Draft - 40.022: Community Service Leave

1. Purpose 

   Ohio university's community service leave program grants eligible employees paid time off  for participation in non-profit volunteer work or to assist with educational activities for children, promoting community engagement and service.

2. Scope of Policy 

   Ohio university acknowledges the importance of volunteering in educational institutions, communities, and non-profits. The university supports community service organizations and employees involved in school activities. Eligible employees can use this leave for activities such as providing services for a community service organization or performing school-approved volunteer work. This initiative ensures employees can contribute to their communities and/or engage in their children's education through volunteer activities at their schools.

3. Definitions

   1. Educational institution (public or private): An institution permitted to function under Ohio law, which includes elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and childcare programs.
   2. Child: This includes a biological child, adopted child, foster child, stepchild, legal ward, or a child for whom the employee stands in loco parentis.
   3. Community service organization: A non-profit community organization recognized as an IRS Code 501(c)(3) entity, or a human service organization certified to assist individuals with special needs including children, youth, and the elderly.
   4. Full-time equivalency (FTE): A measure of an employee's work hours compared to a full-time schedule.

4. Policy Content

   1. Covered Employees 

      Employees eligible for community service leave are as follows:

      1. Regular staff with an FTE of 0.75 or greater, as officially recorded with university human resources, are eligible to receive 8 hours of community service leave per fiscal year. The leave can be used in increments of an hour.
      2. Regular staff with an FTE greater than or equal to .5 but less than .75, as officially recorded with university human resources, are eligible to receive 4 hours of community service leave per fiscal year. The leave can be used in increments of an hour.
      3. Bargaining unit employees covered under a collective bargaining agreement should refer to their current contract.

   2. Employees not covered

      Term, temporary, and intermittent staff; faculty; and regular staff with an FTE of less than 0.5 are not eligible for this leave.

   3. Leave accrual

      Eligible employees accrue this leave on July 1 each year. New employees eligible for this leave will accrue it on their start date if they begin employment after July 1.

   4. Approval of leave
   5. Employees must obtain authorization from their supervisor to utilize community service leave. The supervisor may require the leave to be taken at a different time than requested, depending on unit needs. The unit may also request valid proof that the leave taken aligns with the scope of this policy. The leave, along with its details, should be entered in the relevant platforms (including GivePulse, at the time of the writing of this policy) upon completion of the community service.

   6. Leave expiration

      Community service leave that is not used within the fiscal calendar year, July 1 to June 30, will be forfeited and cannot be carried forward to the next fiscal year.

   7. Separation 

      Unused community service leave will not be compensated upon an employee's separation from the university.

Forms, References, and History

1. References

   The following references are relevant to this policy:

   1. 40.106 - Staff Appointments