Timesheets and Leave

EHRA Employees

NOTE: EHRA Personal Leave applies only to EHRA employees hired on or after January 1, 2025 or current EHRA employees that choose to opt in.

The UNC System Office recently established a new Personal Leave Program for vacation leave accrual for EHRA leave-earning employees. Effective Jan. 1, 2025, all EHRA employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2025, will be subject to the new Personal Leave Program.

EHRA employees hired before Jan. 1, 2025, will have a one-time opportunity to opt in to the new Personal Leave Program in 2025; the decision to opt in will be irrevocable. Current EHRA employees who do not opt in will continue to accrue Annual Leave as vacation leave.

The establishment of the Personal Leave Program means that the vacation leave an EHRA employee earns is determined by the employee’s date of hire and/or whether the employee chose to opt in to the Personal Leave Program:

EHRA employees hired before Jan. 1, 2025, who chose to opt in to the Personal Leave Program.

• Annual Leave is the vacation leave for EHRA employees who were hired before Jan. 1, 2025, and who did NOT opt in to the Personal Leave Program.
• Personal Leave is the vacation leave for all EHRA employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2025.

The new Personal Leave Program only affects vacation leave for new EHRA employees and current EHRA employees who choose to opt in; the Personal Leave Program does not affect any other leave programs. Employees under the Personal Leave Program accrue and are entitled to other leave allotments (Sick Leave, Civil Leave, Personal Observance, etc.) per the policies already established for those leaves and in the same way as employees in the Annual Leave Program.

For more information, please review Leave Programs for Faculty and Staff Exempt from the North Carolina Human Resources Act, UNC Policy Manual, 300.2.22.

SHRA Employees

Full-time permanent, probationary, trainee and time-limited employees are eligible for leave at the rate of twelve days a year. Part-time (half-time or more) permanent, probationary, trainee and time-limited employees are eligible for leave at a prorated amount. Temporary, intermittent, and part-time (less than half-time) are not eligible for leave.

EHRA Non-Faculty

• Sick leave for eligible twelve month faculty and EHRA non-faculty is governed by state regulations on sick leave, which entitles employees to twelve days a year.
• Sick leave may be granted for illness or injury that prevents the performance of usual duties, death in the immediate family, medical appointments, and illness of a member of the immediate family.
• Sick leave may be used and reported in quarter-hour increments.
• Unused sick leave for twelve month faculty and EHRA non-faculty employees may be accumulated and carried forward from year to year without limit.
• Employees may not be paid for any unused accumulated sick leave; however, employees may have their unused sick leave credited toward years of service upon retirement.
• Employees who return to nine month faculty appointments and who have accumulated sick leave as an administrator may continue to carry their unused accumulated sick leave and have the unused sick leave credited toward years of service upon their retirement.
• Unused sick leave may not be counted toward eligibility for early retirement, disability retirement, or for a vested deferred allowance (1985, N.C. Senate, Bill 1 Appropriations, Section 193); however, employees may use their sick leave to complete 30 years of service regardless of age. Interpretation of the regulations and additional information concerning sick leave may be obtained from Human Resources.

Faculty

Faculty members on non-leave earning appointments who experience an extended illness, disability, or a family member’s extended illness may request paid leave in accordance with policy.

Leave Earning Employees

Bereavement Leave provides leave-earning employees with paid time off for bereavement following the death of an immediate family member and for travel time for a memorial event for the death of a UNCG colleague.

Bereavement Leave will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025. Employees may use Bereavement Leave retroactively to Sept. 27, 2024 under certain circumstances. See below for criteria and required documentation.

Eligibility and Amount

• Permanent, probationary, and time-limited, leave eligible SHRA, EHRA Non-Faculty and Faculty employees who work 40 hours per week are eligible for:
  • Up to 40 hours of paid leave for bereavement following the death of an immediate family member.
  • Up to 8 hours of paid leave for travel time to and from a funeral or other memorial event for the death of a colleague at their current institution.
• Part-time employees will receive a prorated amount based on their number of hours worked compared to a full-time schedule.
• Part-time employees are not eligible for Bereavement Leave if they work less than half-time. Temporary employees, interns and contractors are not eligible for Bereavement Leave. 

Who is Considered Immediate Family?

Immediate family for Bereavement Leave follows the definition used in the Sick Leave policy and includes:

• Spouse
• Parent (biological, adoptive, or person who stood-in as “parent”)
• Child (biological, adopted, legal ward, foster care, or person for whom employee stands-in as “parent”)
• Grandparent and great-grandparent
• Grandchild and great-grandchild
• Sibling (biological or adoptive)
• Step-, half-, and in-law relation of the above
• Other dependent within the household

How to Request?

• Available on an as-needed basis.
• Supervisor approval required prior to use. Request leave using the Bereavement Leave Request Form.
• Supervisors may request documentation, such as a death certificate, obituary, or funeral/memorial service details. 
• Bereavement Leave is available on the Non-exempt timesheet and Exempt leave report.
• Employees have 180 days (6 months) to use the leave; unused leave will be forfeited.
• Leave can be used all at one time or used on nonconsecutive days.

Retroactive Requests

• Bereavement Leave is retroactively available for the period between 9/27/24 and 10/31/24 for Hurricane Helene related bereavement.
• For all others, leave is retroactive from 11/1/2024 to the present.
• Bereavement leave for loss of colleague may also be retroactively applied.

Special annual bonus leave

The 2018 Appropriations Act has granted eligible employees a one-time 40 hours (five (5) days) of Special Annual Leave Bonus.

