• Employee Handbook: Leaves from Work
• Request for Leave of Absence Form (PDF)
• Certification of Health Care Provider (PDF)

 

Employees with an assigned FTE of 0.50 or greater, with appointments of greater than six months, are eligible for vacation, pro-rated based on FTE. Vacation accrual rates for non-exempt staff vary based on years of service at Macalester.

Important Note: Members of Macalester’s collective bargaining units (CBU) should refer to collective bargaining contract in force for paid leaves of absences polices.

Non-exempt Employees (Paid bi-weekly)

Years of service	Hours Earned Per Pay Period (Based on 1.0 FTE)	Maximum Accumulation Hours (equivalent to up to 48 days of accrual, based on 1.0 FTE)
0 – 4.99	4.47 hours (~15 days per year)	Vacation accrual cannot exceed 232.50 hours in any given month
5 – 9.99	5.94 hours (~20 days per year)	Vacation accrual cannot exceed 309 hours in any given month
10+	7.16 hours (~24 days per year)	Vacation accrual cannot exceed 372 hours in any given month

Security Officers Employees (Paid bi-weekly)

Years of service	Hours Earned Per Pay Period (Based on 1.0 FTE)	Maximum Accumulation Hours (equivalent to up to 48 days of accrual, based on 1.0 FTE)
0 – 4.99	4.62 hours (~15 days per year)	Vacation accrual cannot exceed 240 hours in any given month
5 – 9.99	6.14 hours (~20 days per year)	Vacation accrual cannot exceed 319 hours in any given month
10+	7.39 hours (~24 days per year)	Vacation accrual cannot exceed 384 hours in any given month

Exempt Employees (Paid monthly)

Years of service	Hours Earned Per Pay Period (Based on 1.0 FTE)	Maximum Accumulation Hours (equivalent to up to 48 days of accrual, based on 1.0 FTE)
N/A	15.50 hours (~24 days per year)	Vacation accrual cannot exceed 372 hours in any given month

• Vacation accruals in excess of the equivalent of 48 days of accrual based upon years of service and FTE are forfeited each month in which the accrual is at the maximum.
  • Example: Non-exempt employee with 3 years of service and 0.80 FTE
    • 26 pay periods per year; Accrual rate of 4.47 hours (based on table)
    • 2 years x 26 pays x 4.47 hours x 0.80 FTE = 186.00 hour maximum
• When claiming vacation, non-exempt staff should record time utilized in ¼ hour increments (i.e. .25, .50, and .75) and exempt staff may utilize time in two hour increments.
• Cash payment may not be made in lieu of paid time benefits. In addition, time off benefits will not be paid in excess of authorized hours.

All staff employees are eligible for sick time.  Employees with a 0.50 FTE or greater accrue sick time at approximately 12 days per calendar year (prorated per FTE), and may carry an unlimited balance from year to year.  Employees with an FTE below 0.50 accrue 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, may accrue up to 48 hours per year, and may roll over a balance of up to 80 hours from year to year.  Employees earn sick time each pay period and can use sick time as it is accrued.

Sick time is to be taken when you are unable to perform your job duties due to illness, injury, health condition, or for physical or mental distress. Sick time should also be used if you may expose fellow employee(s) or the public to a contagious or infectious disease. Sick time can also be used if an employee experiences a physical disability, which includes pregnancy and any pregnancy-related disability.

