Support Staff
Attendance/Leaves
Absences
Employees are expected to maintain good attendance. When absent from work due to unavoidable circumstances, an employee must make a good faith effort to immediately notify his/her supervisor of the reason. If the absence is to continue beyond the first day, the employee must notify his/her supervisor on a daily basis unless otherwise arranged. Absence for three consecutive workdays without notifying the supervisor is considered a voluntary termination.
All absences must be charged to personal leave, accrued vacation, or sick leave, whichever is appropriate. When no accrued time is available, unpaid leave of up to 10 days per fiscal year may be approved by the supervisor. The lost wages will be reflected in the employee’s paycheck. Absences exceeding 10 consecutive days must be approved as a leave of absence by Human Resources.
Absences due to inclement weather or declared state of emergency will require the use of either personal leave or vacation time. For more information regarding absences, click here.
Vacation Leave
Eligibility: Regular employees who work half time or more are entitled to vacation time with pay after the completion of six months of service.
Accrual: The following schedule shows the monthly vacation accruals for full-time employees working a 36- to 40-hour week. The earned accrual is credited at the end of each month.
| Service Months | Full-time Accruals* | Annual Accruals* | Special Maximum Accruals* |
| Completion of 6 months | 48 hrs | ||
| 7 months - 60 months | 8 hrs/month | 96 hrs | 120 hrs |
| 61 months - 120 months | 12 hrs/month | 144 hrs | 180 hrs |
| >121 months | 16 hrs/month | 192 hrs | 225 hrs |
*May vary within collective bargaining units and for certain employee classification levels. Half-time and three-quarter-time employees accrue vacation on a proportional basis.
Employees are expected to use their annual vacation accrual each year. When this is not feasible, employees may make special arrangements with their department administrator to accrue additional time, but the accrual cannot exceed the special maximum accrual amount. Special maximum accrual amounts may vary within collective bargaining units.
There will be no vacation accrual in the following situations:
Usage:
For additional information on vacation click here.
Sick Leave with Pay
Eligibility: Regular employees who work half time or more are eligible to accrue sick leave.
Accrual: Full-time employees accrue sick leave at the rate of four hours for each two weeks of service. Half-time and three-quarter-time employees accrue sick leave on a proportional basis. Sick leave credits may be accumulated as indicated by policy and applicable collective bargaining agreements.
Usage: Sick leave with pay is available for use by employees for:
For more information regarding sick leave with pay, or leaves of absence with pay please review the Collective Bargaining Agreements.
Other:
Extended Disability Leave: Refer to the Employee Benefits section of this handbook.
Sick Leave without Pay
Employees who have exhausted their paid leave but are still unable to perform their job for health reasons may take a leave for up to two years from their last day paid, subject to appropriate documentation and approval by Human Resources. For more information on sick leave without pay, click here.
Personal Leave with Pay
Eligibility: Regular employees who work half time or more are credited with personal leave to attend to personal matters.
Accrual: Employees on the payroll at the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1) will be credited with personal leave as follows:
Employees hired or changed to regular status of half time or more during the fiscal year will be credited with the following personal leave credits: *
*Half-time and three-quarter-time employees are credited with personal leave on a proportional basis.
Personal leave must be approved by the supervisor and used in increments of one tenth of one hour. No time may be carried forward into the next fiscal year. However, if the employee requests use of personal leave before June 1 and the request cannot be approved due to operational needs, the employee and supervisor may, through mutual agreement, make arrangements to utilize the time at a later date. For additional information regarding personal leave, click here.
Personal Leave without Pay Exceeding 10 Days
Eligibility: Regular employees who work half time or more and have completed their probationary period may be granted unpaid personal leave for up to two years. Applications for unpaid leave are subject to approval by the department administrator and Human Resources.
