December 2008
FACULTY & ABSENCE
MANAGEMENT
The Absence Management System has brought up a number of questions about how faculty should report leave usage. Some of these questions are addressed below. If you have additional questions, please let Academic Personnel Services know about them by contacting Diane Volpp at dianevg@csufresno.edu. If you’re wondering about something, others probably are too.
The only thing wrong with the “old way” is that the State Controller’s Office (SCO), which issues our monthly pay warrants, won’t let us use it anymore. The SCO is in the midst of a wholesale overhaul of its payroll management systems, and all CSU campuses – not just ours – have been required to adopt a new leave reporting system. The CSU opted to use the existing capabilities of the PeopleSoft Human Resources System, called Absence Management, and that’s why we’ve made this switch. The new system actually has several advantages over the old one and we hope that, with time and experience, you’ll come to appreciate them. For example, Absence Management gives you 24/7 access to all your leave accruals, usage, and up-to-date balances via the My Fresno State portal.
2. As a
faculty member, who is responsible for reporting my time if I miss an academic
work day?
You are primarily responsible for reporting your own time, just as you’ve always been.
Each department, college, and school has procedures for faculty to report in when they’re sick or need approval for time off (e.g., planned sick leave, jury duty). Those procedures remain in place even with the new Absence Management system. As far as actual reporting of leave usage goes, the only difference is that now you’ll need to use the online portal at https://my.csufresno.edu. You’ll do this by logging in and then clicking on “Employee Self Service” under the heading, “My Menu.” Then click on “Time Reporting,” and then on “Report Absence.”
If you worked every work day during the reporting period, you would leave the toggle for “Absence Name” at “No Time Taken.” Otherwise, you will enter each work day (or consecutive work days) you missed and, for each, toggle the “Absence Name” field to show the appropriate type of leave (Funeral, Jury Duty, Maternity/Paternity, Sick–Death, Sick–Family, Sick–Self, or Vacation). If you don’t have leave available to cover the absence, you would toggle the “Absence Name” field to “Dock Take.”
If you have questions about how to enter your leave usage in the Absence Management system you can get a quick video review on the Payroll Services website at www.csufresno.edu/payroll/services/absence.shtml. Or, you can always talk to your department assistant, department chair, or Academic Personnel Services, as appropriate.
3. Do I have
to use the Absence Management system every month even if I haven’t used any
leave?
Even if you haven’t used leave of any kind during a particular month, you should go into the system and report using the “No Time Taken” option.
4. Can you
explain how faculty members are supposed to report sick
leave?
Sick leave is charged for each and every academic work day that a faculty member is absent or unavailable to work because of illness. Sick leave is charged on each such day even if the faculty member did not have scheduled classes or office hours, and even if the faculty member arranged to have someone else cover his/her obligations. (See, Collective Bargaining Agreement at Article 24.15.) One full-time day equals eight (8) hours.
For part-time faculty, leave hours are prorated based on time-base. (See, Technical Letter HR/Leaves 2008-1.) For information on sick leave accrual and usage during state-supported summer terms for extra pay, refer to Technical Letter HR/Leaves 2004-1.
Below you’ll find some examples of how this works.
Example 1: A full-time faculty member who teaches MWF misses both her Wednesday and Friday classes in one week. She returns to work the following Monday. This faculty member must report sick leave usage for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday -- three days of sick leave at 8 hours per day for a total of 24 hours. (We’re assuming the faculty member was actually absent all three days and that she didn’t attend meetings or hold office hours on any of the days.)
Example 2: A part-time faculty member with a 3/15 (.20) appointment teaches a Tu-Th schedule. In one week, he misses both Tuesday and Thursday. This faculty member must report sick leave usage for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday of the following week -- five days of sick leave at 1.6 hours per day (8 hours times 3/15) for a total of 8 hours of sick leave (1.6 hours times 5 days).
Example 3: A part-time faculty member with a 6/15 (.40) appointment teaches one class on MWF and a second class on Tu-Th. In one week, he misses his Monday class but teaches the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday classes. This faculty member must report sick leave usage for Monday -- one day of sick leave at 3.2 hours per day (8 hour day times 6/15) for a total of 3.2 hours.
If you are a faculty member with a 12-month or 10-month (Librarian) appointment, you should consult with your Dean and Chair on the requirements for requesting to use your vacation leave. Faculty who accrue vacation are required to use at least 40 hours of vacation each calendar year. Any part of the 40 hours that goes unused must be forfeited as of January 1 of the subsequent calendar year. (See, Collective Bargaining Agreement at Article 34.7)
To report use of vacation leave, you’ll need to log onto the portal at https://my.csufresno.edu. Then, under the heading “My Menu,” click on “Employee Self Service,” and then click again on “Report Absence.” Enter the days you took vacation and toggle the “Absence Name” field to “Vacation.”
6. What about
other types of leave like Bereavement Leave (for a member of my immediate
family), Jury Duty, Personal
All leaves must be approved in advance to your department chair or dean and reported monthly using the Absence Management portal, as discussed above. Just toggle the “Absence Name” field to show the appropriate type of leave.
Rehired Annuitants (someone who is rehired after having taken a CalPERs retirement) do not earn or accrue Sick Leave, Vacation, or Personal Holidays, so they are not expected to report absences via the Absence Management system. If a Rehired Annuitant misses work due to illness or for other reasons, the pay docking process would be used to adjust the compensation due for the month in which the absence occurred.
8. How are
FERP faculty supposed to report their leave usage?
Faculty members participating in FERP need to submit their time using the online Absence Management system, too. FERPers earn a Personal Holiday each year and need to comply with the collective bargaining agreement in working out when to use it. When they do use it, they need to report it via Absence Management. All faculty may elect to carry over up to 48 hours of sick leave when they enter FERP, and they continue to accrue sick leave at the same rate as other faculty – eight hours per month, pro rated for less than full-time employment, up to a maximum of 160 hours. (CBA Article 29.17.) Librarians and 12-month faculty also continue to accrue vacation hours at the same rate as other faculty while participating in FERP.