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Attendance and Leave for Classified Employees

This section serves to summarize some of the rules governing time and attendance for individuals represented by CSEA and the PBA. Civil Service Laws, Attendance Rules, collective bargaining agreements and other relevant documents literally comprise thousands of pages of information. This is not intended to be an exhaustive source of information on the subjects discussed, nor does it cover every aspect of the rules. It is intended to serve as a general guide to some of the most typical time and attendance questions and issues. For more detailed information, staff should contact the Office of Human Resources or reference the Agreement between the State of New York and the pertinent bargaining unit.

Workday

Full-time employees represented by the Administrative Services Unit of CSEA are required to work 37.5 hours per week (7.5 hours per day). Meal periods are unpaid and are not part of the workday.

Employees represented by the CSEA Operational Services Units are required to work 40 hours per week (8 hours per day). Meal periods are unpaid and are not part of the workday (with the exception of the night HVAC staff, whose meals are consumed while working, due to safety considerations).

PBA: The typical workweek is 41.25 hours (8.25 hours per day), consisting of a 15 minute pre- shift briefing and 8 hours of work. Meals are expected to be consumed while working and, therefore, meal periods are included in the 8.25 hour workday explained above.

In general, SUNY Canton core office hours are 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Employees may be assigned to work various hours to assure office coverage and cover shifts.

Breaks

Rest periods of reasonable duration may be granted, as appropriate, at the discretion of the appointing authority. More than two such periods per day, or periods of more than 15 minutes duration each, would be considered excessive under normal working conditions. Rest periods are especially recommended for employees whose duties are of a routine or tedious nature. Rest periods are paid time and do not extend the ending time of the work shift . Rest periods not taken are forfeited. Rest periods may not be used or accumulated to cover late arrivals, early departures, or to extend the lunch period.

Overtime, Extra Time and Compensatory Time

Overtime, at the rate of one-and-one-half hours pay for each hour worked, is provided for all classified employees who work more than 40 hours in a given week (Thursday through Wednesday). CSEA represented employees may elect to sign up for “over 40 comp time,” and receive time off instead of pay for overtime work. Compensatory time is earned for employees required to work 37.5 hours per week for time worked between 37.5 and 40 hours in a given week. Extra time is paid at a straight time rate to part-time employees who work additional hours between their normal work week and 37.5 hours. All overtime, compensatory time and extra time must be authorized in advance by the supervisor. These expenses are a significant portion of the college’s expenditures and should not be authorized unless absolutely necessary.

Volunteer Firefighters, Medical Technicians and Other Voluntary Emergency Workers

The Civil Service Attendance Rules allow the college to excuse tardiness for emergency workers engaged in their official duties. Additionally, supervisors are encouraged to allow flexible scheduling for staff members responding to fires, ambulance calls and other emergencies, as long as the employee meets his or her work obligation. Supervisors may authorize use of leave credits to respond to emergencies or allow the employee to make up the lost time. In requesting or granting time for providing emergency services, the employee and supervisor must consider the current workload, the frequency of employee requests for this release time and the nature of the request. Every employee’s first priority is the job for which they were hired at SUNY Canton.

Paid Leave

All Civil Service employees who are subject to the Attendance Rules receive sick, personal and annual leave (vacation). Unless leave has been pre-approved, all employees are required to contact the supervisor within two hours of the start of the workday to request the desired time off. Accrual rates depend upon bargaining unit, work week and length of service. All types of paid leave may be used in increments of ¼ hour or more.

Holidays

All full-time employees who are subject to the Civil Service Attendance Rules are entitled to observe thirteen paid holidays per calendar year. While it is sometimes necessary to have staff members work on holidays, authorization for such work should be kept to an absolute minimum due to the costs involved. Once a year, each employee elects to receive equivalent time off or pay for holidays worked. Part-time employees or those who work an alternative schedule are eligible for those holidays which fall on their normal work day. In all cases, holiday work MUST be authorized by the supervisor. Except in emergency situations, employees should be notified at least seven days in advance if required to work on the holiday. Special rules for various bargaining units apply to holiday work on Veteran’s Day, Christmas, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving.

Personal Days

• Classified employees are credited with five days of personal leave each year on the employee's "Personal Leave" anniversary.
• Personal Leave is not cumulative.
• Employees must have prior approval from their supervisors for absences charged to personal days.
• The balance of personal leave remaining expires at the close of business, on the business day immediately preceding the employee’s anniversary date.

Vacation

Classified employee leave is earned at a rate that ranges from 13 to 26 days per year, depending upon bargaining unit and individual length of service. New annual salaried employees must be employed and meet eligibility for earning leave accruals for 6 months before annual accruals are available to use. Use of vacation requires the prior approval by the supervisor. While employee needs and wishes should be considered, supervisors have the obligation and the authority to schedule vacation for the convenience and efficient operation of the school/department. Employees may accumulate vacation up to a maximum of 40 days. If an employee is at the 40 day maximum, submits a written leave request for vacation and is denied, he or she may exceed the 40 day ceiling through the end of the fiscal year. Employees may receive cash compensation for up to 30 days’ vacation upon separation from service with appropriate notice.

