Time Off and Leaves

The Holiday Schedule will be posted each year on the Division of Human Resources website. For more information on holiday policy, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 22.

Vacation

All full-time non-faculty employees accrue vacation time throughout the year, beginning from their date of hire. The accrual is calculated on a monthly basis. The hours accrued in a given period are their annual allotment divided across all the months of the year.

All permanent part-time non-faculty employees earn vacation on a prorated basis up to a maximum of ten vacation days at their part-time rate.

Non-exempt employees may use vacation in one-hour increments. Exempt employees may use vacation in three-and-a-half-hour (half day) increments.

For more information on vacation time, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 22.

Sick

Stevens’ employees are covered by New Jersey’s Earned Sick Leave Law. For purposes of sick leave calculation, Stevens’ “benefit year” is January 1 through December 31.

All full-time staff will be credited 12 sick days annually on January 1 of each year. 72 unused sick days may be carried over from year-to-year. Sick days will be prorated based on an employee’s start-date.

Part-time staff, including student workers, will accrue one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum accrual of 40 hours. A maximum of 40 unused sick hours may be carried over from year-to-year.

Employees will not receive payment for unused sick hours.

For more information on sick leave, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 23 or the Sick Leave Policy.

Personal Leave

Personal days are to be used for absence from the workplace for personal reasons, including for religious or cultural observances.

Full-time non-exempt staff are granted three personal days annually on January 1. Full-time exempt staff are granted two personal days annually on January 1.

For more information on vacation time, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 26.

Employees who need to take time away from work for medical, parental bonding, or family care circumstances may be eligible for the following leave policies.

Leaves of absences are administered in partnership with New York Life.

Human Resources should be notified at least 30 days before the requested leave date (if the leave is foreseeable and such notice is possible) or as soon as the employee is aware of the need for leave.

For more information on leave options or if you anticipate needing to take leave, please contact [email protected].

FMLA Leave

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees with unpaid protected leave under the following circumstances:

• for the care of the employee’s newborn child within 12 months following the child’s birth;

• for the care of a child during the first 12 months following placement with the employee for adoption or foster care;

• for the care of an immediate family member (spouse, child or parent) with a serious health condition;

• for the care of a serious medical condition of the employee (including any period of incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care, or childbirth) that makes the employee unable to perform one or more of the essential functions of the employee’s job; or

• for any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, child, or parent is a covered service member on active duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty status in the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation.

Employees may take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave at any time during a rolling 12-month period.

FMLA runs concurrently with other leave policies, such as disability leave, parental leave, and NJFLA.

For more information on FMLA leave, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 27 or the Family & Medical Leave documents.

New Jersey Family Leave Act and Other State Policies

Employees categorized as New Jersey workers may be eligible for leave under the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA). The NJFLA provides eligible employees with unpaid protected leave under the following circumstances:

• the care of a child within 12 months following the child’s birth;

• the care of a child during the first 12 months following placement with the employee for adoption or foster care; or

• the care of a family member with a serious health condition.

Employees may take up to 12 weeks of continuous NJFLA leave in a 24-month period.

NJFLA runs concurrently with other leave policies, such as parental leave and FMLA.

For more information on NJFLA leave, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 28 or the Family & Medical Leave documents.

Employees categorized as workers outside of NJ may be eligible for state leave policies as determined by their work state. For example, an employee who works in New York may be eligible for New York's family leave.

Short-Term Disability (STD)

Employees taking leave for their own medical condition may be eligible for short-term disability benefits insured by New York Life.

Disability benefits are based on a portion of your regular salary or wages, to a maximum equivalent to the NJ state mandated maximum benefit. Employees may receive short-term disability benefits for up to 26 weeks.

For more information on short-term disability leave, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 30.

Salary Continuation

Full-time exempt staff and faculty may also be eligible for 100% salary continuation for some portion of an absence that qualifies as short-term disability. Employees are required to apply their accrued sick days before receiving salary continuation.

For more information on salary continuation, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 30.

Long-Term Disability (LTD)

Benefits eligible employees who are disabled for at least 180 days may qualify for long-term disability benefits. The plan provides a benefit of 60% of an employee's regular salary or wages up to a maximum of $10,000 per month. Benefits are generally payable up to Normal Social Security Retirement Age; however, if you become disabled at or after age 65, benefits are payable according to an age-based schedule.

Full-time employees who are parents of a new child (including through birth or adoption) may be eligible for Stevens' parental leave salary continuation for up to 40 working days within one year of the child's birth or adoption. This leave may be used continuously or intermittently.

Leave under the FMLA and NJFLA runs concurrently with Stevens’ parental leave, as well as any other paid leave taken in connection with the same event.

For more information on parental leave, please refer to the Employee Manual beginning on page 29.

Employees categorized as New Jersey workers may be eligible for benefits under New Jersey's Family Leave Insurance (FLI). FLI provides paid benefits during leaves to bond with a newborn, newly adopted, newly placed foster child, or to provide care for a seriously ill or injured family member. Benefits are set based on 85% of your normal salary or wages, up to a maximum set by NJ state.

You may receive up to 12 weeks of benefits in a 12-month period, if the benefits are claimed for one continuous period. If you are claiming benefits on an intermittent schedule, whether it be a week, a month, or a day at a time, you may receive up to 56 individual days (8 weeks) of Family Leave benefits in a 12-month period.

For more information on NJ FLI, please refer to the NJ state webpage.

For more information on other types of absences, please refer to the Employee Manual. Some specific circumstances are highlighted below.

Bereavement

Stevens provides paid bereavement time for employees to spend with their families or others in the event of the death of an immediate family member, close relative or other important person in their lives.

Jury Duty

An employee who is summoned for jury duty is required to provide their supervisor and the Division of Human Resources with notice as soon as possible. The employee must also keep their supervisor informed of the expected length of their jury duty service and report to work for the remainder of any workday after they are excused by the court.

Full- and part-time employees will receive their regular pay (not to exceed seven hours per day for hourly employees) while on jury duty on days they are normally scheduled to work. Employees may also keep any jury service payments provided by the court.

Voting

Stevens encourages its employees to participate in local, state and federal elections. If an employee is unable to vote in such an election during non-working hours, the employee may have up to two consecutive hours of leave during polling hours in order to vote. Where possible, time off to vote should be taken at the beginning or end of the employee’s regular working hours.

Military Leave

If an employee is called into active military service or an employee enlists in the uniformed services, the employee may be eligible for a military leave of absence. To be eligible for military leave, the employee must provide their supervisor and the Division of Human Resources with advance notice of the employee’s service obligations unless the employee is prevented from providing such notice by military necessity or it is otherwise impossible or unreasonable for the employee to provide such notice.

Military leave is unpaid. Employees may choose to use vacation time during military service.

NJ SAFE Act Leave

In accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey Security and Financial Empowerment Act (NJ SAFE Act), eligible employees may take up to 20 days of unpaid leave in any 12-month period following an incident of domestic violence or a sexually violent offence to address circumstances resulting the incident.