Sick Time Off

The Maryland Healthy Working Families Act (MHWFA) establishes a uniform minimum “sick and safe time off” program for the state of Maryland. This act, effective February 11, 2018, requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide sick and safe time off at the same rate as the employees normally earns. Employers must provide at least one hour of safe and sick time off for every 30 hours work.

Sick and Safe time off is broader than the College’s previous sick time off provision. Sick and Safe allows eligible employees to accrue and use time off for the following reasons:

• To care for or treat an employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or condition.
• To obtain preventive medical care for an employee or employee’s family member.
• To care for a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or condition.
• For maternity/paternity leave.

In domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking situations against the employee or the employee’s family member:

• Medical or mental health attention;
• Services from a victim services organization;
• Legal services or proceedings;
• During the time the employee has temporarily relocated.

The law covers all employees. However, the impact will be different based on the employee type:

• Full-time faculty, regular full-time, regular part-time and temporary with benefits employees will not see any significant impact as their current time off benefits are more generous than the new law requires.
• Part-time credit and non-credit faculty, casual temporary staff, and student aides and work study students will be immediately affected by the new law.

A family member includes:

• Child (biological, adopted, foster, stepchild, child for whom the employee has legal or physical custody or guardianship, and a child for whom the employee stands in locoparentis).
• Parent (biological, adoptive, foster, and stepparent of the employee or the employee’s spouse, legal guardian, and an individual who acted as a parent or stood in loco parentisto the employee or employee’s spouse).
• Spouse.
• Grandparent (biological, adopted, foster, or step grandparent of the employee).
• Grandchild (biological, adopted, foster, or step grandchild of the employee).
• Sibling (biological, adopted, foster, step-sibling of the employee).

Any questions regarding whether an employee is properly using Sick and Safe time off should be initiated through HRSTM or with HRSTM’s guidance. This includes questions regarding proof of a familial relationship, which the College may seek so long as it does not request verification of the reason for the Sick and Safe time off until the employee has used Sick and Safe time off for more than two consecutive scheduled workdays. (see FAQ #4 for additional information).

Consistent with College policy, a supervisor may ask an employee why the time off is being taken -- meaning whether the time off is annual time off, sick and safe time off, etc. However, a supervisor should not ask an employee for documentation regarding the time off or specifics about the reason for the time off if the time off is one of the Sick and Safe time off reasons set forth in FAQ #1. Instead, contact Leave Request, and further inquiry will be conducted, if appropriate.

Sick and Safe time off should be reported in increments of 0.01. Full-time and part-time credit and non-credit faculty should use time off in accordance with department guidelines.

Employees should request this time off in Workday. Credit and non-credit part-time faculty should report time off in accordance with their department guidelines.   

Non-benefits employees who regularly work at least 12 hours per week/24 hours per pay period are entitled to Sick and Safe time off.

Employees in the AFSCME bargaining unit and AAUP bargaining unit, however, must follow the provisions in those agreements regarding sick time off until those contracts are modified. Eligible employees in the SEIU bargaining unit are entitled to Sick and Safe time off -- see FAQ 18 for additional information.

Full-time and part-time regular employees and temporary with benefit employees will continue to accrue sick time off in accordance with P&P 35003CP (PDF, ) as their current time off benefits are more generous than the new law requires. 

Each pay period, the College will update each employee’s Sick and Safe time off accrual and use. This information is available now in Workday.

Sick and Safe time off is paid at the employees’ normal wage rate.

New employees who meet eligibility may begin using Sick and Safe time off immediately, if needed.

Eligible employees will accrue 1 hour of Sick and Safe time off for every 30 hours worked. Sick and Safe time off is accrued for every hour an employee works as long as the employee works at least 24 hours in a pay period.

Additionally, these employees may: 

• accrue no more than 40 hours of Sick and Safe time off in a year;
• carry over no more than 40 hours of accrued Sick and Safe time off;
• accrue no more than 64 hours of Sick and Safe time off at any time;
• use no more than 64 hours of Sick and Safe time off is a year; and

As a result of MHWFA, all eligible employees will be entitled to have any unused Sick and Safe time off reinstated if their re-employment with the College occurs within 37 weeks of termination.

