Leave Administration

Under K.A.R. 1-9-24, an appointing authority may authorize leave with pay to any employee in the classified or unclassified service who is a certified disaster service volunteer of the American red cross.

1. Such leave may only be granted when:
   1. the employee is requested by the American red cross to provide disaster services;
   2. the disaster is designated as a Level II disaster or above by the American red cross; and
   3. the disaster occurs in Kansas or in states contiguous to Kansas.
2. Request for disaster service volunteer leave shall be made in accordance with K.A.R. 1-9-3(a) and shall include written verification of the request from the American red cross for the employee's disaster volunteer services.
3. (3) Disaster volunteer leave shall not exceed 20 working days in the 12-month period that starts the first day the leave was used.
   

(b) The employee shall not be considered to be an employee of the state for the purposes of workers' compensation or the Kansas tort claims act while on disaster service leave.

Employees who accrue vacation leave shall be entitled to a discretionary holiday each year, if authorized by the governor, to be taken at their discretion subject to the advanced approval of the individual's supervisor. To be eligible for a discretionary holiday, the employee must have been in benefits eligible status for at least six months. All eligible employees shall receive hours equal to the number of hours regularly scheduled to work for a discretionary holiday (e.g. if the employee is regularly scheduled to work eight (8) hours on the day the discretionary holiday is taken, the employee will receive 8 hours of pay for that day; if the employee is regularly scheduled to work five (5) hours on the day the discretionary holiday is taken, the employee will receive 5 hours of pay for that day). All hours for a discretionary holiday shall be taken on the same day and in no case will an employee earn more than one discretionary holiday in a calendar year. Employees will not be paid for the discretionary holiday in lieu of taking the time off, and balances cannot be carried forward to the next calendar year. Therefore, the holiday must be taken between the beginning of the first pay period and the end of the last pay period of the calendar year in which it was awarded or it will be forfeited.  Additional information available under Holidays.

University employees will be granted leave with pay for recovery time away from work when they have chosen to donate organs, tissue, bone marrow, blood or blood products. Donor leave may not be used to care for family members who are donors. Employees may receive up to 30 working days of paid leave for recovery from an organ or tissue donation procedure, up to seven working days of paid leave following the donation of bone marrow, up to 1.5 hours of paid leave every four months for the donation of blood and up to three hours of paid leave every four months for the donation of blood platelets or other approved blood products. Donor leave is recorded for the exact number of hours used in quarter hour increments.

To learn more about the application process, visit this page.

The release of an employee to attend University classes during regular work hours is subject to the requirements of the employee's department. Release time may be granted to regular and probationary employees (full-time or part-time) to take one course per semester. Makeup time is not required for academic classes related to job duties or as preparation for promotion within the University. Release time for classes unrelated to the employee's job or performance must be unpaid, made up or charged to vacation leave with supervisor's approval. Human Resources informs and counsels departments regarding the education release time policy.

Sabbatical Leave is an approved leave of absence with full or partial pay for a full-time faculty member on a regular appointment who has served continuously for a period of six years or longer. See Section 5.05 of the WSU Policies and Procedures Manual for more information. 

Reasonable leave with pay may be granted to employees, by their direct supervisor, for a period of mourning after a loss of any member of the employee's or their spouse's immediate family. The term "immediate family," as used here, includes spouse, domestic partner, spouse, parents, grandparent, children, grandchildren, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew; related by blood, marriage or adoption. The term “domestic partner” as used here, means a person with whom another person maintains a household and an intimate relationship, other than a person to whom such person is legally married to. "Reasonable leave" will generally be interpreted as one (1) to six (6) days, depending on the relationship of the deceased to the employee and the travel required.

During a Declaration of Inclement Weather, all operations that are not otherwise deemed Critical Campus Operations are considered Non-Critical Campus Operations. Employees supporting Non-Critical Campus Operations shall perform work remotely during campus closure due to inclement weather or in an emergency event except where such remote work is not feasible or the head of the department or unit has determined that remote work is not necessary or feasible. Those non-exempt employees who are in essential operations and are required to report to a designated campus site and work either some or their entire regular shift during a Declaration of Inclement Weather will be granted Inclement Weather Pay. Inclement Weather Pay is equivalent to being paid regular pay for the entire scheduled shift in addition to the employee’s regular pay for actual hours worked during the declaration of inclement weather. Exempt employees are not eligible for additional pay. Employees on leave with pay during inclement weather will continue using their accumulated leave.

Inclement Weather FAQs can be found here.

Under K.A.R. 1-9-8, benefits-eligible employee may be granted paid Jury Duty Leave for any of the following reasons:

• To report for required jury duty

• To comply with a subpoena as a witness before the civil service board, the Kansas commission on civil rights, the United States equal employment opportunity commission

• To comply with a subpoena as a witness before a court, except that an employee is not eligible for paid Jury Duty Leave in circumstances where the employee is called as a witness on their own behalf

Additional considerations regarding paid Jury Duty Leave under State of Kansas regulations include:

• Paid leave may be granted to any employee if it is determined by the University to be in the best interest of the State of Kansas, for an appearance before a court, a legislative committee or other public body.

• When any employee travels in a state vehicle for a required appearance before a court, or a legislative committee, or other public body, the employee shall turn over to the state any mileage expense payments received.

• When any employee travels in a personal or non-State vehicle to report for jury duty or to report to a required appearance before a court, legislative committee, or other public body, the employee retain any amount paid to the employee for expenses in traveling to and from the place of required appearance.
• When paid Jury Duty Leave is granted for reasons other than required jury duty, any employee receiving pay or fees for their appearance shall turn over to the State such pay or fees in excess of $50.00.

Note: An employee shall not be entitled to paid Jury Duty Leave in circumstances where the employee is called as a witness on the employee's own behalf in an action in which the employee is a party, . In this situation the employee's accrued leave would need to be utilized. (i.e., vacation leave, discretionary day, compensatory time).

Employees requesting a leave without pay will be required to use accrued leave before approval of leave without pay will be considered. Employees may be granted leave without pay, up to three (3) years, by the divisional vice president when such leave is determined by the President to be in the best interest of the University. An extension to leave without pay beyond three (3) years requires approval by the Kansas Board of Regents.

No leave may be granted to any employee who has accepted a permanent position with another postsecondary education institution. Leaves without pay will not be regarded as a break in service. However, such leave will not count towards the earning of sabbatical leave, nor will other than a scholarly leave, count toward the tenured probationary period. Scholarly leave will count toward the tenured probationary period, unless the employee and the University agree in writing to the contrary at the time the leave is granted.

For leave without pay, the benefit premiums are deducted from future earnings or subject to other forms of payment, as deemed appropriate by the University. Leave without pay for more than 30 continuous days may have additional impacts to employee benefits. To confirm the full impact to benefits, contact the Human Resources Total Rewards team at totalrewards@wichita.edu. 

Department supervisors are required to excuse an employee with pay for up to two hours for voting purposes, provided the polls are open less than two hours during the period before or less than two hours during the period after the employee's scheduled work hours. (K.S.A. 25-418)