Paid Leave

DePaul’s updated policy applies to all full- and part-time employees.

Leave for full-time faculty, part-time staff, part-time faculty, and students in particular will be impacted by these changes.

There will be no impact on full-time staff.

Under the new law, employees are eligible for up to forty (40) hours of paid sick leave and forty (40) hours of paid leave to be used for any reason in a calendar year.

Paid Sick Leave

- Applies to non-exempt part-time and student employees.

- Will accrue at a rate of one (1) hour per thirty-five (35) hours worked.

- Employees may use up to sixty (60) hours per year.

- Unused hours can be rolled over at the end of the year but will not be paid out upon termination.

Paid Leave

- Applies to full-time faculty, part-time faculty, part-time non-exempt staff, and student employees.

- Will accrue at a rate of one (1) hour per thirty-five (35) hours worked.

- Employees can accrue up to forty (40) hours per year.

- Up to sixteen (16) unused hours can be rolled over at the end of the year.

- Unused hours will be paid out upon termination.

- Staff employees who accrue vacation time are exempt from the paid leave policy.

According to the city of Chicago, "paid sick leave" can be used to recover from illness, take care of a family member, address domestic violence, and account for public health emergencies. Please see the Sick Time, Short and Long-Term Disability policy for additional details on when paid sick leave can be used.

According to the city of Chicago, "paid leave" can be used for any reason, but requests to use it may be denied by the employer.

The new law enhances how paid sick leave accrues for those who accrue on an hourly basis. Employees will now accrue one (1) hour of paid sick leave for every thirty-five (35) hours worked instead of every forty (40) hours worked.

The new law also provides for the accrual of paid leave in addition to paid sick leave. Employees will now accrue one (1) hour of paid leave for every thirty-five (35) hours worked up to a maximum of forty (40) hours per year. Up to sixteen (16) hours of unused paid leave may be rolled over at the end of the calendar year.

Full-Time Staff and Full-Time Faculty

If an employee is full-time staff or full-time faculty in addition to another role, paid sick leave and paid leave will be determined based on their full-time role.

Part-Time Staff and Part-Time Faculty

For those with multiple part-time roles, all hours worked will be counted towards accrual of paid sick leave and paid leave. Paid sick leave/paid leave time accrued in one role can be used for any role. The maximum accrual of forty (40) hours and maximum carryover of sixteen (16) hours apply to all combined roles.

Students

All hours worked for all roles will be counted towards accrual of paid sick leave and paid leave. Paid sick leave/paid leave time accrued in one role can be used for any role. The maximum accrual of forty (40) hours and maximum carryover of sixteen (16) hours apply to all combined roles.

Paid leave for part-time faculty will be front-loaded at the start of each quarter based on the amount of working hours credited for each course. The calculation of working hours for part-time faculty will follow the same method used to determine benefits eligibility for ACA purposes: four (4) hours of non-class time will be credited for every one (1) hour of class time.

For a four-credit hour course, this amounts to 15 working hours and 0.43 hours of paid leave per week or 165 working hours and 4.71 hours of paid leave per quarter. (Note: For the College of Law, part-time faculty will be credited with 240 working hours and 6.86 hours of paid leave per semester.)

Any accrued but unused paid leave will be paid out upon termination. Payment will be included in the final paycheck.

In addition, if an employee has not had an active work assignment for sixty (60) days, they may request any accrued but unused paid leave be distributed to them by contacting HR.

When paying out unused paid leave, the payment will be calculated as total hours of unused paid leave multiplied by an average hourly rate. Details on the determination of the average hourly rate are shown below.

Full-Time Faculty

For full-time faculty, the average hourly rate will be the employee’s current salary divided by 1,820 hours.

Part-Time Faculty

For part-time faculty, all adjunct faculty earnings for the prior ninety (90) days will be accumulated and divided by the total number of working hours in that same period. (Determination of working hours is covered under “How are paid leave hours determined for part-time faculty?”)

Part-Time Staff

For part-time staff, all regular hourly earnings (including paid absences) for the prior ninety (90) days will be accumulated and divided by the total number of regular hours worked in that same period. Overtime earnings and hours are excluded from this calculation.

Students

For students, all student hourly earnings (including paid absences) for all roles for the prior ninety (90) days will be accumulated and divided by the total number of regular hours worked in that same period. Overtime earnings and hours are excluded from this calculation.

Multiple Roles

For those with multiple part-time roles, all eligible earnings covered above will be accumulated for the prior ninety (90) days and divided by the corresponding accumulated hours.

Up to sixteen (16) hours of paid leave can be carried over from one calendar year to the next.

For employees who accrue sick time, unused paid sick leave hours will carry over year to year in a sick time “bank.”

For non-exempt part-time staff, any accrued but unused paid sick leave will be carried forward from year to year.

No. Sick leave is not paid out upon termination, resignation, or retirement. However, up to fifty-six (56) hours of accrued paid leave will be paid out upon termination, resignation, or retirement.

The new Paid Leave policy will become effective on July 1, 2024.

Part-time and full-time faculty along with part-time staff can start using paid leave for any reason on September 30, 2024.

If employees have used all accrued time under the Paid Leave and Sick Leave policies, they can only take additional time as it accrues.

Faculty and staff will be able to record paid leave and sick time in BlueSky by clicking the Time and Absences tile (i.e., the tile with a clock), then selecting Add Absence. For Type, select "Paid Leave" or "Sick" from the drop-down menu.

If no paid leave or sick time is being used, faculty do not need to record any time that week.

Employees should provide notice of time off as soon as it is foreseeable. Time off will be subject to manager approval.

Please refer to the Sick Time, Short and Long-Term Disability policy and the Paid Leave policy for further details.

No documentation or certification is required unless otherwise outlined in the Personal Leave of Absence policy.

Please refer to Leave of Absence for more information.

You can also submit a Benefits General Inquiry to the Benefits team or call (312) 362-8232.

Managers need to comply with the Sick Time, Short and Long-Term Disability policy, the Paid Leave policy, and the Vacation policy. 

Managers are responsible for informing employees of the availability of leave and instructing employees to contact DePaul’s leave administrator to initiate the leave of absence process.

Managers must review all absence requests for approval.

Employees will not be paid for absences without manager approval in BlueSky. It is not enough to approve an employee’s timecard, which is consistent with current practice.

If a manager has questions about an employee’s use of vacation or sick time, they can visit the HR & Payroll Help Center for further information or refer to the Leave of Absence page.

Individual areas are expected to manage the accruals and payouts through their departmental budgets. There is no centralized or special budget set aside for Chicago Paid Leave. If an employee has multiple job assignments at DePaul, payout is charged to the budget of their primary role.

No action will be required at this time.

By September 30, 2024, BlueSky will be updated to allow employees to enter time as “paid leave.”