Hampden-Sydney College employees enjoy generous leave benefits, including paid holidays. New staff members receive vacation days and sick days upon hire. In addition, the College offers a variety of leave options to accommodate individual needs, including bereavement leave, volunteer leave, and more.
Leave Benefits
The College observes the following paid holidays:
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day (Wednesday and Friday included)
- Christmas Eve, the work period between Christmas and New Year's Day
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- Memorial Day
To be eligible for a paid holiday, employees must work the regularly scheduled workday immediately preceding and following the holiday, unless their immediate Supervisor has approved their absence on either of these days in advance.
Non-exempt employees who are required to work during the holiday periods will be compensated at one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for the hours worked, in addition to their regular pay. This will be referred to as “Holiday Pay” and will not be compensated in addition to regular overtime.
Saturdays and Sundays are not considered part of any holiday schedule.
Benefit for Staff Employees
Information on vacation balances is available in the employee’s Paycom Self Service. All staff employees must utilize Paycom to record their leave. Leave must be recorded by the employee no later than 48 hours after the conclusion of the said leave.
Full-time Staff Vacation Leave Policy
Vacation leave may be accumulated to a maximum of 35 days and rolled over from year to year.
| Exempt Staff | Non-exempt Staff |
| 22 days per year |
|
Calculation of Vacation Time Accruals
A new employee's eligibility date for vacation accrual is based on the start date of employment. Vacation accrual begins the month the employee begins working, provided the date of employment is the fifteenth (15) of the month or earlier; otherwise, accrual begins the first day of the following month.
Vacation amounts are awarded in one lump sum at the beginning of employment or as of July 1 but are earned as of the first day of each month and accrued in a regular fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). An employee may carry over the equivalent of 5 days, and these hours must be used by December 31. All other vacation hours carried forward from the prior fiscal year are forfeited.
Scheduling Vacations
Vacations must be scheduled to meet the work requirements of the department. However, every reasonable effort will be made to satisfy the employee's request as to preferred dates. Supervisors are responsible for scheduling vacations to avoid interference with the operation of the department, and so that each employee has an opportunity to take their vacation time. With the Supervisor's permission, employees may advance on vacation time within a fiscal year. Employees are not allowed under any circumstances to borrow vacation time from a future fiscal year.
Termination
Employees who leave the employment of the College prior to using their earned vacation time will be paid for any unused vacation time earned during a fiscal year. Employees who have received an advance on vacation time and who leave the employment of the College must repay the College for advanced vacation days in excess of that earned.
Full-time Staff Sick Leave Policy
Full-time exempt and non-exempt employees are awarded 12 days of sick leave per year. Sick leave may be accumulated to a maximum of 130 days and rolled over year to year as a bridge to the College's long-term disability coverage.
Employees who are not considered “temporary” and are scheduled to work more than 1,000 hours and less than full-time in a fiscal year will receive sick leave on a pro-rated basis.
Sick leave is awarded on July 1 but earned as of the first day of each month.Information on sick leave balances is available in the employee’s Paycom Self Service. All staff employees must utilize Paycom to record their leave. Leave must be recorded by the employee no later than 48 hours after the conclusion of the said leave.
Approved Use of Sick Leave
Paid sick leave is provided for absence from work due to an employee's or employee family member's (spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or the spouse of any family members listed, of either the employee or the employee's spouse) illness and medical or dental treatment, assuming that the employee has accumulated leave to cover the absence.
Full-time faculty are entitled to the continuation of their base salary from the first day of illness or disability for up to six months per fiscal year as a bridge to the College's long-term disability coverage.
Termination
Employees who have used sick leave in advance of earning it and who leave the employment of the College must repay the College for advanced sick leave in excess of that earned. Employees are not allowed under any circumstances to borrow sick leave time from a future fiscal year. At separation from the College, employees are not paid for accrued sick leave.
Sick Leave Share Program
The College recognizes that employees may have a family medical emergency, resulting in a need for additional time off in excess of their available sick leave. To address this need, all eligible employees will be allowed to donate accrued paid sick leave hours from their unused balance to their co-workers in need of additional paid time off, in accordance with the policy outlined below. This policy is strictly voluntary.
Eligibilility
Employees must be employed by the College for a minimum of one year to be eligible to donate and/or receive donated sick leave.
Employees who would like to make a request to receive donated sick/personal time from their co-workers must have a medical emergency. For this purpose, a medical emergency is defined as a medical condition of the employee or an immediate family member that will require the prolonged/extended absence of the employee from duty and will result in a substantial loss of income to the employee due to the exhaustion of all paid leave available. An immediate family member is defined as a spouse, child, or parent.
Donation of Sick Time
The donation of sick time is strictly voluntary. A donor may authorize donations by completing a Donor Form and submitting it to Human Resources. Recipient identity will not be disclosed to donating employees. The donation of sick time is on an hourly basis, without regard to the dollar value of the donated or used leave. The minimum number of sick hours that an eligible employee may donate is 4 hours per calendar year; the maximum is 20 hours or no more than 50 percent of the employee's current balance. Employees cannot borrow against future sick time to donate. Employees who are currently on an approved leave of absence cannot donate sick time.
