News from HR

FAMILY LEAVE POLICY
The UNH Office of Human Resources is pleased to announce some new policies and policy enhancements. Employee leave programs have been expanded to provide paid time off, through use of sick leave, to care for family members.

OPERATING STAFF with at least one year of benefits-eligible service may use up to a maximum of 10 days of accrued sick pool time per fiscal year for family leave. The 10-day max equates to 75 hours for staff on a 37.5-hour week and 80 hours for those on a 40-hour week (pro-rated for staff working part-time). This leave may be used for medical appointments, illness, or medical needs of an immediate family member*; prenatal or postnatal care; or for purposes of caring for a new baby or adoptive/foster child after placement. Access to the sick pool for use of family leave does not require the prior use of five earned time days, as it does for employee extended illness. (Use of one earned time day is required for extended bereavement leave).

SPECIAL SICK POOL OPEN ENROLLMENT THROUGH SEPT. 30
Since Operating Staff on Earned Time may now use Sick Pool for Family Leave and Extended Bereavement leave, they may now transfer some Earned Time to Sick Pool during a special "sick pool enrollment" period. Completed Sick Pool Conversion forms are to be submitted to the Office of Human Resources by September 30, 2005.

As a reminder, when OS contribute one hour of earned time, they receive three hours of sick pool. However, once contributed to the sick pool, those hours may not be converted back to earned time or cashed out at termination.

GENERAL INFORMATION SESSIONS ON FAMILY LEAVE POLICY
(Brown-bag lunch)
Tuesday, Aug. 2, noon to 1 p.m.
Alumni Center, 1925 Room

Wednesday, Aug. 24 noon to 1 p.m.
MUB Theater I

* Immediate family member for "Family Leave" is defined as spouse, parent, legally dependent child, or any person living in employee's household.

Extended bereavement Leave. After supervisory notification and the use of one earned time day, a staff member may use family leave in the event of the death of an immediate family member. See HR web site under "Benefits, Bereavement Leave" for definition of "immediate family member."

EXEMPT STAFF AND FACULTY (PAT, EE, AA, Academic Year Non-AAUP Faculty) with at least one year of benefits-eligible service may use up to a maximum of 10 days of accrued sick leave per fiscal year (pro-rated for percent-time staff) for family leave. This leave may be used for medical appointments, illness, or medical needs of an immediate family member*; prenatal or postnatal care; or for purposes of caring for a new baby or adoptive/foster child after placement.

* Immediate family member for “Family Leave” is defined as spouse, parent, legally dependent child, or any person living in employee's household.

Extended Bereavement Leave. After supervisory notification and the use of bereavement leave, an exempt employee may use family leave in the event of the death of an immediate family member. This complements the Bereavement Leave policy by which exempt employees are entitled to five days of bereavement leave for the death of an immediate family member. See HR web site under “Benefits, Bereavement Leave” for definition of “immediate family member.”

How accrued annual leave is affected for exempt employees. With the addition of the Family Leave policy, the maximum monthly accumulation is 35 days (has been 36 days). The maximum number of days for payout at termination remains at 30 days.
Exempt employees with a current balance of 36 days will have until June 30, 2006 to use the extra day. Leave records for FY07 will reflect the 35-day maximum accumulation.

LEAVE RECORDS are located on HR’s web site and have been revised to accommodate the use of Family Leave and Extended Bereavement Leave. Codes for specific leaves are available under the “Instructions” section of the leave records.

Medical documentation may be required to substantiate use of Family Leave. Employees taking extended time off, or time off on an intermittent basis, to care for family members may also be covered under the Family and Medical Leave policy (FMLA) and should submit to Human Resources a completed Certification of Physician form.

The Operating Staff, PAT, and Extension Educator Councils and their representatives to the System Personnel Policies Councils (SPPC) were instrumental in developing and advocating for this new Family Leave policy. Human Resources would like to express our appreciation for their work on your behalf.

