Employees will be granted three (3) days of paid bereavement leave for the death of the employee’s spouse, registered domestic partner, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild, or the death of a parent of the employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner. Bereavement leave will also be granted for the death of any other person residing in the employee’s home who shares reciprocal duties of care and financial support with the employee.
Employees subpoenaed to appear for jury service or as a witness will receive pay at their regular rate of pay for work hours missed because of their required service. Employees must notify their supervisors upon receipt of a subpoena for jury or witness duty, keep their supervisors apprised of the schedule for their jury or witness duties, and report to work when the court schedule permits. Employees may keep any jury duty compensation that they may receive for their service.
An employer may not discharge from employment or discipline employees who are late to work or miss work as a result of:
A volunteer firefighter or reserve peace officer who are responding to, at the scene of or returning from a fire alarm or emergency call, or Civil Air Patrol members who are involved in an emergency service operation.
RCW 49.12.460
Domestic Violence Leave (RCW 49.76) provides for reasonable leave from work for employees who are victims of, or who have family members who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Employees may take this leave to:
1) Seek legal or law enforcement assistance or remedies to ensure the health and safety of the employee or employee’s family members including, but not limited to, preparing for, or participating in, any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to or derived from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
2) Seek treatment by a health care provider for physical or mental injuries caused by domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or to attend to health care treatment for a victim who is the employee’s family member;
3) Obtain, or assist a family member in obtaining, services from a domestic violence shelter, rape crisis center, or other social services program for relief from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
4) Obtain, or assist a family member in obtaining, mental health counseling related to an incident of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, in which the employee or the employee’s family member was a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or
5) Participate in safety planning, temporarily or permanently relocate, or take other actions to increase the safety of the employee or employee’s family members from future domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
Time may be taken as a single block of time, intermittent or on a reduced schedule.
Domestic violence leave defines a family member as:
- Child, spouse, partner in a state registered domestic partnership, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or person with whom the employee has a dating relationship.
Employees may choose to take this leave as paid, unpaid or a combination of paid and unpaid time. For a paid leave of absence employees may use their sick leave, vacation leave, a personal holiday, and/or available compensatory leave. Employees may also qualify for shared leave if they have exhausted their paid leave or will shortly deplete their accrued paid leave.
Employees must provide as much notice of the need for leave as they can. If an employee cannot provide advance notice because of an emergency or unforeseen circumstances related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking the employee or the employee’s designee must give notice to the employee’s supervisor or Human Resources of the requested leave by the end of the first day the employee takes leave. The University may require the employee or employee’s designee to provide documentation verifying the employee or employee’s family member is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking and that the leave was taken for one of the permitted reasons.
EWU will not retaliate against any employee for seeking or taking time off related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. We protect the confidentiality of all information related to time off for domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
RESOURCES FOR HELP AND INFORMATION:
Washington State Employee Assistance Program (EAP) | Department of Enterprise Services
Sexual and Domestic Violence Resources: Washington State Department of Health
National Domestic Violence Hotline (24/7) 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
Under state law, all employees have the option to take up to two (2) unpaid holidays per calendar year for reasons of faith or conscience or for an organized activity conducted by a religious denomination, church or religious organization. If a partial day is taken off, it will count as a full day toward the yearly allotment of two (2) days.
Employees who do not have available leave time, will default to a leave without paid (LWOP) status. Employees who take 10 or more working days of leave without pay in any calendar month shall not be entitled to any sick leave credit for that month, but shall accrue a prorated amount of sick leave based upon the percentage of time worked. Employees (except classified) who take 10 or more working days of leave without pay in any calendar month shall not be entitled to any vacation hours.
Eastern Washington University follows the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and Washington State law (Chapter 38.40 RCW) which offer certain rights to employees in the uniformed services. The U.S. uniformed services include: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Army or Air National Guard or any reserve components of the services listed. Employees will be entitled to military leave with pay not to exceed 21 working days during each federal fiscal year, beginning October 1st and ending the following September 30th. Time off or a leave of absence may be taken for military requirements such as:
- Active duty
- Training and drills
- Physical examination
- Funeral honors duty
Employees must provide the University (both their supervisor and Human Resources) with a copy of their orders at the time they request military leave. Requests for military leave will be made as soon as reasonably practical after the employee learns of the need for such leave. Employees must remain in a paid status (paid military time off, vacation time, comp. time, personal holiday, personal leave day, shared leave) for at least eight hours in a calendar month in order to maintain their EWU benefits.
Classified and Exempt employees receive one personal holiday each calendar year. The personal holiday may be used immediately upon hire but must be scheduled at the convenience of the employing department. The personal holiday is to be used on or before December 31 of each calendar year or the day will be forfeited.
Classified employees also receive one personal leave day each calendar year. The personal leave day may be used immediately upon hire but must be scheduled at the convenience of the employing department. The personal leave day must to be used on or before December 31 of each calendar year or the day will be forfeited.
Full-time, twelve-month library faculty receive the 11 University holidays per year, plus a personal holiday. Library faculty who work less than 12 months receive only the University holidays that fall within the months they work and are not entitled to a personal holiday.
The Shared Leave program is a state program that allows employees to donate accrued leave to other eligible employees in specific circumstances of hardship or service. Shared Leave is not granted for common or minor illnesses, injuries, impairments or physical or mental conditions. To receive shared leave an employee must hold a position that accrues time off, have a qualifying reason and have depleted or will shortly deplete* their accrued or paid time off. EWU employees may receive donations of shared leave under any of the following circumstances:
Personal hardship: The employee is suffering from or has a relative or household member suffering from an illness, injury, impairment or physical or mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature.
