Vacation, Sick & Personal Time

Vacation

Eligible employees* accrue 4 weeks of vacation per calendar year (11.67 hours per month for full-time employees in 35 hours/week department) and are prorated according to FTE status.

A maximum of 10 days may be carried over from one year to the next year (calendar year), without prior approval.

Use of vacation requires prior approval of managers to ensure adequate coverage in the department.

Employees who work more than 17.5 hours but less than full time will accrue vacation time prorated to their FTE status.

* Eligible Employees are full- and part-time employees (including employees: who work 17.5 hours or more per week; have a 9- or 10-month administrative position, and 12-month non-unit core faculty) are eligible for vacation days.

Sick Time

Massachusetts Sick Leave Law and the Lesley University Sick Leave Policy (Effective July 1, 2015 and updated October 20, 2016.)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law provides employees in Massachusetts the statutory right to earn and use up to a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.

The Lesley Sick Leave Policy provides eligible employees the right to earn sick time based on the following:  

  • Employees, working 17.5 hours or more per week earn a total of 12 sick days per year, 1 sick day per month, and may carry over unused sick leave hours into the next calendar year, and maintain a maximum balance of 90 sick days. If an employee works more than 17.5 hours but not full time the accrual rate will be prorated to the employee's FTE status.  Employees may use all of their sick time for themselves, and to care for their children, spouse, parent, or spouse's parent.
  • Employees working below 17.5 hours per week earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, beginning July 1, 2015, and may carry over unused sick leave hours into the next calendar year, and maintain a maximum balance of 90 sick days. Employees may use all of their sick time for themselves, and to care for their children, spouse, parent or spouse's parent.
  • Non-Unit Core Faculty (12-month faculty who are awarded a 12-month contract and whose position functions as a supervisor or manager) earn a total of 12 sick days per year, 1 sick day per month, and may carry over unused sick leave hours into the next calendar year, and maintain a maximum balance of 90 sick days. If an employee works more than 17.5 hours but less than full time the accrual rate will be prorated to the employee's FTE status. Employees may use all of their sick time for themselves, to care for their children, spouse, parent, or spouse's parent.
  • Non-Unit Core Faculty (9- and 10-month faculty who are awarded a 9- or 10-month contract and whose position functions as a supervisor or manager) earn 1 sick day per month based on the length of her/his contract. Nine-month faculty accrue 9 sick days and 10-month faculty accrue 10 sick days per contract year. If an employee works more than 17.5 hours, but not full time, the accrual rate will be prorated to the employee's FTE status. Employees may use all of their sick time for themselves,  to care for their children, spouse, parent, or spouse's parent.
  • Unit-Core Faculty (9-, 10- & 12-month) earn paid sick leave based on the core faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement.
  • Adjunct Faculty earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, beginning July 1, 2015. Hours are accrued in accordance with the state regulations and may carry-over up to 40 hours of unused paid sick leave each calendar year; however, you may only use 40 hours in a calendar year.

Earned Sick Leave may be used to:

  • Care for a physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition affecting you or your child, spouse, parent, or parent of your spouse.
  • To attend to routine medical appointments for you or your child, spouse, parent, or parent of your spouse.
  • To address the psychological, physical, or legal effects of domestic violence on you or your child, spouse, parent, or parent of your spouse.
  • Travel to and from an appointment, pharmacy, or other location related to the purpose for which the sick leave was taken.

Employees may begin to earn paid sick leave immediately, but may only start using sick leave after 90 days of employment. There are special rules about breaks in service.

The University does not pay employees for unused sick leave.

All employees are required to make a good faith effort to provide advance notice of the need to use earned sick leave, whenever possible.

You must report the utilization of sick leave to your immediate supervisor or manager.

Under certain circumstances, supervisors or managers may require documentation from you.

Personal Time 

Lesley provides 3 Personal Days per calendar year to Eligible Employees*. Personal days must be used by December 31 of the same year and may not be carried over from one year to the next. The number of Personal Days allotted to a newly hired employee depends on the hire date.

  • If working as of 4/01/xx: 3 days
  • If working as of 7/01/xx: 2 days
  • If working as of 9/01/xx: 1 day
  • If hired after 9/01/xx: 0 days

* Eligible Employees are full-and part-time employees (including employees who work 17.5 hours or more per week; have a 9-or 10-month administrative position, and 12-month non-unit core faculty are eligible for Personal Days.

Negative Leave Balance Policy

The following Negative Leave Balance Policy became effective on 2/24/2009:

The University will no longer permit negative sick or vacation time for employees to accumulate in excess of the total hours in an employee’s regularly scheduled work week.

Negative personal time is not permitted. Sick and Vacation leave credit beyond a negative balance of one scheduled work week shall not be advanced to an employee except upon the approval of the appropriate Vice President or Dean. Without this approval, any absences resulting in a negative balance greater than that of a regularly scheduled week will result in leave without pay. Additionally, the University reserves the right to utilize current balances and future accruals to off-set negative balances.

Leave From Campus (LFC) Automated System Instruction Manuals

LFC automated system instructions for supervisors

LFC automated system instructions for users

Submitting a Leave From Campus Entry (video)