Unit Policy
Title
Department of Family Medicine: Policy on Vacation, Bonus, and Sick Leave for Faculty
Introduction
Purpose
To preserve appropriate access to care for patients by defining the circumstances under which clinical faculty may use vacation, bonus, and sick leave.
Scope
All clinical faculty in the Department of Family Medicine.
Policy
Policy Statement
1. Annual Leave (Vacation) & Bonus Leave
The scheduling of vacation (annual leave) and bonus leave is subject to advance departmental approval.
Vacation and bonus leave should be blocked in Lightning Bolt four months in advance.
On a monthly basis, the department’s Human Resources Consultant(s) will run a report in Lightning Bolt to gather vacation requests and will input the time into the Time Information Management (TIM) system which will reduce leave balances. Faculty may check leave balances in TIM or on monthly paystubs in ConnectCarolina.
Vacation and bonus leave requests longer than two consecutive weeks require the approval of the Vice Chair of Clinical Excellence.
The maximum number of unused days of annual leave that may be accrued and carried forward from one year to the next shall be 30 work days; unused annual leave in excess of thirty (30) days shall be converted to sick leave on December 31st of each year. In the event of a part-time faculty member, the thirty-day limit is pro-rated based on the faculty members part-time work schedule (FTE).
University policy and guidelines provide no payout of annual (vacation), bonus or sick leave for twelve-month faculty members upon separation from employment. Unused time may be donated to the voluntary shared leave pool upon separation at faculty member’s discretion.
Only three (3) weeks of vacation and/or bonus leave may be taken in the final three (3) months of employment.
Subject to the requirements and approval procedures of the UNC Faculty Physicians Policy on Clinical Faculty Member Use of Leave Prior to Separation, faculty members who have sufficient accrued annual or bonus leave may use up to ten (10) continuous days of the total three (3) weeks permitted hereunder just prior to separation, such that their date of separation may be fourteen (14) calendar days after their last day of work.
2. Sick Leave
Clinic sessions cancelled for sickness are subtracted from the Productivity Report so the missed session will not prevent the faculty member from meeting base work expectations as defined in the Compensation Plan. This adjustment is reflected on the Productivity Report, but not on the actual Grid.
This adjustment does not affect the number of work RVUs required to reach the incentive benchmark(s) defined in the Compensation Plan, which remains at the original contracted amount. This means that individuals do not have to make up sessions but are held to the original contracted number of work RVUs for incentive calculation.
Faculty should enter the sick day into Lightning Bolt, where it will be counted as a sick day for administrative purposes and charged as such against the faculty member’s accumulated balance of sick days.
Sick leaves longer than 10 consecutive workdays may require Family Medical Leave. The faculty member should consult with Human Resources for guidance.
Sick leave may be used by an employee:
- for recovery from personal illness, injury, or disability that prevents the performance of usual duties;
- for illness or injury of a member of an employee’s immediate family or other dependents living in the household;
- for the temporary disability associated with childbirth;
- for the adoption of a child (limited to a maximum of 240 hours (30 days) for each parent);
- for medical or dental appointments for the employee or members of the immediate family;
- for donations to a member of the immediate family who is approved to receive Voluntary Shared Leave; or
- for death of a member of an employee’s immediate family or of other dependents who lived in the employee’s household.
For the purposes of using sick leave, “immediate family” will refer to the following relations:
- Self (employee)
- Spouse (husband or wife)
- 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”)
- Sister or Brother (biological or adoptive)
- Grandparents
- Great-Grandparents
- Grandchildren
- Great-Grandchildren
- Step-, Half-, and In-law relations of the above
- Other dependents living in the household
Definitions
- Lightning Bolt - The online scheduling application utilized by the Department of Family Medicine clinical faculty and Scheduling Coordinator.
- Grid - The department’s faculty time management spreadsheet, which details each faculty member’s responsibilities and corresponding FTE.
- Productivity Report - The department’s tracking spreadsheet showing actual versus contracted (budgeted/gridded/expected) sessions for the year, as shown on the Grid.
Related Requirements
Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Name: Kevin Tate, MHA – Vice Chair for Administration
Telephone: 984-974-4669
Email: ktate@med.unc.edu
Other Contacts
Name: Karen Halpert, MD – Vice Chair for Clinical Excellence
Telephone: 984-974-4675
Email: Karen_Halpert@med.unc.edu
Name: Jaime Adams – HR Consultant
Telephone: 984-974-4889
Email: Jaime_Adams@med.unc.edu
Name: Tiffany Harper – HR Consultant
Telephone: 919-843-8753
Email: Tiffany_Harper@med.unc.edu