approval of the employee’s immediate supervisor for any of the following reasons:

    • Illness or injury of the employee 
    • Medical or dental treatment or consultation
    • Quarantine due to a contagious illness in the employee’s household 
    • Illness, injury or death in the employee’s immediate family requiring the employee’s presence. In the event of death or illness in the immediate family, sick leave with pay may not exceed three working days. Immediate family is defined at East Georgia State College as the employee’s spouse, children, mother, father, brothers, sisters, grandparents, father-in-law, and mother-in-law.

In all cases, a day of sick leave will be computed for purposes of pay and time off on the basis of the employee’s regular workday. All employees are required to submit a Request for Leave through the OneUSG online system prior to taking planned sick leave (i.e., a doctor appointment or a scheduled surgical procedure) or immediately upon the return to work for unplanned sick leave.

If sick leave is claimed for a continuous period in excess of one week (five actual working days), a physician’s statement may be required to permit further sick leave with pay. When all accrued sick leave is exhausted, accrued annual leave will automatically be used in a continuous absence.

A terminating employee will not accumulate sick leave after the last working day of employment.

HB 203 allows any member of the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia who retires July 1, 1999 or after to establish unused sick leave as service credit under TRS. In order to qualify, retiring employees must have sixty days of sick leave accumulated for which they have not been paid on their retirement date. For each twenty (20) days of sick leave accumulated and unused, a retiring employee will receive credit for one month of service under TRS. Sick leave credit can be used to increase years of service after the employee has become vested or attained 60 years of age. (Note: Any TRS member whose effective date of retirement was July 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999 is not eligible for the full funding and will only be eligible for one month of service for each 40 days of accrued sick leave for which the member has not been paid.)