University Baptist Church
Leave for Part-Time Employees
Approved March 30, 2022
University Baptist Church values its part-time staff and wants to recognize them for their service to the church and their standing in their individual professional community outside (or in conjunction with) their work at UBC. The Personnel Committee acknowledges:
1. Stated Vacation leave, while unusual in most workplace environments, is crucial to attracting, retaining, and maintaining quality part-time church staff. Because of the nature of church work, only two days (Sunday and Wednesday) are primary for most part-time staff.
2. To adequately recruit and maintain quality part-time staff, arrangements (prior to hiring) regarding additional weeks of paid professional leave might be necessary.
3. When certain part-time church staff must be absent from their positions on Sundays and/or Wednesdays, others must step in and provide the services needed. In certain circumstances, UBC has built into the annual budget funds to pay substitutes for these positions.
4. The term “week” is conceptual in this discussion: it is understood that, for most part-time employees, one “week” equals one Sunday and one Wednesday. Part-time employees may take partial “weeks” (for example, one Wednesday but not a Sunday).
Vacation
Part-time employees receive the following yearly paid vacation time:
Employment tenure Paid vacation leave
0 through 6 months No vacation
6 months through 4 years Two weeks
5 years through 9 years Three weeks
10 years Four weeks
The part-time employee who plans to use his or her vacation leave must obtain approval in advance by reporting in writing the following:
1. Proposed dates of absence(s)
2. Person(s) who have been contracted to provide substitute services
This written request must be submitted to the Pastor or his designee, for approval prior to the planned absence. One week of unused vacation may be carried over from one year to another.
Sick Leave
Part-time staff are allotted one Wednesday and one Sunday per year of paid sick leave. This leave cannot be accrued. The Personnel Committee may extend this leave but not retroactively. If a staff member needs additional time, he or she should contact the pastor, the Personnel Committee chair, or personnel administrator. before the completion of the leave described above to request an extension (see Other Leave below.)
Bereavement Leave
Part-time staff are allotted one Wednesday and one Sunday per year of paid leave for necessary time lost from work in the event of the death of a spouse (husband or wife), child (natural, foster, step), parent, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother or sister only. In the event of the death of a grandparent or other relative that has played a major role in the rearing of an employee, one day is authorized.
The Personnel Committee may extend this leave but not retroactively. If a staff member needs additional time, he or she should contact the chair of the personnel committee or the personnel administrator before the completion of the leave described above to request an extension.
During any bereavement leave, the church has a reasonable expectation of the staff member regarding response to electronic communication.
Other Leave
University Baptist Church and its part-time employees are not covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) but the church provides the following unpaid leave for its part-time employees.
Part-time employees may take up to a total of twelve weeks of leave, combining paid and unpaid leave, in any twelve-month period for:
The birth of a son or daughter or placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption or foster care.
To care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition.
For a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job.
The employee will substitute any available sick leave and accrued vacation for the unpaid leave described above. The total leave, paid and unpaid will not exceed twelve weeks in a twelve-month period.
The employee is to request this leave at least thirty days in advance of the beginning of the anticipated leave. The employee is to submit the written request to the pastor, the personnel committee chair, or personnel administrator. The written request will include the anticipated beginning and ending dates for the leave and a plan for covering the employee’s responsibilities during the absence.
Other Policies
1. Part-time staff who are absent beyond the approved number of weeks described above will have their salary reduced by the amounts stated for a supply worker in the church budget or two percent of the employee’s annual salary for each week of absence beyond the approved number of weeks.
2. The church budget will reflect supply resources needed to cover only the amount of vacation weeks and other approved professional leave.
3. There is no payment for any unused leave.
4. Leave time accrues and is counted on a calendar-year basis.
5. The Personnel Committee is charged with oversight of this policy.