Civil leave

The University provides civil leave with pay for all full time and part time employees while serving on a jury or when subpoenaed as a witness. If jury duty interferes with teaching and other obligations, faculty members should arrange to have jury duty postponed to summer or should make arrangements for classes and other duties.

Community Service leave

Faculty members holding twelve month appointments, EHRA non-faculty, and SHRA staff are eligible for twenty-four hours of leave annually under this policy for: (a) child involvement and school volunteerism; (b) nonprofit organization volunteerism; or, (c) tutoring and mentoring in North Carolina schools. Tutoring leave entitles individuals to thirty-six hours of community service leave per year, but is not in addition to the twenty-four hours of leave.

Military leave

SHRA

Full-time or part-time permanent or probationary SHRA employees are entitled to 120 paid leave hours per year for active duty training or inactive duty training. When ordered to state or federal active duty or to intermittent-disaster response, SHRA employees may receive 30 calendar days of pay, and after 30 days may receive the differential rate of pay between their state salary and the military salary. Prior to the 30 calendar leave days of pay and the differential rate of pay, the employee may choose to have any accumulated vacation/bonus leave paid in a lump sum.

EHRA

The Board of Governors directs that faculty members, who are called to active military duty shall be entitled to paid military leave of an annual maximum of (1) either 18 working days, if the employee has an academic year contract or (2) 24 working days, if the employee has a 12-month contract, effective as of the date of departure from University employment to begin active duty. If an employee has fewer than 18 days remaining on a terminal contract, the maximum paid military leave shall be equal to the remaining days under the contract. It is not the intent of this policy to grant military leave for the annual training obligation of any member of the Military Reserve or National Guard.

personal and educational professional development leave

SHRA

For SHRA employees, the state provides leave with pay for certain types of educational courses. Extended educational leave with pay may be granted if certain criteria are met and the leave is approved by the State Office of Human Resources.

EHRA

Leaves of absence without pay may be arranged for faculty members for the purpose of advanced study, research, public service, or emergencies. Since these leaves may depend on whether the department or dean can make arrangements for the faculty member’s classes and other duties, faculty members considering such a leave should notify the department head or dean immediately. Leaves of less than one semester must be approved by the Chancellor upon recommendation of the Provost; leaves of one semester or longer must be approved by the Board of Trustees, upon recommendation of the Chancellor. For more information, contact the Office of the Provost.

In accordance with the policy for Senior Academic and Administrative Officers, (Chapter III-A of The Administrative Manual of The University of North Carolina), senior administrative officers may request a leave of absence without pay, subject to the approval of the Board of Governors, President, or Chancellor, as applicable.

Retirement credit while on a leave of absence (for those faculty members participating in the State Retirement System) is limited to a lifetime maximum of four years, and the faculty member must return to active employment for a period of three years in order to receive retirement credit for the period of the leave. Faculty members who are considering a leave of absence should check with Human Resources about whether they will be eligible to continue their benefits during a leave of absence.

Leave of absence for political activities

EHRA

Leaves of absence without pay may be arranged for faculty members for the purpose of advanced study, research, public service, or emergencies. Since these leaves may depend on whether the department or dean can make arrangements for the faculty member’s classes and other duties, faculty members considering such a leave should notify the department head or dean immediately. Leaves of less than one semester must be approved by the Chancellor upon recommendation of the Provost; leaves of one semester or longer must be approved by the Board of Trustees, upon recommendation of the Chancellor. For more information, contact the Office of the Provost.

In accordance with the policy for Senior Academic and Administrative Officers, (Chapter III-A of The Administrative Manual of The University of North Carolina), senior administrative officers may request a leave of absence without pay, subject to the approval of the Board of Governors, President, or Chancellor, as applicable.

Retirement credit while on a leave of absence (for those faculty members participating in the State Retirement System) is limited to a lifetime maximum of four years, and the faculty member must return to active employment for a period of three years in order to receive retirement credit for the period of the leave. Faculty members who are considering a leave of absence should check with Human Resources about whether they will be eligible to continue their benefits during a leave of absence.

Leave Applications

For leave the must be requested included Paid Parental Leave, FMLA, Voluntary Shared Leave, please visit the Benefits Leave Applications page

During an adverse weather event the University may notify students and employees that it is under any 1 of 3 adverse weather plans. These plans help employees and students understand whether or not the university is open, and how employees should record their time for that day. Please use the information below to understand the University’s 3 adverse weather plans.

CONDITION 1: REDUCED OPERATIONS

Offices Open or Delayed Opening

• Mandatory Staff report per regular schedule
• Non-mandatory Staff report per regular schedule or use compensatory time/annual leave/bonus leave or leave without pay.
• Non-mandatory Staff may have 90 days to make up time missed with supervisory approval.

CONDITION 2: SUSPENDED OPERATIONS

Offices Closed

• Mandatory Staff report per regular schedule
• Non-mandatory Staff do not report to campus. All buildings will be locked.
• Non-mandatory Staff should use annual leave/compensatory time/bonus leave or leave without pay
• Non-mandatory Staff may have 90 days to make up time missed with supervisory approval.
• When a non-exempt mandatory employee is required to report to or remain at the work site during Condition 2 or 3 they shall receive hour-for-hour compensatory time.

CONDITION 3: UNIVERSITY CLOSED

Offices and University Closed

• Mandatory Staff report per regular schedule
• Students, Faculty, and Staff shall not report to campus.
• All university buildings (with exception of residence halls and dining hall) will be closed.
• Employees will be placed on Administrative Leave with pay for the remainder of their regular work day.
• When a non-exempt mandatory employee is required to report to or remain at the work site during Condition 2 or 3 they shall receive hour-for-hour compensatory time.