Here are some example of how employees may use their sick time for the following purposes:

• Illness, injury, health condition, and preventive care visits
• Mental health and personal well-being, including mental health days
• Diagnostic visits, care, or treatment
• Leave related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking
• Business, school, or child/adult daycare facility closures 
• Quarantine/Isolation

Employees may use their sick time to care for:

• Themself
• Child, foster child, adult child, legal ward, child for whom the employee is legal guardian, or child to whom the employee stands or stood in loco parentis
• Spouse or registered domestic partner
• Sibling, stepsibling, or foster sibling
• Biological, adoptive, foster, or stepparent, or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child 
• Grandchild, foster grandchild, or step grandchild
• Grandparent or step grandparent
• Child of a sibling of the employee (nieces/nephews)
• Sibling of the parents of the employee (aunts/uncles)
• Child in law or sibling in law
• Any of the family members listed above of a spouse or registered domestic partner
• Any other individual related by blood or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship
• Up to one individual annually designated by the employee

Overall, employees can use sick time on any person you deem important in your life. Under certain circumstances, your manager or Human Resources may request a treating clinician’s statement, to include the nature of care being provided, the date the current illness or injury occurred, the date the treating clinician first saw the employee or family member, the date when the treating clinician expects the employee or family member to return to work, and any work restrictions, during any paid time away, or before allowing the employee to return to work. 

New Policy Effective March 1, 2024

Macalester College recognizes that employees may have a family medical emergency resulting in a need for additional time off in excess of their available time off benefits. To address this need, all eligible employees will be allowed to donate accrued paid sick time hours from their unused balance to a leave bank for their co-workers who are in need of additional time off.

Eligibility

• Donating employees must be employed with Macalester College for a minimum of one year to be eligible to donate.
• Receiving employees must be on an approved Family Medical Leave (FML) of absence through Human Resources and have exhausted their available time off benefits in order to receive time from the leave bank. 

Donating Sick Time

• The donation of sick time is strictly voluntary.
• Donated sick time will go into a leave bank for use by eligible recipients.
• The maximum number of sick hours that an eligible employee may donate per calendar year is 23.25 hours (24 hours for CBU and Public Safety), prorated by FTE.
• Donations must be made in whole day increments, accounting for the donating employees FTE (rounded to the nearest quarter hour). 
• The donating employee’s balance cannot fall below 77.50 hours (80 hours for CBU and Public Safety employees) due to the donation. 
• Employees may donate sick time anytime throughout the year. 
• To donate to the leave bank, an employee must fill out the Macalester College Sick Time Donation Form (Google Form). Once submitted, Human Resources will review the form and will deduct the donation amount from the eligible employee’s sick time balance.

Receiving Donated Sick Time

• HR is monitoring all Family Medical Leaves of Absences. If it is identified that an employee will exhaust their time off balances before the end of their leave, HR will connect with the employee about receiving donated sick hours. 
• If the recipient employee has available time off balances, that time will be used before any sick time will be applied to their available balances. 
• Donated sick time may only be used for time off for the approved FML.
• Employees who receive donated sick time may receive no more than three (3) weeks (116.25 hours for staff and 120.00 hours for CBU & Public Safety), prorated by FTE per FML occurrence.
• Nothing in this policy will be construed to limit or extend the maximum allowable absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Macalester staff members with an FTE of 0.50 or greater who become parents through birth, adoption or foster care placement are eligible for a 12-week, fully-paid parental leave (prorated per FTE). The benefit is available immediately upon hire. The leave is available for birthing and non-birthing parents. The leave must occur within 12-months of the birth, adoption or placement, and may be used continuously or intermittently. The fact that a multiple birth, adoption or placement occurs (e.g., the birth of twins or adoption of siblings) does not increase the total amount of paid parental leave granted for that event. The adoption of a new spouse’s child is excluded from this policy. 

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Minnesota Parental Leave Act run concurrently with Paid Parental Leave. 

Staff members wishing to apply for parental leave should first notify their manager so that arrangements to cover the staff member’s assignment can be made in a timely fashion if necessary. The manager and applicable leaders within the business line are responsible for making these arrangements.

Forms for requesting a leave of absence are available on the HR website.

Parental Leave Information and Resources

• Bereavement leave
• Jury duty leave
• Voting and election judge leave
• Bone marrow donor leave
• FMLA Leave
• Minnesota Parenting Leave
• MN School Conference And Activity Leave
• Military Leave
• Educational Leave
• For full details regarding time away from work policies at Macalester, see the Employee Handbook.