Sick Leave

May be used for personal illness or injury, family injury or illness which requires the presence of the employee or bereavement leave. Absences for immediate family sick leave/bereavement leave are limited to 30 days per calendar year. Employees are also permitted to use sick leave for medical, dental, optical, therapeutic, mental health and alternative medical treatments. For the purposes of bereavement leave or family sick leave, “immediate family” is defined as any relative or relative- in-law regardless of place of residence, or any person with whom the employee resides. Use of sick leave, except in the case of an emergency or a sudden illness of injury requires prior supervisory approval. While employees may not be required to routinely provide documentation for absences of three days or less, medical certification may be required for a longer absence, or for questionable absences or attendance patterns. Employees may also be required to submit to a medical examination (at the college’s expense) under certain circumstances. For more information, please refer to Sick Leave/Bereavement.

Excessive Use of Sick Leave Credits

The College is very concerned that employees who continually use an excessive amount of sick leave will not have enough accrued sick leave to cover them in the event of an unforeseen accident or illness. Supervisors periodically review the attendance records of all classified employees and encourage employees whose sick leave balances are low to build their time. Supervisors also review attendance records for patterns of abuse. As a result of such situations, some employees will be required to provide medical documentation for each unscheduled absence until such time as their accruals improve. This requirement shall be documented in a counseling memorandum.

State employees are not covered by the New York State Disability Program. In addition to protecting employees during a long-term illness, sick leave accruals help offset the cost of health insurance during retirement and can add up to 200 days of service credit in calculating retirement benefits.

Cancer Screening Leave

All NYS employees are eligible for leave, without charge to leave credits, for cancer screening (including physical exams, mammograms, and blood work, etc.) not to exceed four hours annually for each, including travel time. Satisfactory medical documentation is required by Human Resources. For more information please refer to Cancer Screening.

Other Related Leaves

Includes sick leave at half pay, absences under the Family Medical Leave Act, Workers’ Compensation leave, leave without pay, leave donations and child rearing leave. Please contact the Office of Human Resources for further information about these benefits.

Supervisory Approval of Absences

All employees must seek prior supervisory approval for time off, except in cases of sudden illness or urgent personal business. Unless leave has been pre-approved, all employees are required to contact their supervisor according to department notice expectations to request the desired time off. Absences for which prior approval has not been received may be considered unauthorized.

For employees using the online Time and Attendance System, employees should enter the request in the “request time off screen.” Because time off requests roll up to the supervisor's email overnight, employees should have a verbal conversation with their supervisor regarding short notice requests.

Supervisors should respond to the employee's request within five days of receipt of the request, or sooner if possible.

For employees who are not on the online Time and Attendance System, an email requesting time off should be used following this procedure:

• Employee emails supervisor with the request, which includes the dates and times requested, and the type of leave to be charged.
• Supervisors should respond via email within five (5) days of receipt of the request, or sooner if possible.

Supervisors are responsible for ensuring time off is appropriately approved and that employees under their supervision suspected of abusing leave time bring these concerns to the Office of Human Resources.

Temporary, Probationary, Part-time, Hourly and Seasonal Employees

The Civil Service Attendance Rules for these employees differ significantly from the rules for permanent full-time employees. Please contact the Human Resources Office for information on the leave provisions applicable to each of these appointment types.

Leave for Civil Service Examination

Employees shall be allowed leave with pay without charge to credits to take New York State Civil Service promotion or open competitive examinations at the appropriate center, provided that due notice is given by the employee to their supervisor. Time off without charge to credits is also granted to employees being interviewed for State positions as a result of the establishment of eligible lists

Taking Classes During Work Time

SUNY Canton encourages the personal and professional development of staff members at all levels of the organization. Several tuition waiver, tuition reimbursement and degree completion incentives are available to help staff pursue degrees and take courses. Supervisors are encouraged to consider adjustments to staff schedules to facilitate educational pursuits, within the operational needs of each function. Staff may use lunch hours or breaks, come in early, work later in the day or work a varied schedule (i.e., 7 hours per day Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 9 ½ hours per day Tuesday and Thursday to total a 40-hour week) to accommodate course work. Staff, however, are expected to work the regular number of hours each week normally associated with their position.

Staff may charge appropriate leave credits during the times they are attending classes, consistent with the operational needs of the function. Supervisors may allow staff members to take courses without making up the time or charging the hours off to appropriate leave credits only in instances where the supervisor requests that the staff member take a specific course to learn or improve skills relevant to the present job assignment.