Usage: Unpaid personal leaves may be granted for reasons deemed appropriate by the University, such as:
A leave does not constitute a break in service. Employees retain all previously earned or accrued benefits (vacation, sick leave, longevity, and retirement eligibility) upon their return. Benefits normally granted employees while on active status, such as vacation, sick leave, and longevity pay, do not accrue during leave without pay. Employees should contact MSU Human Resources at 517-353-4434, 800-353-4434, or SolutionsCenter@hr.msu.edu to review the effect of leave on the programs described in the Employee Benefits section of this handbook. For additional information regarding leaves of absence, click here.
Holidays
Eligibility: Regular employees working half time or more are entitled to paid holidays on a proportional basis.
Schedule:
Special Consideration: An alternate day off will be given when:
An employee who is on vacation or sick leave with pay when a holiday occurs will be paid for the holiday, and no charge will be made against accrued vacation or sick leave.
There will be no holiday pay when:
For additional information on holidays, click here.
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Staff employed at the University for a total of 12 months (may have been intermittent employment) and having at least 1,250 work hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of FMLA leave. The Department of Labor (DOL) has revised this regulation to provide that a service break of seven years or more need not be counted in determining whether an employee has been employed for at least 12 months.
The 1,250 hours requirement is counted only for hours actually worked and does not count hours spent on vacation, sick, and personal leave, etc. However, under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), employees called to active (or National Guard) duty are entitled, upon their return to employment, to all the benefits of employment that they would have obtained if they had been continuously employed.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 is a federal law enacted to help employees balance their work and family life and to promote the stability and economic security of families. It allows eligible employees to take job-protected unpaid leave, or substitute appropriate paid leave if the employee has earned or accrued it, for up to a total of 12 workweeks during a 12- month period (July 1 - June 30) for a family or personal serious health condition which qualifies under FMLA.
The FMLA also provides leave for service members and their families under certain circumstances.
On October 28, 2009 President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 2647). In section 565, the legislation makes important changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Specifically, military caregiver leave has been expanded so it may be used to care for veterans undergoing treatment, recuperation or therapy for an injury, as long as the veteran was a member of the Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves within five years of requiring care. The amendments also expand military caregiver leave so that employees may use it to care for a covered service member's serious injury or illness incurred because service on active duty aggravated an existing or preexisting injuries. Previously, the act only allowed caregiver leave for serious illnesses or injuries incurred on active duty.
The legislation also expands the use of qualifying exigency leave. Under the new law, qualifying exigency leave will now cover family members of the regular Armed Forces deployed to a foreign country, in addition to current coverage of family members of the Guard or Reserves.
For additional information about FMLA, click here.
Bereavement Days
Eligibility: Regular employees working half time or more will be excused with pay to attend the funeral and/or make necessary arrangements when a death occurs in the employee’s immediate family.
Time Allowed: Up to three (3) days in the case of death of spouse or Other Eligible Individual, child or Other Eligible Individual’s child, parent, sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, grandparent, grandparent-in-law, grandchild, stepparent, half-sister, half-brother, or relative as specified in the MSU Policy and Procedure or Collective Bargaining Agreements.
One (1) day in the case of the death of an uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece
Other: Funeral leave may be taken during the period including the day of death and the day following the funeral, but shall not exceed three days. Further time required may be granted in accordance with other leave policies.
A reasonable number of employees with supervisory permission may attend the funeral or serve as pallbearers for a deceased employee without loss of pay.
Jury Duty
The University recognizes the civic responsibility of employees to serve on jury duty and makes provision for staff members to perform such duty without loss of pay. The University will compensate the employee called to jury duty, or as a subpoenaed witness, based on straight time base pay for up to 80 consecutive hours. After 80 hours, the employee will receive the difference between base pay and jury pay. The employee’s benefits will continue. The employee must notify his/her supervisor of the call to jury duty as soon as it is received and must provide proof of jury duty attendance. The employee is expected to report for regular University duty when temporarily excused from attendance at court. For additional information regarding jury duty, click here.
Military Service
For questions regarding military service, both short-term and extended, contact Human Resources at 517-353-4434.