Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, Seasonal Coaches and Graduate Assistants:
Sick and Safe Leave Time Off Recording Form
2024 Changes to Augsburg’s Sick Time Policy and Procedures
- Augsburg University employees not obligated to submit timecards (faculty, seasonal coaches, graduate assistants) can document their use of sick and safe time and view their balances through the Sick and Safe Leave link on the Human Resources website. Balances and usage will also be reported on earnings statements (payslips).
- Accrued sick leave is no longer subject to a waiting period, and will be immediately available for use by employees.
What is Earned Sick and Safe Time?
Minnesota’s new Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law takes effect on January 1, 2024. Sick and safe leave provides paid time off for illness or injury, medical treatment or preventative care, domestic or sexual assault, and care of a family member.
Augsburg University’s existing benefits and practices already provide paid time off that meets or exceeds the law’s requirements. Additionally it has been the policy of Augsburg University not to reduce the salary of faculty, or the contracted compensation of adjunct faculty, seasonal coaches and graduate assistants who take reasonable time off for sick and safe time.
Safe and sick leave is already embedded in employee sick leave accruals – it is not an additional paid time off category.
Sick time can be used for
- an employee’s mental or physical illness, treatment or preventive care;
- the mental or physical illness, treatment or preventive care of an employee’s family member;
- absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking of an employee or their family member;
- closure of an employee’s workplace due to weather or public emergency or closure of their family member’s school or care facility due to weather or public emergency; and
- when determined by a health authority or health care professional that an employee or their family member is at risk of infecting others with a communicable disease.
Accruals
MN ESST Law
- Employees in Minnesota are entitled to earned sick and safe time, a form of paid time off.
- Sick and safe time begins accruing at the start of employment
- Employees must accrue at least one hour of earned sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked, up to a minimum of 48 hours in a calendar year.
- Employees who are exempt from overtime because they are professional, administrative, or executive employees are presumed to work 40 hours a week for the purposes of ESST accrual. If there is clear evidence an exempt employee’s regular work week is less than 40 hours, ESST may accrue based on that employee’s actual regular work week.
Augsburg University employees accrue sick time at the following rates:
| Employee Classification | Accrual rate |
|---|---|
| Regular Staff (0.5 FTE or higher) |
From the Employee Handbook: One day (8 hours) per month, prorated to the staff member’s FTE, for every month worked or in an active pay status. |
| Regular Faculty | 24 hours sick time per academic term |
| Adjunct Faculty | “Hours worked” are determined by the following formula: Class Credit Hours x 2.5 x Number of Weeks Taught. Example: a four-credit course is equal to 150 hours (4 credit hours x 2.5 x 15 weeks) and would result in an accrual of 5 hours of sick time. |
| Seasonal Coaches, Graduate Assistants | “Hours worked” assumed to be 40 per week. One hour of sick time per 30 hours worked. |
| All Other Employees (Less than 0.5 FTE, student employees) |
One hour of sick time per 30 hours worked. |
Maximum Accruals
| Employee Classification | Accrual rate |
|---|---|
| Regular Staff (0.5 FTE or higher) |
From the Employee Handbook: Unused sick time will be accumulated to a maximum of 120 days, prorated to the staff member’s FTE. When the accrual balance reaches the maximum accrual, no further days will be credited to the balance until the balance is reduced. |
| All Others | Unused sick time will be accumulated to a maximum of 80 hours. When the accrual balance reaches the maximum accrual, no further days will be credited to the balance until the balance is reduced. |
Notes for Faculty
As exempt professionals, faculty members have the discretion to manage their schedules as they see fit. Faculty are not required to submit timecards.
When a qualifying absence conflicts with their teaching schedule, faculty should record the time on the electronic Earned Sick and Safe Time form on the Human Resources website.
The form should be used in conjunction with the guidance in the Faculty Handbook (sections 7.4.2 Short Term Leaves and 3.2.5 Faculty Absences) and Augsburg University Employee Handbook.
From section 7.4.2 of the Faculty Handbook
Augsburg University recognizes that a faculty member may need to be absent from work for a short period of time due to personal illness, illness of an immediate family member, a funeral, jury duty, etc. To the extent possible, faculty members should attempt to schedule such absences to minimize conflict with their teaching schedule.
A faculty member should try to cover any absence by consulting first with other members of the department. If due to extenuating circumstances, the faculty member is unable to have the course covered for up to three contact hours per course per term, such absences will be excused. If the faculty member expects to be absent for more than two contact hours per course, then the course load must be covered. (As noted in Section 3.2.5, classes meeting once or fewer times per week may not be cancelled. They must be rescheduled.) The faculty member should notify the department chair, who will negotiate with the other members of the department for covering the course.