Unpaid Personal Leave

Updated November 2018

A full-time or part-time employee who is regularly scheduled to work 20 or more hours per pay period, and has been employed by Cambridge College for at least one (1) year, may submit a request for an unpaid personal leave of absence of up to three (3) months.  The leave request should be submitted in writing to the Office of Human Resources, as soon as possible, and preferably no later than thirty (30) calendar days prior to the proposed start of the leave.

Such a leave may only be granted when the requesting employee has no accrual balance of vacation and sick leave and does not qualify under the other leave policies.  Such a request may be denied based on the needs and demands of the employee’s department or the College at the time and taking into consideration the duration of the request.

The supervisor will review all requests for an unpaid personal leave of absence with the Office of Human Resources, and make a recommendation to the Vice President for final approval of whether to grant or deny the request.  If the leave is granted, the employee is responsible for assuming payment of her/his benefit(s) premium share for the period of the leave.  There will be no accrual of vacation and sick leave during this period.

The employee is expected to maintain periodic contact at least every 30 days with her/his supervisor and/or Human Resources during the leave, if reasonably possible, to indicate his/her status and intention to return to work.

If the leave is granted, the employee will return to his/her job or a job equivalent classification and salary or rate of pay will be restored at the completion of the leave unless the position has been eliminated by reduction in the work force or operational change under circumstances applying equally to other similar jobs in the department.

Return from leave should be at the same work-week schedule at which the individual was working when he or she left.  A supervisor may agree, however, to have a full-time employee return on a part-time schedule if it is mutually convenient; if so, the new schedule must be at least 50 percent of a normal work week.

Any employee who fails to return to work, after an approved personal leave of absence has ended, will be considered to have voluntarily resigned and abandoned his/her position with Cambridge College.