COMPASSIONATE LEAVE
The question is often asked, “May I donate some of my leave to a coworker in need?” The answer to this question is now officially yes. As a result of the initiative of the Operating Staff and PAT Councils, the University implemented a Compassionate Leave program for a one-year pilot, beginning April 1, 2004. Compassionate Leave has now been approved as a regular program offering at UNH. Over the years, employees have approached Council representatives and Human Resources staff about donating accrued leave time to a colleague who is on unpaid leave due to a serious medical condition.

The purpose of the program is to provide a method by which one employee may donate annual leave or Earned Time to another employee who needs extended time off from work due to his or her own serious health condition, or that of an immediate family member, and who has exhausted or will exhaust all applicable time off. Compassionate leave is donated directly to an individual in need; it is not donated to a common leave bank or “holding” file. The program is not a benefit per se, rather it’s an opportunity to “be compassionate” to another employee in a hardship situation.

Compassionate Leave applies to all full-time or part-time status staff members, as well as fiscal year faculty not covered under the collective bargaining agreement. Some highlights of the program are:

• Compassionate Leave is not intended to apply to incidental, routine, or short-term medical conditions. The health condition must be serious and must qualify under Family and Medical Leave (FMLA).
• Eligibility for participation depends upon there being a medical condition that will cause an employee to be absent from work for a minimum of 30 calendar days, five (5) days of which would be unpaid leave.
• Participation in compassionate leave, either as a donor or recipient, is subject to limitations:
  • Only Earned Time and Annual Leave is subject to Compassionate Leave donations. Sick Time/Sick Pools are not eligible for donations.
  • Receipt of Compassionate Leave donations is limited to 20 days per 12-month period.
  • The donating employee must have a minimum balance of one week (e.g., 40 hours/5 days) of earned time/annual leave after donating leave.
  • The total number of donated earned time/vacation days shall not exceed 12 workdays per fiscal year. Time may be donated to more than one individual provided the total amount of time donated does not exceed 12 days. The maximum amount of time donated is pro-rated for part-time appointments.
• Leave may be donated between employees in different University departments and different employee types (e.g., OS, PAT, EE, non-AAUP Faculty).
• All requests and donations shall be coordinated through the Office of Human Resources.

Note: Employees may not donate earned time/annual leave that would otherwise have been forfeited to meet minimum usage requirement or to not exceed maximum accrual amount. For example an exempt employee who has reached maximum accrual of 35 annual days may not carry forward more than 34 days into the next month if he/she donates one day for Compassionate Leave.

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE (FMLA)
This policy has been updated to clarify how accrued leave applies to employees covered under FMLA.

In cases of leave for the faculty/staff member's own illness/injury, the faculty/staff member will be required to use established paid leave policies (i.e., accrued sick leave, interim disability leave, vacation/ personal leave or Earned Time/sick pool time); however, the faculty/staff member has the option to retain up to the equivalent of 10 Earned Time/vacation days.

Leaves taken to care for family members will require that the faculty/staff member use accrued Earned Time/vacation days; however, the faculty/staff member has the option to retain up to the equivalent of 10 Earned Time/vacation days.

WISE Self-Service
WISE is a self-service “web information system for employees” that will provide you with information on benefits and deductions, pay and pay stub information, tax forms, jobs summary, and personal information (address and phone info, emergency contact information, etc.) WISE may be accessed at: wise.unh.edu

OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES
So that the HR team can provide high quality services, following are your HR resources:

• HR’s web site is at www.unh.edu/hr and provides details on the above policies and programs.
• When further clarification is needed and/or for questions of a general nature, please call HR’s front desk at 2-0501.
• For Benefits matters, your contact is Sherry MacDormand (2-0504).
• The HR Banner team is your resource for employee records (e.g., change of address or telephone, employment verification, I-9 questions, etc.).
• Workers Compensation and Drug & Alcohol Testing is handled by Barbara Beaudette-Pirkl (2-3939).
• HR Partners work with specific departments on matters not of a general nature. They work with matters involving staffing and retention; organizational and strategic planning; compensation; employee relations; performance management; diversity initiatives; medical leaves and ADA; compliance with federal, state, and local laws; education and training; special projects; etc.
• Professional & Organizational Development web site (POD) is located at www.unh.edu/hr/pod. It provides information on professional development and learning opportunities for UNH employees. The contact person is Chris VanHorn at 2-0579.