Requesting Donated Sick Time
Employees who would like to request donated sick time are required to complete a Donation of Sick Time Request Form and submit it to Human Resources. Requests for donations of sick time must be approved by Human Resources, the employee's immediate Supervisor, and the employee’s Senior Staff representative.
If the recipient employee has available sick time in his or her balance, this time will be used prior to any donated sick time.
Donated sick time may only be used for time off related to the approved request. Employees who receive donated sick time may receive no more than 100 hours within a rolling 12-month period. Nothing in this policy will be construed to limit or extend the maximum allowable absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
When a death occurs in an employee’s immediate family, that employee will be allowed necessary time off with pay up to a maximum of three days to attend the funeral and/or make funeral arrangements. If additional time off is needed, the employee may request vacation time (if available) or excused absence without pay may be granted.
For purposes of this policy, immediate family is defined as
- An employee's spouse
- The parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or the spouses of any family members aforementioned of either the employee or his or her spouse
- Any other related person living in the employee's household.
When circumstances warrant, bereavement leave may be granted upon the death of a person not included in the immediate family as defined above. Requests for such leave should be directed to the Supervisor who will seek final approval from the Human Resources Director.
Former College Colleagues
Employees may be granted paid leave to attend the funeral service of a current or former College colleague (including employees of Aramark, Thompson Hospitality Catering, and Meriwether Godsey), or the immediate family member of a colleague as defined above. Such time off will not normally exceed half of a workday for local services or one full workday for out-of-town services. Prior approval from the immediate Supervisor is required and arrangements must be made for office coverage.
Procedures
Employees should notify their supervisor. Bereavement leave will be entered on the employees timecard by the supervisor or Human Resources.
Employees who are members of any local volunteer fire or rescue department will be granted time off with pay to serve in the capacity of firefighters or EMS providers, with the permission of their Supervisor. Employees absent for these reasons must notify their Supervisor of their whereabouts at the earliest possible time and report to work upon completion of their assignment.
Procedures
Employees should notify their supervisor. Volunteer leave will be entered on the employees timecard by the supervisor or Human Resources.
Employees may be granted paid leave when summoned by the court to appear as a witness in judicial proceedings. Employees in court for personal traffic violations, child support/custody hearings, divorce proceedings, or any other actions of their own liability, will not be granted paid leave. Vacation or leave without pay must be used.
The administration realizes that it is the obligation of all U.S. citizens to serve on a jury when summoned to do so. All employees will be allowed time off to perform such civic service as required by law. Employees are expected, however, to provide proper notice of a request to perform jury duty and verification of their service.
Employees also are expected to keep their Supervisors informed of the expected length of jury duty service and report to work for the major portion of the day if excused by the court. If the required absence presents a serious conflict with assigned work, employees may be asked to try to postpone jury duty.
Employees shall not sustain a loss of their regular compensation or any loss of fringe benefits when called for jury duty. Employees will continue to receive their normal pay. Absence for jury duty must be noted on the timecard. Employees are expected to return to work if they are excused early while on jury duty.
Procedures
Employees should notify their supervisor. Court Appearance and/or Jury Duty leave will be entered on the employees timecard by the supervisor or Human Resources.
Hampden-Sydney College encourages employees to fulfill their civic responsibilities by voting. Normally, most employees will be able to cast their votes outside of regular working hours. However, if circumstances require employees to vote during working hours, they will be granted paid time away from the job at a time mutually determined by the employee and the Supervisor.
Personal circumstances may arise requiring an employee to request a personal leave of absence without pay. An unpaid personal leave of absence for up to twelve (12) months may be granted upon the approval of the Supervisor, the Human Resources Director, and the appropriate Senior Staff member. A personal leave of absence may not serve as a substitute for, or an extension of, any leave that has been taken under the Family & Medical Leave Act policy.
Each request for a personal leave of absence must be in writing and sent to the immediate Supervisor and the Human Resources Director simultaneously. The Human Resources Director will arrange the appropriate review with the employee's Supervisor and Senior Staff member. Requests for personal leave will be reviewed on an individual basis, considering the needs of the department, the employee's work record, attendance record, length of service, and the nature of the request.
After reviewing the request, the College will notify the employee of one of the following determinations:
- The leave is approved, and the employee's current position will be guaranteed upon return
- The leave is approved; however, the employee's current position will not be guaranteed upon return, but a position with comparable pay and benefits will be guaranteed
- The leave is denied.
Employees will receive notification of approval or denial from the Human Resources Director within fifteen (15) days of the request.
The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.
Employee Eligibility
With the exception of military caregiver leave, an employee eligible for FMLA leave can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave during the 12-month period measured forward from the date of the employee's first FMLA leave usage. For military caregiver leave, an eligible employee can take up to 26 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave during a single 12-month period beginning on the first day the employee takes military caregiver leave.
To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have been employed by the College for at least 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding a leave. (When determining whether this eligibility requirement has been met for an employee returning from military obligations, the employee will be credited with hours of service that would have been performed but for the period of military service.)
Procedures
Employees must contact our Benefits Manager for complete policy information, including qualifying circumstances and instructions.