Your office telephone is for your office work. The phone charges for many of you are charged against grant budgets. This makes honest accounting of usage important. It is understood, however, that APPC staff work long hours and that the transactions and communications of daily life take place during these work day hours. The APPC telephone policy is a result of this understanding. Any staff members with monthly toll charges in excess of $5 will receive a copy of their bill, and are asked to indicate which calls are personal. The APPC will consider personal calls totaling $5 or less each month to be part of a staff member’s benefits. For any personal amount over $5, a staff member must reimburse the APPC Business Office with cash or a check made out to “The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.” A form is provided with the bill copy to assist you in calculating the amount due (if any). If your monthly bill is less than $5, you will not receive a copy for review.
Policy Group: Working at the APPC
The accumulation of short term disability allows continuation of full base pay when an eligible staff member is required to be absent from work because of extended illness or medical conditions.
Application process
When it appears likely that sick leave and paid time off will be exhausted and short term disability may be needed, the supervisor or the Benefits Office will require the staff member to have their health care provider complete a Physician Certification form and return the form to the Benefits Office. When such a request is made, the certification must be provided within twenty (20) calendar days of the request. Additionally, the staff member must complete and forward a Short Term Disability/Family Medical Leave Application form to Benefits.
The University reserves the right to require that the individual submit to independent medical examinations by a health care provider of the University’s choosing for continuation of payments under this policy.
Usage
Accumulated short term disability may be utilized provided the duration of the illness has been ten (10) or more work days and all available sick leave and paid time off have been exhausted. The maximum number of days in pay status for any one illness will not exceed six (6) months or one hundred thirty-two (132) consecutive work days including sick leave, paid time off and short term disability, in that order. Disability resulting from pregnancy is treated like other disabilities with respect to paid leave time; the normal period of disability from the date of delivery is a maximum of eight (8) weeks.
A staff member is not eligible for holidays or special vacation periods which may occur while he/she is receiving short term disability payments.
Additional sick leave and Paid Time Off are not accrued during periods of short term disability.
Staff members who use short term disability may be required to concurrently use benefits under the Family Medical Leave policy.
See full University policy at: http://www.hr.upenn.edu/
The Sick Leave policy is designed to provide position and salary continuation in the event of illness and to encourage sick leave conservation for extended protection.
Regular full-time, part-time and limited service staff members through position grade 28 are eligible.
The accumulation of sick leave allows continuation of full base pay plus benefits when an eligible staff member is required to be absent from work because of illness or medical conditions.
Accrual
Sick leave is accrued based on a staff member’s regularly scheduled hours of work. A full-time or limited service staff member accrues sick leave at the rate of one day per completed month of service up to twelve days in each fiscal year (July l-June 30). A regular, part-time staff member accrues sick leave on a pro-rata basis. The maximum sick leave accumulation is ninety (90) work days.
Notification
A staff member or designee should notify the supervisor or APPC Staff Director as soon as it is known that that the staff member will be unable to work, but no later than the starting time of the work day. A staff member must notify the supervisor on each day of absence unless other arrangements have been made. The staff member is responsible for assuring that commitments not able to be rescheduled are met by others or cancelled.
A supervisor should be given as much notice as possible when a staff member has advanced knowledge of a necessary medical absence.
Health care provider certification after 3 days
When a staff member has been out on sick leave for more than three (3) consecutive work days, the University requires documentation from a health care provider be submitted to the supervisor certifying the medical necessity for the absence and expected date of return to work. Additionally, where a staff member has been out on sick leave for more than three (3) consecutive work days, the supervisor is expected to notify the staff member that the University is provisionally designating the use of that sick leave as Family Medical Leave in addition to sick leave. The supervisor must notify the APPC Staff Director to invoke the Family Medical Leave Act on the staff member’s behalf. This protects your job as prescribed by federal law.
For any absence due to illness, a supervisor may request a written statement from the staff member’s health care provider, certifying the medical necessity for an absence.
Usage of sick leave
Sick leave may be used for illness of the staff member, for illness of a member of the household (up to three (3) days per fiscal year) and for doctor/dentist appointments when it is not possible to schedule them during non-working hours. Sick time used for health care provider appointments, which are not medically urgent, must be scheduled in advance and approved by the supervisor.
Sick leave is provided for the reasons stated in this policy and may not be used for other purposes. Sick leave may not be advanced.
Staff members who use sick leave may be required to concurrently use benefits under the Family Medical Leave policy.
See full University policy at: http://www.hr.upenn.edu/
Paid time off is taken only with the advanced permission of a staff member’s supervisor. Monthly paid staff are to use the Penn online PTO system.
Staff members accrue Paid Time Off based on their years of service in regular University positions and the date when they began continuous employment with the University. Time served in temporary or occasional positions is not counted in calculating a staff member’s Paid Time Off accrual rate.
All regular staff members who have completed the Introductory Period accrue Paid Time Off in accordance with the following:
|
Years of Service |
Monthly Accrual Rate |
|
Less than 2 years of service |
1.250 days |
|
At least 2 years of service |
1.417 days |
|
At least 3 years of service |
1.583 days |
|
At least 4 years of service |
1.750 days |
|
At least 5 years of service |
2.000 days |
Paid Time Off is accrued monthly and is available for use by the staff member the month following the month of accrual.
A staff member may not have a balance of more than twenty-four (24) Paid Time Off days at any time. If a staff member’s balance is at twenty-four (24) days, the staff member will not accrue any additional days. Days will not be retroactively accrued and credited to the staff member’s Paid Time Off balance.
During the Introductory Period staff members do not accrue Paid Time Off. A staff member whose employment is terminated during this period will not receive payment for Paid Time Off days. However, upon completion of the Introductory Period, Paid Time Off will be credited retroactively to the initial date of employment. Upon completion of the Introductory Period, a staff member may request Paid Time Off.
Regular part time staff members accrue Paid Time Off based on the percentage of a full time schedule worked. Paid Time Off is calculated by determining the number of days which such a staff member would be eligible if the staff member were full-time. That number is divided by the number of hours per week established for the full-time positions in the same department and multiplied by the number of hours the part-time staff member works per week.
Monthly paid staff have the accrual and use of Paid Time Off tracked by the electronic PTO system tracking. Weekly paid staff mark their Paid Time Off on their weekly time sheets for entering into the University Payroll system by Kelly Anderson.
Hourly paid staff members do not earn Paid Time Off.
Unused accrued Paid Time Off at separation. Upon the voluntary or involuntary termination of employment, all regular staff members who have successfully completed their Introductory Period must be paid for their accrued and unused Paid Time Off based on the date of separation.
See full University policy at: http://www.hr.upenn.edu/
The official work week for all full-time employees at APPC is 35 hours. [A very few may be hired for a longer work week, which will have been specified in the job posting and offer letter.] Monthly paid staff members are expected to work at least 35 hours and may work more when the job requires.
The APPC work day is 9-5 unless a staff member’s supervisor and the Director have agreed to a different schedule.
It is expected that work will take place in the APPC office unless an out-of-office location is required and approved. Working at home is to be considered exceptional and requires the Director’s approval.
Weekly Staff Hourly Limits
The APPC strongly discourages supervisors from allowing Weekly Paid staff to work more than the 35-hour week stipulated in the offer letter. Hours in excess of 35 a week must be approved in writing by the APPC Director and will be billed by the payroll system as additional hours. Over 40 hours a week will be billed at time-and-a-half. If longer hours are temporarily required for a project, surrounding hours should be adjusted.