Emergency Service: The employee has volunteered and been accepted into emergency volunteer service in response to a declaration of a state of emergency within the United States.
Armed Service: The employee has been called to military service as defined in RCW 41.04.655.
Parental Leave: The employee needs time to bond and care for a newborn child after birth, adoption or foster care.
Pregnancy Disability: The employee is sick or temporarily disabled because of a pregnancy-related medical condition or miscarriage.
Worker’s Compensation: Employees receiving time loss for a work-related injury or illness may not receive more than 25% of their base salary from shared leave.
COVID-19: As a result of House Bill 2739 signed in to law on March 17, 2020, an employee may request shared leave as a result of COVID-19 for the employee, employee’s relative or a household member.
*Shortly Deplete: Employees may retain up to 40 hours combined of their sick and vacation leave.
Conditions that do not typically meet the criteria for shared leave include:
- Flu
- Chicken pox
- Sprained ankle
- Elective cosmetic surgery
- Intermittent leave for chronic, ongoing medical conditions
Temporary disability leave for pregnancy and childbirth is available to birth parents for prenatal and postpartum medical needs. Most often, this leave is used in the six weeks immediately following childbirth (eight weeks if the birth is by caesarean section). Additional leave may be approved if the employee has complications and the health-care provider recommends a longer period.
Temporary disability leave for pregnancy and childbirth is an approved leave of absence, not a type of accrued time off. Temporary disability leave for pregnancy and childbirth normally runs at the same time as FMLA.
Pay
To continue your pay during temporary disability leave for pregnancy and childbirth, employees may use:
- Sick time off
- Vacation time off
- Personal holiday
- Compensatory time off
- Shared Leave
Employees also may have the option to take unpaid time off.
The Washington State Family Care Act is a separate law from FMLA and allows employees to choose to use sick leave or other paid time off to care for a covered family member with certain health conditions. If leave is taken under WFCA and it also qualifies under FMLA, the WFCA leave is also counted as FMLA leave. Key differences of WFCA:
- Must have access and use paid accruals to receive WFCA
- Eligibility includes both serious health condition PLUS emergency conditions
- Cannot be used for employees own condition
- WFCA includes additional family members: Washington State registered domestic partner, parent-in-law and grandparent of the employee
Under the Washington State Family Care Act, you may use sick leave or other paid time off to care for your:
1). Child (biological, adopted, foster or stepchild; legal ward or child for which you are standing in as the parent) under 18 who has a health condition which includes:
- Medical condition requiring treatment or medication the child cannot self-administer
- Medical or mental health condition that would endanger the child’s safety or recovery without your presence or
- Condition warranting treatment or preventive care, such as physical, dental, optical or immunization services, when you must be present to authorize the treatment
2). Child 18 or older with a mental or physical disability that makes the child incapable of self-care who has a health condition which includes:
- Medical condition requiring treatment or medication the child cannot self-administer
- Medical or mental health condition that would endanger the child’s safety or recovery without your presence or
- Condition warranting treatment or preventive care, such as physical, dental, optical or immunization services, when you must be present to authorize the treatment
3). Spouse, Washington State registered domestic partner (DP), parent (or someone standing in loco parentis for you), parent-in-law, or grandparent (but not your spouse or domestic partner’s grandparent) with a serious or emergency health condition:
- Requiring an overnight stay in a hospital or other medical care facility
- Resulting in a period of incapacity or treatment or recovery following inpatient care
- Continuing treatment under the care of a health care services provider that includes any period of incapacity (for example, inability to work or perform other regular daily activities)
- Emergency Health Condition which is a sudden generally unexpected occurrence.
The Washington State Military Family Leave Act (RCW 49.77) provides 15 days of unpaid leave of absence from work per deployment for an employee whose spouse or Washington State registered domestic partner is a member of the armed forces on leave from deployment, or before and up to deployment, during a period of military conflict. (EWU employees may use accrued vacation leave, sick time, compensatory time leave or personal holiday/personal leave day, if they choose). An employee must provide notice within five (5) business days of receiving official notice of an impending call or order to active duty or of a leave from deployment of the employee’s intention to take military family leave. MFLA cannot be taken when spouse is away for deployment or at the termination of deployment.
Beginning January 1, 2018, the State of Washington implemented a paid sick leave law that required employers to provide a minimum amount of paid sick leave to all leave benefit eligible employees. EWU current policies already provided paid sick leave above the minimum threshold of the law but some types of positions, like temporary positions and student employees, were not receiving these sick leave benefits. To comply with state law, EWU offers temporary and most student employees one (1) hour of sick leave for every 40 hours worked.
RCW 49.46
RESOURCES AND REFERENCES
The following tools and online resources are for reference only. To determine how these may apply to you, please consult Megan Jasmer, HR Consultant – Leave Specialist in the Benefits Office at mjasmer@ewu.edu, Benefits@ewu.edu or 509-359-4300.
- EWU Collective Bargaining Agreements: https://test-inside.ewu.edu/hr/unions-and-contracts/
- Federal Family and Medical Leave Act: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla
- Washington State Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML): https://paidleave.wa.gov/
- Washington Law Against Discrimination (pregnancy, childbirth & pregnancy related conditions): https://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=162-30-020
