VCOM Faculty Handbook

VCOM will make reasonable accommodation for change in holiday dates for the religious needs of employees if such accommodation will not cause disruption of the educational program or cause the organization undue hardship. Leave for this purpose will come from annual leave or in trade for a holiday and requires approval in advance. Use of Annual Leave for Faculty Scheduling and seeking approval for annual leave is the responsibility of the faculty member, with final approval by the appropriate Associate Dean and with input from Course Directors. Certain rules apply to annual leave as follows: • Annual leave should be requested as far in advance as possible. Departments may not always be able to grant a faculty member’s request for leave, so they must make the request well in advance to be considered. • It is the responsibility of the faculty member to schedule all annual leave at a time that does not interrupt the educational program, other duties the faculty member performs for the college, or other functions of the college. o Scheduling of annual leave should be during one of the following: 1) curricular block breaks, 2) adjacent to holidays when the college is not in session, 3) in the weeks that immediately precede the block break when students are in testing IF the faculty member does not have a role in that testing, 4) in a week where the faculty member has no teaching, testing, or course oversight responsibilities, including time in labs. o Annual leave should not be taken when faculty would miss assigned teaching responsibilities that would change faculty to student ratios in the laboratories, testing sessions, or small group assignments. • Faculty must submit a formal leave request anytime they are absent from work. • Future leave not yet earned cannot be “borrowed” for present use. • Up to forty hours of annual leave may be transferred to the next fiscal year. o If an employee is employed for 32 hours per week, only 32 hours may be carried over. o At the end of each fiscal year, which ends on June 30th, up to forty hours (or up to 32 hours for faculty contracted at 32 hours per week) of annual leave not used (if any) will be automatically carried over to the new fiscal year. o The hours transferred must be used within the first month of the new fiscal year (prior to August 1st) and will be forfeited if not used prior to August 1 st of the new fiscal year. • All other remaining leave balances (including sick leave, annual leave, CME, etc.) will be forfeited. Leave will reset back to the normal annual leave amount on July 1 st . It is essential that all employees schedule their annual leave throughout the year so that they use their allotted vacation days to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Leave without pay occurs if an employee is absent for/during a pay period and consequently loses pay because of insufficient leave balances. Disruptions of the academic program or delivery of the academic program by the use of unexcused absences is a reason for dismissal. Unearned Leave Leave is awarded at the beginning of each fiscal year on July 1; however, it is based on the expectation that the employee’s anticipated work schedule will continue throughout the entire fiscal year. Employees who leave the institution early will be paid only for the number of leave days awarded for the period the employee worked. Regardless of the number of annual days reflected on TimeClock Plus, the employee is only eligible for the annual awarded days divided by the period of actual time worked. If the employee has taken more time than awarded for time worked, the employee may be subject to a reduction in the final pay period.

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