Faculty Attendance and Leave – Paid and Unpaid

Procedure Administrator: Associate VP for Human Resources

Authority: N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1 et seq.; SFT Bargaining Unit Contract

Effective Date: October 2, 1995; April 17, 2012; December 29, 2018; April 22, 2021

Index Cross-References:

Procedure File Number: 6120

Approved By: Dr. Harvey Kesselman, President

The general expectation is that faculty will meet for each of their classes every day that they are scheduled to meet, from the beginning to the end of each semester. Full and part-time faculty are expected to keep office hours on a regular, posted schedule, and to be present for other normal obligations, during the academic year.

A faculty member who will not be present at any given class meeting must notify their respective Dean’s office in advance. The Dean of each School will advise the faculty of the method of notification. A faculty member may not cancel a class meeting without prior notice to their Dean’s office.

A faculty member who is absent from a class meeting for legitimate professional reasons with the permission of the Dean (such as—but not limited to—attendance at professional meetings) is considered present for the purpose of time keeping. Any other absence must be accounted for on the Recap Time Sheet, either as an approved type of paid leave absence—such as sick leave or jury duty—or as an unpaid absence.

The following provisions apply to sick leave:

·         A faculty member who is absent for all classes on a given day is charged a full sick day.

·         A faculty member who has more than one class on a given day and is absent from some but present for at least one class, is charged with the number of sick hours prorated according to the percentage of the day’s classes that were missed.

·         If a faculty member is absent and charged with sick days on two scheduled teaching days on which that faculty member has classes, and there is an intervening day on which they do not normally have classes, the intervening day will also be considered a sick day unless the faculty member is on campus and reports in person to the Dean’s office on the intervening day. For example, if a faculty member cancels classes on Monday and Tuesday due to illness and has a class on Thursday of the same week, then Wednesday of that week will be considered a sick day unless the faculty member is on campus and reports to the Dean’s office.

Adjunct faculty are not eligible for sick leave. Deans will, however, keep accurate records of adjunct faculty attendance and take appropriate action if absence is not for legitimate reasons.

Review History: