HR3745 - Faculty Sabbatical Leave

1. Institutional Regulations
   1. Regular 9-month and 12-month full-time non-probationary Faculty shall be eligible for paid Faculty Sabbatical Leave if they elect to bank Equivalent Credit Hours (ECHs) earned for teaching overload courses in lieu of accepting overload pay. Nine-month Faculty, teaching in the summer, may bank the ECHs that are designated either as overload or Adjunct.
   2. Approval to take a Faculty Sabbatical Leave is not guaranteed.
   3. Faculty Sabbatical Leave must be taken within the period covered by the requesting employee’s continuing contract.
   4. Faculty Sabbatical Leave may be taken only once every 5 years, in either a full term increment or in 2 partial term increments equivalent to a maximum of a full term.
   5. Employees requesting Faculty Sabbatical Leave must commit to returning to teach for one year following the leave.
   6. Faculty Sabbatical Leave does not fall in the category of special support provided by the College as defined in Board Policy 2012, Patents and Copyrights. As long as no other special support is provided, any Faculty employee who develops inventions, educational materials, or media while on Faculty Sabbatical Leave shall be responsible for maintaining all copyright and patent rights, if any, and any royalties or profits shall belong solely to the employee.
   7. The practice of banking ECHs should only be for the purpose of taking Faculty Sabbatical Leave.
2. Procedures
   1. Faculty Sabbatical Leave is designed to be broader based than Professional Leave. Leave activities shall be designed to enhance an employee’s skills and might include discipline or teaching-related research or work experience in his/her content area.
   2. Banking ECHs
      1. If an employee wishes to bank overload ECHs, s/he must complete a Request to Bank Overload ECHs form (P-47), have it approved and signed by the Dean/Provost, and return it to Human Resources/Payroll before the first overload pay of the semester.
      2. An employee’s earned ECHs shall be banked in a separate account. The balance banked may not exceed 18 ECHs
      3. For a full term leave, 15 banked ECHs shall be required.
      4. Banked overloads may not be transferred from one faculty employee to another.
   3. Leave Approval
      1. An employee with sufficient banked ECHs may apply for Faculty Sabbatical Leave by submitting a Request for Sabbatical Leave form (P-37) to their immediate supervisor.
      2. Before approving the request, the immediate supervisor shall verify with Human Resources that the employee has banked the ECH’s necessary for the sabbatical.
      3. Before approving the request, the immediate supervisor shall verify with Human Resources that it has been 5 years or longer since last sabbatical leave was taken.
      4. Deadline for submission of the leave form to the supervisor is the beginning of the semester prior to the semester for which leave is requested.
      5. If approved by the immediate supervisor, the leave form shall be submitted to the Vice President, Academic Affairs for approval.
   4. Employees shall continue to accrue all benefits during the leave and their annual movement on the salary schedule shall not be affected.
   5. Courses normally taught by the employee during the leave period shall be staffed by the supervisor, in consultation with the program chair if applicable. The employee’s banked ECHs shall be credited towards the cost of a substitute teacher.
      1. Staff Development Units may be earned during Faculty Sabbatical Leave as long as no additional expenses beyond the cost of the substitute are incurred by the College
      2. Payment of other costs associated with an employee’s Faculty Sabbatical Leave may be requested from his/her department. Payment is not guaranteed.
   6. Cashing Out Banked ECHs
      1. If leave is not approved, or if an employee has banked ECHs and then decides not to apply for Faculty Sabbatical Leave, the employee may request to be paid for the banked ECHs. The request is made by completing a Request to Cash Out Overload ECHs form. The form must be signed by the Dean/Provost and submitted to HR/Payroll. The balance of all banked ECHs will be paid in one lump sum payment on the next available pay day. Employees may not request a partial cash out of banked ECHs and may not spread the payment out over multiple payments. The lump sum payment amount will be taxed at a Supplemental Tax rate.
      2. Employees may also be paid for the banked ECHs in the event they become disabled or terminate employment at the College. Payment will be made to the estate of a participating employee in the event of their death.
      3. If the program is terminated, all banked ECHs shall be paid in full to participating employees.
      4. Banked ECHs shall be cashed out at the rate at which they were earned.

HR427 - Faculty Qualifications & Role  

Adopted: October 1, 2002
Reviewed: Annually

Revised:
January 1, 2005

November 1, 2006

February 1, 2016

March 20, 2018

September 1, 2020