HR3740 - Professional Leave

1. Institutional Regulations
   1. The purpose of Professional Leave is to provide Regular employees the opportunity to acquire job related skills that will benefit the College through additional training or education.
   2. For Faculty, the activities of the leave must meet one or more of the competencies of the Quality Faculty Plan.
   3. Regular full-time staff include: Administrative/Professional; Support Staff; Confidential Clerical; and Trail Point Support; and 12-month Faculty shall be eligible for 10 days (80 hours) of Professional Leave per year.
   4. Regular full-time 9-month Faculty shall be eligible for 7.5 days (60 hours) of Professional Leave per year.
   5. Employees with fractional FTEs shall be eligible for a prorated share of the Professional Leave based upon their FTE.
2. Procedure
   1. Employees shall be eligible for paid Professional Leave for activities directly related to their position and which will be of benefit to the College. Eligible activities may include postsecondary coursework, industrial training or work-related travel.  Work for which an employee gains experience that will directly benefit the College may also be considered if the employee will not receive income for that work.
   2. Professional Leave Accrual
      1. Regular full-time staff and 12- month Faculty shall accrue Professional Leave at the rate of 6.66 hours per month; full-time 9-month Faculty shall accrue at the rate of 5 hours per month.
      2. Professional Leave shall not accrue in any month in which an employee is on a Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for ½ of the month or more (i.e. from the 15^th of the month on or through the 15^th of the month). If the employee goes on a Leave Without Pay and returns in the same month, Professional Leave shall not accrue if the employee is on LWOP during 10 or more work days in the month.
      3. Professional Leave is cumulative.
   3. Professional Leave Usage
      1. Professional Leave may be granted in advance when necessary to meet professional development requirements or to complete a degree, but only to the extent that it can be earned during the current contract year for faculty or fiscal year for non-faculty employees. In all other instances, it may be granted only as earned.
      2. Faculty may only take Professional Leave within the dates of coverage of their continuing contracts. Faculty use of professional leave is calculated based on 8 hours per contract day (prorated for part time faculty based on FTE) or 40 hours per ECH. Professional Leave replaces scheduled teaching load, however is not intended to fill an under-scheduled teaching load.
      3. Administrative/Professional, Support Staff, Confidential Clerical and Trail Point Support employees will enter approved professional leave on their electronic timesheet. Faculty should consult with HR Benefits for leave entry guidance.
      4. Expenses connected with or related to Professional Leave shall not be reimbursed by the College.
      5. Even though work experience gained by an employee may be valuable to the College and could be a reason to use Professional Leave, employees are not eligible to use Professional Leave in those instances where they will receive paid income for work experience.  An employee who receives income for work experience would instead request to use Personal Leave, Leave Without Pay or possibly Sabbatical Leave (faculty only) for the time away from work.
      6. Faculty may earn Staff Development Units for activities undertaken while on Professional Leave.
   4. Professional Leave Approval
      1. Approval to use accumulated Professional Leave is at the discretion of the College and its usage is not guaranteed. If Professional Leave is to be approved, the College must be able to accommodate the employee’s absence without loss of productivity.
      2. Requests for Professional Leave require completion of the Request for Professional Leave form (P-22).  The form must state the nature of the professional advancement or professional development requirement to be met. Faculty must complete section 4 of the form in its entirety based on what the teaching load would normally reflect for that term.
      3. For a half time or greater leave, the leave request must be submitted within the first two weeks of the semester prior to the semester for which leave is requested. All other leave requests shall be submitted at least two weeks in advance.
      4. Once the form has been completed by the employee, it shall be submitted to the Benefits Coordinator in Human Resources for initial approval.  The Benefits Coordinator will then submit the form to the employee’s immediate supervisor for signature.
      5. If approved by the immediate supervisor, the leave request form shall be forwarded for approval through the appropriate Vice President or the President. The request is not approved until signed by the appropriate Vice President or the President. The employee shall not be permitted to use Professional Leave until the approved form has been received with all necessary signatures.

September 19, 2008

February 21, 2017

March 20, 2018

September 1, 2020

July 1, 2022

August 24, 2023