Community Service Leave

The University recognizes the importance of community involvement and encourages employees to participate in volunteer activities by providing flexibility in work schedules and paid leave opportunities. 

Community Service Leave (CSL) is a paid time off program for participation in the educational process of children through the high school level and to support other community service volunteer activities for non-profit organizations. As defined later in this policy, CSL can be approved for:

• parents for child involvement in the schools
• any employee for tutoring and mentoring in the schools
• any employee for volunteer activity in the schools or with a Community Service Organization
• blood, bone marrow, and organ donation
• disaster relief and emergency volunteer activities

CSL combines three previously separate categories of leave: child involvement leave, community involvement leave and volunteer services leave.

Employees eligible for CSL are:

• SPA permanent employees (including probationary, trainee, or time-limited) regularly scheduled 20 or more hours per week.
• EPA permanent Non-Faculty.
• EPA Faculty who earn leave.

Employees who are not eligible for CSL are: 

• SPA or EPA temporary employees.
• Post-docs.
• EPA faculty who do not earn leave.
• SPA or EPA permanent employees regularly scheduled less than 20 hours per week.

(See exception for temporary employees in Blood-Related and Bone Marrow Donation section below.)

Employees must receive prior approval from their supervisors to use this leave.  The supervisor may require that the leave be taken at a time other than the one requested, based on operational needs, and/or may require acceptable proof that any leave taken is within the purposes of this policy.

An eligible leave event must occur during the employee's regular work schedule in order to qualify under Community Service Leave. 

CSL does not contribute to time worked for determining overtime eligibility and will be offset by any additional time worked during the work week.

See "Determining Time Worked" in the Related Subjects section below for more details.

Leave Types

There are five Community Service Leave categories, each with different leave allocations.  Leave amounts are pro-rated for part-time employees.

• "Option A": "Regular' Community Service Leave
  This Option provides 24 hours of paid leave for participation in the educational process of children through the high school level and/or to support community service organizations. 
• "Option B": School Mentoring/Tutoring Program
  An alternative to Option A, this Option provides 36 hours of paid leave for tutoring/mentoring a student in an eligible school.  (An employee must choose either Option A or Option B for a particular calendar year.)
• Disaster Relief and Emergency Volunteer Services: 
  Up to 120 hours of paid leave for participation in designated American Red Cross disaster relief actions and/or other relief services provided through membership in another emergency volunteer organization.
• Organ Donation: 
  Up to 180 hours of paid leave for organ donorship.
• Blood-Related and Bone Marrow Donation: 
  Paid time off for these donations.  There is no defined maximum amount of hours for this leave; it is allowed as paid time off at management's discretion based on operational needs.

As operational needs allow, department management may support employee involvement in additional community service opportunities in excess of the paid leave provided in this policy through the use of flexible work schedules or other available leave, paid time off, or leave without pay.

Annual Accruals

On January 1 of each year, current employees will be credited with the full year's amount of each type of CSL (pro-rated for part-time employees).  Employees will be assigned Option A by default unless they have requested Option B from their management.

Employees who begin work after January 1 will receive a pro-rated number of CSL hours for Option A or B for their first year, but will receive the full amount of other types of CSL, regardless of the start date.

For new employees, pro-rated CSL for Option A or B is calculated based on the number of months remaining in the year (two hours per month for Option A and three hours per month for Option B).  Eligibility begins with the first month in which the employee will accrue vacation and sick leave.

Example:

If an employee began work on March 4, she would accrue vacation and sick leave for the month of March. Therefore, she also would be credited with 20 hours of CSL under Option A (10 months x 2 hours/month) or 30 hours under option B.

If the employee began work on March 20, he would not accrue vacation and sick leave until April.  Therefore, he would be credited with 18 hours of CSL under Option A (9 months x 2 hours/month) or 27 hours under Option B.

Definitions

School (public or private): One that is authorized to operate under the laws of the State of North Carolina and is:

• an elementary school
• a middle school
• a high school, or 
• a child care program

Child: A son or daughter who is: 

• a biological child
• an adopted child
• a foster child
• a step-child
• a legal ward
• a child for whom the employee serves in the role of parent

Community Service Organization: A non-profit, non-partisan community organization, which is designated as an IRS Code 501(c)(3) agency, or a human service organization licensed or accredited to serve citizens with special needs including children, youth, and the elderly. 

Option A -- School Involvement / Community Service Organizations

This type of CSL includes:

• Meeting with a teacher or administrator concerning the employee's child;
• Attending any function sponsored by the school in which the employee's child is participating. This provision shall only be used with non-athletic programs that are a part of, or supplement to, the school's academic or artistic programs; 
• Volunteer work for a school that has been approved by a teacher, school administrator, or program administrator; or 
• Volunteer service for a community service organization as defined above.

