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Understanding Paid Time Off for Unclassified Employees

AFT, non-unit administrators, and Grant employees receive annually-allotted vacation and sick leave. Leave time is allotted at the beginning of the calendar year on the assumption that the employee will remain in pay status throughout the year. The number of days allotted to an employee upon initial hire is prorated based on their hire date, FTE, status as a 10 or 12 month employee, with adjustments made for periods of leave without pay.

Vacation Leave

Ten-month, full-time AFT, non-unit administrators and Grant employees receive 18.5 vacation days per year. Twelve-month, full-time AFT and Grant employees receive 22 vacation days per year. Twelve-month, full-time non-unit employees receive 25 vacation days per year.

Ten-month administrators may carry forward up to 18.5 unused vacation days to the next year, and twelve-month AFT and Grant employees may carry forward up to 22 unused vacation days to the next year. Non-unit employees may carry forward up to 25 vacation days to the next year. Part-time employees earn vacation at a rate proportional to their workload as established in their employment contract.

Faculty do not receive vacation leave.

Sick Leave

Ten-month, full-time AFT, non-unit administrators and Grant employees receive 12.5 sick days per year. Twelve-month, full-time AFT, non-unit administrators, and Grant employees receive 15 sick days per year. Part-time employees earn sick time at a rate proportional to their workload as established in their employment contract. All unused sick leave shall accumulate from year to year to be used if and when needed.

Faculty does receive sick leave and is able to carry forward unused sick leave.

An employee who has been re-employed shall be credited with the total accrued sick leave at the termination of his/her previous State employment.

Employees may use sick leave when they are unable to report to work due to personal illness, accident or exposure to contagious disease, and/or for medical appointments when such appointments cannot be scheduled after working hours. Sick leave may also be used to attend to members of the immediate family who are ill and/or in instances of death in the employee’s immediate family.

For purposes of attending to a family member who is ill, medical documentation must be provided verifying that the employee’s assistance was essential to the family member’s well being. For purposes of using sick leave due to death in the immediate family the New Jersey Department of Personnel defines immediate family members as “father, mother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild, spouse, child, foster child, sister or brother of the employee”. It shall also include relatives of the employee’s household who are living with the employee.

All unused sick leave shall accumulate from year to year to be used if and when needed. An employee shall not be reimbursed for accrued sick leave at the time of termination of his/her employment except upon retirement. Faculty and Grant employees are not reimbursed for accrued sick leave upon retirement. An employee who has been re-employed shall be credited with the total accrued sick leave at the termination of his/her previous State employment. Documentation of prior sick leave is the responsibility of the employee.

a. Authorization for Sick Leave Use
If it is necessary for an employee to use sick leave, the supervisor shall be notified promptly at the employee’s usual reporting time, except in those work situations where notice must be made prior to the employee’s starting time.

An employee who is on sick leave absence for five or more consecutive working days must submit to his/her supervisor and the Office of Human Resources acceptable medical evidence substantiating the illness. Employees may also be required to submit proof of illness or injury:

  • -When there is reason to believe that an employee is abusing sick leave
  • -When an employee has been absent on sick leave for any aggregate of more than 15 days in a 12-month period.
  • -When an illness is of a chronic or recurring nature causing occasional absences of one day or less, one proof of illness shall be required for every six month period. The proof of illness must specify the nature of the illness and that it is likely to cause periodic absences from employment

At the discretion of the supervisor, a doctor’s certificate may be requested for illness immediately preceding or immediately following a holiday.

Failure to provide appropriate medical documentation in any of the above circumstances may result in the denial of sick leave for an absence and constitute cause for disciplinary action.

b. Medical Notes
Employees submitting a medical note should ensure that the note contains the following information:

  1. 1. The date the employee was seen by the doctor
  2. 2. The date(s) the employee was out or will be out
  3. 3. The expected date of return
  4. 4. A statement from the doctor that the employee is unable to carry out expected duties

Bereavement Leave

Sick leave “for a reasonable period of time” may be used by an employee due to death in the immediate family. The New Jersey Department of Personnel defines immediate family members as “father, mother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild, spouse, child, foster child, sister or brother of the employee.”

Energy Leave

AFT Non-Teaching Professionals, grant employees and Non-Unit employees participate in the Energy Savings Program.  More information about the energy savings program is here: 2021 Holidays & Energy Savings Program .

Sabbatical Leave

The sabbatical leave program at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is intended to provide full-time faculty members and librarians with the opportunity to grow professionally as accomplished and engaged teacher-scholars and librarian-scholars. It is designed to foster the broad range of activities in which teacher-scholars and librarian-scholars engage, such as scholarship, teaching, advising, and service, as well as to support new directions or a shift in the focus of the applicant’s academic career.

A sabbatical enables a faculty member or librarian to take leave from her or his normal duties of teaching or librarianship, scholarship, academic advising, and service for a period of either one semester or one academic year. The purpose of a sabbatical leave, as defined in the most recent American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union contract, is to enable the faculty member or librarian to pursue “a substantial project designed to yield publishable results and/or enhance competency as a scholar or teacher. Sabbatical leaves may also be granted for the pursuit of an accredited terminal degree program in an appropriate field of study” (Article XXVII).

Important Information Pertaining to Faculty Sabbatical Leave

Eligibility – Application – Approval

All full-time tenured faculty members (including Demonstration Teachers and Demonstration Specialists at the A. H. Moore School) and librarians who, as of June 30 prior to the year for which the leave is requested, have completed a period of six (6) or more consecutive years of service at a College/University, shall be eligible to apply for a sabbatical leave. Sabbatical leaves are granted no more frequently than once every seven (7) years.

Terms of Sabbatical Leave

  • Half-year leaves shall be at the rate of full salary.
  • Full-year leaves shall be at the rate of three quarters (3/4) salary.
  • For librarians, half-year leaves shall be five (5) months, and full-year leaves ten (10) months.
  • The period of the leave shall be credited for increment purposes, where such credit is relevant.
  • A faculty member or librarian on sabbatical leave shall be entitled to the continuation of pension and insurance programs benefits as provided in the applicable plans.
  • Each faculty member or librarian accepting a leave must sign a written statement obligating him or her to continue to serve for at least one (1) year after expiration of the term of the leave, unless waived by the President of the College/University.
  • Faculty members or librarians on such leave are permitted to receive additional compensation in the form of fellowships, government grants, and honoraria for purposes related to the leave and part-time employment directly related to the project at an institution where they are in residence for the purpose of study and research in addition to the partial salary from the College/University, provided that total compensation from all sources does not exceed such faculty members’ full salary at the College/University. The leave may not be used to accept paid employment during the period of the leave except as provided above.
  • Faculty or librarians on sabbatical leave may engage in outside employment if it does not conflict with the purpose of the sabbatical leave or N.J.A.C. 9: 2-10.1 et seq. and the faculty member report the outside employment before going on leave.

Additional information pertaining to the Sabbatical Leave Process can be found on the Academic Affairs website: http://www.tcnj.edu/~academic/research/.

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