N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 22 § 24.4

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 45, November 2, 2024

Section 24.4 - Sick leave

(a)

(1) Sick leave is absence with pay necessitated by the illness or disability of the employee, including illness or disability caused by pregnancy or childbirth.

(2) For non-Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) approved absences, an employee shall be allowed to charge a maximum of 25 days of sick leave in any one calendar year for absences from work to care for a close family member during a time of illness. For purposes of this section, a close family member shall be the employee's spouse; domestic partner; natural, foster or step child; natural, foster or step parent; or any relative residing with the employee or an individual for whom the employee is the primary caregiver.

(3) An employee who is approved for a caregiver leave pursuant to the FMLA shall be allowed to charge absences during the FMLA period to accumulated sick leave. Sick leave charged during the FMLA period shall not be counted towards the 25 days set forth in subsection 24.4(a)(2) of this section, i.e., these 25 "family sick leave" days remain available for the employee's use before and/or after the FMLA period.

(4) During a leave pursuant to the FMLA, employees may charge their leave accruals at the half-time rate.

(b) Employees shall earn sick leave credits at the rate of one-half day per biweekly pay period. No more than 200 days of such credits may be used for retirement service credit unless a greater benefit is provdied by law, rule or regulation, and no more than 200 days of such credits may be used to pay for health insurance in retirement.

(c) An employee shall not earn sick leave credit for any biweekly pay period unless he or she is in full-pay status for at least seven workdays during such biweekly pay period.

(d) A part-time, per diem or hourly employee eligible to earn sick leave credits pursuant to this Part shall earn sick leave credits as provided herein, but such employee's total pay when absent on such leave shall be the amount which would have been due if the employee had worked his or her usual number of hours or days during such period.

(e) An employee absent on sick leave shall notify his or her supervisor, or the supervisor's designee, of such absence and the reason therefor on the day of such absence and within 90 minutes after the beginning of his or her workday; provided, however, that where the work is such that a substitute may be required, the administrative authority may require earlier notification, but not earlier than two hours prior to the beginning of the employee's workday.

(f) Sick leave credits may be used in such units as the administrative authority may approve, but shall not be used in units of less than 15 minutes.

(g) Before absence for personal illness may be charged against accumulated sick leave credits, the administrative authority may require such proof of illness as may be satisfactory to the administrative authority, or may require the employee to be examined, at the expense of the Unified Court System, by a physician designated by the administrative authority. In the event of failure to submit proof of illness upon request, or in the event that, upon such proof as is submitted or upon the report of medical examination, the administrative authority finds that there is not satisfactory evidence of illness sufficient to justify the employee's absence from the performance of his or her duties, such absence may be considered as unauthorized leave and shall not be charged against accumulated sick leave credits. Abuse of sick leave shall be cause for disciplinary action.

(h) The administrative authority may require an employee who has been absent because of personal illness, prior to and as a condition of his or her return to duty, to submit medical documentation to establish that he or she is not disabled from the performance of his or her normal duties and that his or her return to duty will not jeopardize the health of other employees. If the medical documentation provided is deemed insufficient by the administrative authority, the employee may be asked to provide additional medical documentation, and, if such additional medical documentation is not provided or is deemed insufficient, the administrative authority may require the employee, prior to and as a condition of his or her return to duty, to be examined, at the expense of the Unified Court System, by a physician designated by the administrative authority, to establish that the employee is not disabled from the performance of his or her normal duties and that his or her return to duty will not jeopardize the health of other employees.

(i) In addition to personal illness of an employee, personal visits by such employee to a doctor, dentist or other medical practitioner, when approved by the administrative authority, may be charged against accumulated sick leave credits. Proof of the need for such visits, satisfactory to the administrative authority, may be required.

(j) When an employee is transferred or reassigned, the court or agency to which the employee is transferred or reassigned shall credit the employee with all of his or her accumulated sick leave credits not used prior to such transfer or reassignment. When an employee is separated from service for other than disciplinary reasons and is subsequently reinstated or reemployed within one year after such separation, or is reinstated by action of the Chief Administrator of the Courts, or is reinstated or reemployed while eligible for reinstatement from a preferred list, his or her sick leave credits accumulated and unused at the time of his or her separation shall be restored; provided, however, that such sick leave credits shall not be restored except where leave records satisfactory to the administrative authority are available.

(k) Sick leave bank program. The Chief Administrator or his or her designee may establish rules and procedures permitting an employee who has exhausted all of his or her sick leave, annual leave and overtime credits to draw sick leave credits from a sick leave bank established through the contribution of leave credits by employees who participate in the program.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 22 § 24.4

Amended New York State Register June 24, 2015/Volume XXXVII, Issue 25, eff. 6/24/2015

Amended New York State Register July 20, 2016/Volume XXXVIII, Issue 29, eff. 7/20/2016

Amended eff. 4/18/2024.

Amended New York State Register May 8, 2024/Volume XLVI, Issue 19, eff. 5/8/2024