Exempt Staff Leave Reporting

This document’s intent is to bring clarity and consistency to how we report annual and sick leave for FLSA exempt employees (including faculty or postdoctoral fellows who accrue leave.) The university currently has differently-worded policies on this issue (FSH 3710 A-10 and 3460 B-3), which may create some confusion. Effective immediately, we will go with the following procedure:

With respect to full-time FLSA-exempt employees who accrue annual or sick leave, an employee working a minimum of four (4) hours in a day will be paid regular pay for the full day with one exception noted below. If the employee works fewer than four hours, the difference between their hours worked and the full schedule should be charged to the appropriate accrued leave category.

Exception – employees on approved intermittent Family and Medical Leave (FML) must report all hours missed for FML reasons. For clarity, this is the only circumstance that an exempt employee should report fewer than four hours of leave.

With respect to any missed work of less than a full day using annual leave, approval in advance from your supervisor is required. Other examples of missed work of less than a full day should be communicated and/or discussed with your supervisor in advance.

If an exempt staff member runs out of sick and annual leave, please consult Human Resources before deducting their pay via leave without pay. Deducting pay for partial-day absences may put the FLSA status at risk.

The following examples are based on an employee who has a typical work day of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The same guideline applies for other work schedules.

• Employee leaves at 2 p.m. for the day 
  Leave Reported: None, as they will have worked four hours or more.
• Employee leaves at noon for the day
  Leave Reported: None, as they will have worked four hours or more.
• Employee leaves at 10 a.m. for the day due to illness
  Leave Reported: Six hours of sick leave.
• Employee leaves at 10 a.m. but with permission, works between 6 - 8 p.m.
  Leave Reported: None, as they will have worked four hours or more.
• An employee on intermittent FML works until 3 p.m. and leaves due to the FML qualifying reason.
  Leave Reported: Two hours of sick leave noted as FML. Employee should only tell the supervisor for the need to leave for the already approved FML qualifying reason.
• An employee misses an entire day.
  Leave Reported: Eight hours of the appropriate type of leave should be reported.

Any changes (other than for approved FML) in the normal work schedule require advance approval from the supervisor.

Prepared by Greg Walters, Aug. 22, 2014