P&P 35003CP Section I.A.2.a (PDF, ) . will be modified to refer to sick and safe time off, however, the rate at which Sick and Safe time off will be earned will remain the same for full-time and part-time employees, because the accrual rate is more generous than that required by the MHWFA. Section I.A.2.c. has been modified to reflect that part-time employees who regularly work 12 or more hours per week are entitled toSick and Safe time off under P&P 35003CP (PDF, ) .

P&P 35003CP (PDF, ) Section I.3. has been modified to comply with the MHWFA. SSL that is foreseeable must be requested at least seven (7) days in advance. Sick and Safe time off that is not foreseeable must be requested as soon as possible, though employees must generally comply with Section I.3. Furthermore, an employee’s use of Sick and Safe time off for a permitted reason will not be counted against the employee as part of Section I.3.

Yes. An employee’s request for Sick and Safe time off may be denied if the employee does not provide notice and the employee’s absence will cause disruption to the College. Any decision to deny a request to use Sick and Safe time off should be vetted through HRSTM.

If an employee’s use of sick and safe time off appears excessive or questionable, the supervisor shall contact the VP/Chief Human Resources Officer, or designee. All verification requests should be coordinated by HRSTM. Furthermore, if an employee with earned/accrued Sick and Safe time off who takes Sick and Safe time off, but does not provide verification that is appropriately required by the College will no longer be treated as being on time off without pay. Instead, that employee may subsequently be denied Sick and Safe time off that is sought for the same reason.

No. Section 8.1 of the AFSCME contract (PDF, ) addresses sick time off for covered employees. Unless and until the contract is modified, please refer to Section 8.1(a) for information regarding the reasons sick time off may be used by employees in the AFSCME bargaining unit; Section 8.1(b) for information regarding eligibility and accrual of sick time off under the AFSCME contract; Section 8.1(c) for information regarding the notice requirements for use of sick time off by employees in the AFSCME bargaining unit, when sick time off may be denied, and what information the College may request from employees using sick time off; and 8.1(d) regarding disposition of sick time off upon termination.

Yes. All employees who regularly work 12 or more hours per week are entitled to Sick and Safe time off that is provided in a manner that meets the minimum requirements of the MHWFA. Currently, Section 10.2 of the SEIU contract (PDF, ) states that, “[a]n employee is permitted to be absent from one (1) session of each course taught in a semester without penalty. An employee who is absent from more than one session of a course taught in a semester shall have the pro rata share of the amount paid for the session(s) deducted from his or her pay.” This provision continues to apply to all employees covered by the SEIU contract.

In addition to the language in Section 10.2, employees covered by the SEIU contract will accrue SSL at a rate of one (1) hour of SSL for every 30 hours worked. For purposes of ESS, every hour of ESH is calculated as 2.25 working hours, meaning that an adjunct faculty member teaching nine (9) ESH in a semester would work 20.25 hours per week. An adjunct faculty member teaching six (6) ESH in a semester would work 13.5 hour per week.

No. Members of the AAUP bargainingnew window unit are covered by the current MC-AAUP bargaining agreement’s sick time off provisions until the current contract expires in FY 2025. Unless and until the contract is modified, please refer to Section 6.1 of the AAUP contract regarding payment and time off for sickness or disability. Section 6.1(A) address the permissible reasons sick time off may be used under the AAUP contract, covered family members, and sick time off availability outside of the academic year; Section 6.1(B) addresses time off accrual; Section 6.1(C) addresses the carryover of time off from year to year and disposition of accrued time off upon termination; Section 6.1(D) addresses the crediting of time off at the beginning of each academic year and the College’s ability to recover advanced time off; Section 6.1(E) governs non-academic year time off use; and Section 6.1(F) addresses how notice of time off must be provided.