Although religious organizations may be eligible under this policy as 501(c)(3) organizations, CSL cannot be applied to specific activities designed to promote religious beliefs, such as teaching or leading religious assemblies or in raising funds to support religious activities.

See Related Subjects for more information on eligible activities.

Option B -- Mentoring/Tutoring:

The amount of type of CSL includes volunteering as a tutor or mentor in an eligible school for (generally, 1 hour each week that schools are in session) up to a maximum of 36 hours per calendar year.  Leave under this option will be used exclusively for tutoring or mentoring a student in accordance with established standards rules and guidelines for such arrangements as determined and documented by joint agreement with the employee's department and the school. Any time used for tutoring/mentoring during the employee's regular work schedule, including time spent traveling to and from the school, must be accounted for either by the use of community service leave or other appropriate leave.

Changing Options:

If an employee changes options during the calendar year, the maximum number of hours available will equal the number of hours available for the new option, less any hours already used.

Employees may receive up to 120 hours (15 work days) of CSL for participation in disaster relief and/or emergency volunteer services, as described below.

Disaster Services

To qualify for Disaster Relief CSL, the employee must:

• be a disaster service volunteer of the American Red Cross, and 
• be requested by the American Red Cross to participate.

The disaster must: 

• be within the United States, and 
• be designated at Level III or higher in the American National Red Cross Regulations and Procedures.

Emergency Services

CSL may be used for employees participating in volunteer emergency and rescue services. Management is responsible for determining that a bona fide need for such services exists within a given area. A bona fide need is defined as real or imminent danger to life or property.

The employee must provide to management: 

• sufficient proof of the employee's membership in an emergency volunteer organization, and 
• that the performance of such emergency services will not unreasonably hinder agency activity for which the employee is responsible.

Neither the University nor the employee's department is liable for workers' compensation claims arising from an accident or injury while the employee is on a disaster service or emergency services assignment.

Employees may receive up to 180 hours of CSL for donation of organs.  Employees are expected to provide management with as much advance notice as practicable.  Any additional time required for recovery must be covered through use of other available leave or leave without pay as provided by policy.

Employees are encouraged to use the opportunity to participate in "life-giving" programs through blood-related and bone marrow donorship. Subject to operational needs and management approval, employees may apply CSL to cover time of donation and recovery plus travel if during work time. Management also may authorize use of other available leave or a flexible work schedule, as appropriate.

University-Wide Blood Drive Exception: As an exception to the Community Service Leave policy, participation in the semi-annual University-wide Blood Drives as either a donor or volunteer is considered work time for both permanent and temporary employees.

Community service leave may not be used for any partisan political activity. This includes soliciting funds for votes for a political candidate or working for the election of a candidate. (Vacation or bonus leave, or other accrued paid time off, may be used for such activities, subject to the department's normal request and approval process.)

Employees cannot use work time for voting. This is because the polls are open for 12 hours or more on Election Day, and employees are to vote on their own time either before or after their regular work schedule. In some cases, employees may be able to vote during their scheduled meal periods. Management has the discretion to allow flexible work scheduling to accommodate voting employees, or allow the employee to code vacation leave, bonus leave, or other accrued paid time off for the absence.

See also "Limits on Political Activity" and "Civil Leave" policies in the "Related Subjects" section below.

Leave Accruals and Balances for All Employees:

Implementation of the Time Information System (TIM) to track work hours, special pay, and leave for University employees began its phased implementation in August 2007. 

All departments currently use the Time Information Management (TIM) system for tracking leave balances for eligible employees.  In the TIM system, each type of CSL has its own pay code.  See "TIM Website" in the "Related Subjects" section below for information on recording Community Service Leave.

End-Of-Year Balances

Community service leave is cumulative only through December 31 of each year. Any community service leave that is not used by midnight on December 31 is canceled. It does not carry over to the next calendar year.

Advancement & Negative Balances

An employee receives the full amount of leave to which he/she is entitled for the calendar year when employment begins or as of January 1 for each subsequent year. Therefore, CSL cannot be advanced, and an employee cannot carry a negative CSL balance.

However, in the event that an employee is found to have a negative CSL balance, the balance must be resolved no later than the employee's next pay cycle.  The employee may:

• Apply other available leave to cover the CSL-related absences that resulted in the negative balance, or 
• Have the appropriate number of hours deducted from the employee's next pay check.

See also "Leave/PTO Payouts & Transfers" in Related Subjects below.

For Departments Using Employee Time Records:

For employees who are currently using paper Employee Time Records, code "A" may be used to designate all types of CSL. (On some Employee Time Records, the "A" code may be listed as "Paid Child Involvement Leave".)  Employees may use the "Explanations" section of the Time Record to note which type(s) of CSL was used during the period.

If you have questions about this program, contact the Benefits Specialist in the Office of Human Resources assigned to work with your department or your department's HR Facilitator.

If you have questions about leave balances or how to record leave in the TIM system, contact your department's HR Facilitator or TIM Administrator.