LEAVE OF ABSENCE POLICY
1 Compassionate Leave
Compassionate leave is normally granted for urgent family affairs or the prolonged illness of a member of a family/partner.
Usually compassionate leave will be granted without reduction of salary for a period not exceeding one week. The Head of School or Director of a support unit has delegated authority to agree up to 5 days paid compassionate leave. Thereafter, if a member of staff requires a longer period off work it would normally be on an unpaid basis. Exceptionally, if a HOS/Director wishes to recommend a longer period of paid leave, he/she should send their recommendation/rationale to HR Services. HR Services will bring the request to the attention of the Director of Human Resources who will make a decision.
If a member of staff wishes to attend the funeral of a relative/close friend, it is appropriate for a HOS/Director to approve paid leave to cover their attendance. Where a member of staff is involved in funeral arrangements etc, additional compassionate leave can be authorised as detailed above. The employee is required to complete the Leave of Absence form (available on the Human Resources Document Finder).
2 Special Leave
Special leave is over one and up to twelve months duration granted to a member of staff for purposes which are for the direct or indirect benefit of the University (eg:visiting appointments, secondments, exchanges, fellowships etc). A member of staff should route their request through their HOS/Dean/Director of Research Institute/Director of Support Division. The HOS/Director should pass to the link HR Business Partner confirming if they support the request, whether full or part payment of salary is recommended during the period of special leave and how the member of staff‘s duties will be covered during the absence. In addition, if the member of staff is to receive an additional income from an exchange, secondment etc, this information should be clarified to determine what payment, if any, the member of staff will receive from the University for the duration of the special leave period. Requests for special leave from academic and research staff will be considered by the Academic staffing subcommittee. Requests from support staff will be considered by the Non Academic Staffing SubCommittee. The employee is required to complete the Leave of Absence form (available on the Human Resources Document Finder).
3 Casual Leave
Casual Leave is a period of leave of up to one month's duration for any variety of purposes (eg research, visits to industry, external examining, field courses, conferences, etc). The Head of School/Dean or the Director of Support Division will determine if the request should be approved and submit their recommendations to HR Business Partner, including their view about whether the leave should be paid or unpaid. The Leave of Absence form(available on the Human Resources Document Finder) should be completed once the discussion with the HR Business Partner has taken place.
4 Public Duties
Staff should submit requests to their Head of School/Director of Support Unit who, in turn will pass to HR Shared Service with any comments they feel to be appropriate. The Director of Human Resources, (if necessary in consultation with the Deputy Vice Chancellor), will approve requests for up to a maximum of 18 days paid leave of absence for staff to undertake civic and public duties such as JP, magistrate, a member of a local authority, a member of any statutory tribunal or a member of a volunteer reserve force. The leave can be taken in full or half days, with the prior arrangement of the HOS/Director for each absence from duty. Permission should not be unreasonably withheld.
Any member of staff who is appointed Chairman, or equivalent, of a public body may be granted additional leave at the Deputy VC/VC discretion.
Staff who are governors at schools or colleges would be expected to take annual leave to undertake their duties.
HR Advisors will inform HOS/Directors and staff of the outcome of their request. When staff are advised if leave has been granted they will be advised that since the University is meeting their salary, they should only claim any traveling/subsistence allowances due to them and not loss of earnings.
5 Jury Service
Members of staff who are called for jury service will receive a ‘Certificate of Loss of Earnings' from the court prior to the start date and this should be sent to the Payroll Section, Maxwell Building, for completion. The employee will be sent a ‘Jury Service Salary Deduction’ form for completion, which must be returned to the Payroll Section promptly. Upon receipt of this form, the Payroll Section will return the completed Certificate of Loss of Earnings to the employee and this should be taken to the court on the first day of jury service.
Following completion of the jury service, the court will pay the employee for his/her ‘loss of earnings’ (and any subsistence/travelling expenses) either by BACS or cheque and will forward a remittance advice to the employee. Once payment has been received by the employee, he/she should forward the remittance advice to the Payroll Section and the amount paid for ‘loss of earnings’ only (i.e. not subsistence/travelling expenses) will be deducted from the employee’s next salary payment.
The Payroll Section maintains a record of staff attending jury service, and, if necessary, will contact the employee if the remittance advice is not submitted within one month of the completion of the jury service.
6 Day release for support staff
(a)The University does not have a stated policy. Heads of School/Directors are given delegated responsibility for determining whether a member of staff should be given any day release. If advice is sought from the HR Division, HOS/Directors should be advised to:
consider all applications and discuss in detail with the member of staff concerned in respect of relevance, contribution to their career development etc.
treat all applications with consistency in respect of a decision whether to support, financial contribution and day release facilities. In respect of day release, HOS/Director should ascertain the various modes of attendance that a course offers. Wherever possible, if there is a mode of attendance that offers a student 1/2 day release, rather than a full day, a HOS/Director should be advised to agree to 1/2 day release only.
(b)Study leave for exams
- HOS/Director should be advised to allow staff 1/2 day study leave period for each exam for
courses for which approval has been given. Annual leave should be used for
study/exam leave for any other courses.
7 Dr/Dentist/hospital appointments
Staff on ‘Support Staff’ grades who are working under the University's flexible working hours scheme can be allowed up to one hour's credit for doctor/dentist appointments and two hours credit for hospital/consultant appointments if they are unable to make appointments outside core times. Similarly, staff on these grades who work in units that do not participate in the scheme, as well as technical staff, should be advised that they can be allowed the same credit.
8 Leave for non urgent personal or domestic reasons
Leave for nonurgent personal or domestic reasons should be taken out of annual leave wherever possible. In the event of annual leave being used up, the Head of School/Director can consider a request for unpaid leave. The employee is required to complete the Leave of Absence form (available on the Human Resources Document Finder).
9Interview Leave
(a)The University is obliged to allow members of staff reasonable time off to attend interviews if they are in a redundancy situation.
(b)Members of staff will be given the necessary time off to attend internal interviews but managers should be advised that staff attending external interviews are expected to use their annual leave.
See also separate procedures in respect of Study and Special Leave, Parental Leave, sick leave, Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Leave of Absence - Time off for Domestic Incidents.
Updated April 2014