New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 4 - DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE › Chapter II - Attendance Rules for Employees in New York State Departments and Institutions › Article 1 - Attendance for Nonmanagerial/confidential Employees in New York State Departments and Institutions › Part 21 - ABSENCE WITH PAY › Section 21.3 - Sick leave

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) Sick leave
				  is absence with pay necessitated by the illness or disability of the employee
				  including illness or disability caused by pregnancy or childbirth.
(b) Employees shall earn sick leave credits
				  at the rate of one-half day per biweekly pay period and may accumulate such
				  credits up to a total of 150 days; provided, however, that an employee shall
				  not earn sick leave credit for any biweekly pay period unless he is in full pay
				  status for at least seven work days during such biweekly pay period. A
				  part-time employee who is required to work a fixed number of hours, five days
				  per week, shall also earn sick leave credit as provided herein, but his total
				  pay when absent on such leave shall be the amount which would have been due him
				  had he been working regularly at his usual hours for such period.
(c) An employee absent on sick leave shall
				  notify his supervisor of such absence and the reason therefor on the first day
				  of such absence and within two hours after the beginning of his work day;
				  provided, however, that where the work is such that a substitute may be
				  required, the appointing authority may require earlier notification, but not
				  more than two hours prior to the beginning of the employee's work day. Sick
				  leave credits may be used in such units as the appointing authority may
				  approve, but shall not be used in units of less than one-half hour.
(d) Before absence for personal illness may
				  be charged against accumulated sick leave credits, the appointing authority may
				  require such proof of illness as may be satisfactory to it, or may require the
				  employee to be examined, at the expense of the department or agency, by a
				  physician designated by the appointing 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 appointing
				  authority finds that there is not satisfactory evidence of illness sufficient
				  to justify the employee's absence from the performance of his duties, such
				  absence may be considered as unauthorized leave and shall not be charged
				  against accumulated sick leave credits. Abuse of sick leave privileges shall be
				  cause for disciplinary action.
(e)
				  The appointing authority may require an employee who has been absent because of
				  personal illness, prior to and as a condition of his return to duty, to be
				  examined, at the expense of the department or agency, by a physician designated
				  by the appointing authority, to establish that he is not disabled from the
				  performance of his normal duties and that his return to duty will not
				  jeopardize the health of other employees.
(f) In addition to personal illness of the
				  employee, the following types of absence, when approved by the appointing
				  authority, may be charged against accumulated sick leave credits: illness or
				  death in the employee's family, provided, however, that charge for such absence
				  shall not exceed a maximum of 15 days in any one year; absence of an employee
				  certified by an examining physician as benefiting from the use of a service
				  animal in performing major life activities, or who is registered with the New
				  York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped as legally blind,
				  or certified by an examining physician or licensed optometrist as legally
				  blind, as manifested by visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with
				  best correction or a visual field of 20 degrees or less, or who has a hearing
				  impairment manifested by a speech discrimination score of 40 percent or less in
				  the better ear with appropriate correction as certified by an examining
				  physician or by a licensed audiologist or otorhinolaryngologist, for the
				  purpose of obtaining a guide dog or service animal and required training
				  related thereto, provided, however, that charge for such absence shall not
				  exceed a maximum of 26 days in any one calendar year; and personal visits to
				  doctor or dentist. Proof of the need for such absence, satisfactory to the
				  appointing authority, may be required.
(g) When an employee is transferred, his
				  accumulated sick leave credits shall be transferred with him. 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 State Civil Service Commission, or is reinstated
				  or reemployed while eligible for reinstatement from a preferred list, his sick
				  leave credits accumulated and unused at the time of his separation shall be
				  restored; provided, however, that such sick leave credits shall not be restored
				  except where leave records satisfactory to the appointing authority and the
				  Department of Civil Service are available.
(h) Every per diem and hourly paid employee
				  shall, on the date on which he becomes subject to this Chapter, be credited
				  with the number of days of sick leave which he would have earned during the
				  preceding nine months if he had been subject to this Chapter during such
				  period, less the number of days of sick leave with pay which were granted to
				  him during such nine-month period, except that no deduction shall be made for
				  sick leave drawn during such nine-month period which was earned prior thereto
				  in accordance with an established departmental policy.
(i) This section shall not be construed to
				  require extension of any employment beyond the time at which it would otherwise
				  terminate by operation of law, rule or regulation.